In this episode, Erasmus Elsner is talking to Casey Fenton, founder of Couchsurfing and Upstock, about the early days for Couchsurfing when Casey was pioneering what has since become known as the “sharing economy” and how is is now bringing the sharing economy to the cap table with Upstock.
00:00 Intro
01:13 The Couchsurfing proof-of-concept
02:46 The first Couchsurfing stay
03:49 501(c)3 non-profit status
06:34 The mechanics of the benchmark Series A
06:34 The mechanics of the benchmark Series A
08:27 The Couchsurfing MVP
10:38 The donation-based model
11:58 The demand side monetization model
15:34 The chicken-and-egg question
17:11 Casey’s philosophy on ego hacking
21:11 Building for the internet without ego
23:57 Upstock
28:34 Ideal customer moment
30:20 Switching costs
31:09 Competitors and integrations
33:40 Milestone-based equity kickers
35:03 Following Casey’s work
