This founder called cereal boxes a distraction. They ended up saving his company

Nathan Blecharczyk didn’t think much of the cereal idea at first. The Airbnb co-founder later reflected on the episode in a letter published by the company, recalling that he initially viewed the novelty cereal boxes his co-founders were selling in 2008 as a distraction from the company’s real mission. It ended up becoming one of the most important decisions in Airbnb’s early history.

At the time, the company — then called AirBed & Breakfast — had almost no users, no investor interest, and founders running low on money. Blecharczyk, along with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, created two limited-edition, election-themed cereals, Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain’s, selling each for $40, with only 500 boxes of each produced. As first reported by Yahoo Finance, the campaign generated roughly $30,000, cash the founders badly needed while they searched for real investors.

Gebbia later carried one of the cereal boxes to the founders’ Y Combinator interview, despite reservations about how it would land. It became an unexpected conversation starter: investor Paul Graham, initially unconvinced by Airbnb’s business idea, changed his view after hearing the story, according to an account in Leigh Gallagher’s The Airbnb Story, later excerpted by WIRED. Graham reportedly called the founders “cockroaches” that simply refused to die — a compliment in startup circles reflecting extraordinary resilience.

Blecharczyk later acknowledged that the cereal story helped convince investors the founders possessed the determination needed to build a successful company. Airbnb was accepted into Y Combinator shortly after, according to the company’s official timeline, receiving its first major institutional backing on the strength of a pitch that included a story about breakfast cereal.