1.6 Case Studies: Iconic Startups
Airbnb (2008): Airbnb began when three roommates in San Francisco (Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk) needed money to pay rent. In 2007 they offered air mattresses in their apartment to travelers, then built an online platform around this idea. Airbnb’s model lets homeowners rent out spare rooms or entire homes to guests at lower costs than hotels. For example, users list properties on Airbnb’s website, and travelers book them online. This innovation connects supply and demand without owning any hotels. As Investopedia explains, Airbnb expanded to an online platform where property owners rent accommodations to guests who want cheaper, home-like lodging. The company made money by taking a fee from each booking. By 2024, Airbnb had grown enormously – facilitating over 5 million hosts and more than 8 million active listings worldwide. It serves in over 220 countries, showing how a simple idea can become a global hospitality platform.
Ola (2010): Ola (formerly OlaCabs) is an Indian ride-hailing app founded by IIT Bombay graduates Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati in 2010. They saw that hiring taxis in Indian cities was often unreliable or expensive. Instead of owning cars, Ola partnered with thousands of taxi and auto-rickshaw drivers, providing them with a smartphone app to get bookings. Commuters in hundreds of cities could use Ola’s app to book rides on demand, paying through the app. As one profile notes, Ola “bridges the gap between cab owners and commuters”. The company grew rapidly – today Ola claims service in over 250 Indian cities with more than 2.5 million driver-partners. Ola diversified into bike taxis, auto-rickshaws, and even electric vehicles. The key to Ola’s success was using technology to organize India’s vast and scattered taxi market, creating jobs and convenience.
Paytm (2010): Paytm (an acronym for “Pay Through Mobile”) is a fintech company founded by Vijay Shekhar Sharma in Noida, India in 2010. At that time, India was largely a cash economy. Paytm started as a mobile wallet and recharge site, making it easy for people to pay bills, buy mobile talktime, and send money digitally. It “changed the way that transactions and bill payments are made” in India. Users could tap on their phones to pay at shops or send money to each other. Over time Paytm expanded into many other services: e-commerce, movie and travel bookings, stock trading, insurance, and more. Today Paytm is one of India’s largest digital payment platforms. It reached hundreds of millions of users by focusing on user-friendly mobile finance. Paytm’s growth shows how solving a simple problem (cash inconvenience) with technology can lead to a massive business.
Canva (2013): Canva is an online graphic design tool founded by Melanie Perkins (with co-founders Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams) in Australia in 2013. Melanie noticed that designing graphics was hard for non-professionals, so she built a web platform with simple drag-and-drop tools and templates. Users could create posters, social media images, presentations and more without needing advanced design skills. Canva’s ease of use made it immediately popular. The company grew very fast: within five years Canva reached a $1 billion valuation (becoming a “unicorn”). By 2025 Canva is worth an estimated $25 billion and boasts over 165 million users worldwide. Its success came from combining technology with a clear user-friendly mission. Canva shows how a straightforward idea (democratizing design) can disrupt an industry: today it is used by individuals, schools, and businesses globally to quickly make professional-looking graphics.
Each of these case studies illustrates key entrepreneurial principles: identifying a market gap, using technology or innovation, and scaling rapidly. They started with simple ideas and grew into companies that serve millions of users.