Airbnb is a service that is used globally for travel purposes, those looking for a place to relax or even for tenants. The company has become such a normalized thing that it is hard to imagine life before Airbnb. The accessibility that Airbnb provides, allowing you to book a room within a moment’s notice for anywhere in the world, is amazing. It is a platform that provides an incredible service for customers, as well as providing a place for landlords to rent out their properties easily. Airbnb management businesses have also sprang up, creating more jobs. Airbnb wasn’t always such a big company though, and it has some very humble beginnings.

Founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had moved to San Francisco from New York, and had little cash. They decided to buy some air beds and set up a bed and breakfast. 3 guests stayed the night, being the first ever Airbnb guests.

They launched in 2008, with 600 people booking Airbnb’s for the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

In order to fund their startup, they started selling cereals with election themes. They made $30,000, and raised $20,000 in funding from Y Combinator.

Their platform starts to gain traction, after visiting their users in New York.

By 2009, they have 2500 listings and 10,000 registered users. From there on, Airbnb kept growing and growing and now have over 2 million listings in over 190 countries, and the company is now worth $25.5 billion.

Airbnb is an incredible story of startup success, from having barely enough money to fund their company and having to sell cereal, to being worth over $25.5 billion, Chesky and Gebbia’s journey is something else. Airbnb continues to grow to this day, and is a household name which is globally recognized no matter where you are in the world.

Uber is an app that is globally recognized and used by millions. It provided an alternative to using expensive taxis, and provided high service for customers. Furthermore, it provided jobs for those looking for extra cash or wanting to try something different. Uber spawned a variety of similar but different ride sharing apps, and essentially created a whole new industry. From Uber came Uber Eats, Menulog and so on. But how did it all get started, before all of this?

It started when Garrett Camp and Travis Kalanick were in Paris and unable to find a cab. When Camp returned to San Francisco, he was fixated on the idea of a ride sharing app and subsequently bought UberCab.com. Camp was the CEO of StumbleUpon (bought out by Ebay for $75 million) and started working on Uber as a side project. Camp persuaded Kalanick to join in on the project. Uber was tested in New York using 3 cars, then officially launched in San Francisco. The ease of access to a ride share gave the app much popularity, using GPS to locate the car and rider then charging the rider.

The company received $1.25 million in funding from First Round Capital.

In 2011, Uber raised $11 million in its Series A round of funding, allowing to expand into New York, Boston, Seattle, Chicago and Washington DC.

The company broadened in 2012 by introducing UberX, provided less expensive hybrid cars in contrast to expensive black car services.

The story of Uber is one of a startup success built on a demand, being ride sharing. Many people were not happy with prices and the service within the Taxi industry, and Uber filled that need for them, ultimately bringing them recognition and large success globally.

Jeff Bezos has always treated his business giant Amazon as a startup. His famous mantra of “It remains Day 1” shows that he continually demonstrates that his company should always be treated like it’s just starting up. Amazon now has over 560,000 employees, and over 100 million members with Amazon Prime, and yet is still treated as a startup. Bezos started Amazon in a garage as a book selling platform, before turning it into a store to sell ‘everything’.

Amazon found success almost immediately, and has grown into a business giant making Bezos the richest man in the world.

These are some tips from Bezos for startups.

Set high standards

Bezos holds the belief that high standards must be taught and maintained in a startup. If a company will operate with low standards, new employees that come on board will operate at the same level of standards. Keep the standards high, and they will strive for that high standard in their work. It’s also important to identify employees weaknesses, and aim for them to improve these.