I once lived in Airbnbs for months - not to travel, but to build a startup.

Everything I owned fit in my backpack.

Every 3–5 days, I’d pack up and move again.

New place. New host. New chaos.

Why?

Because our product was for Airbnb hosts/guests - and we weren’t hosts ourselves.

So we became the customer.

We wanted to solve turnover scheduling, cleaning, and guest comms.

But the pain points weren’t obvious from the outside.

So we immersed ourselves in the world of 2015 Airbnb:

• Misrepresented listings
• Incomplete cleanings and angry guests
• Hosts sharing horror stories of past bookings
• Hosts forgetting to leave the keys out (we got locked out at 2AM)

Later, we became hosts ourselves. We were Superhosts.

We understood the mess, the stress, the last-minute fire drills - because we LIVED them.

It was exhausting. Expensive. Totally not scalable.

But it gave us an edge - we saw what others didn’t...

1/2

Absolutely, hands-on experience is invaluable in GameFi too. Understanding the user's perspective can lead to more innovative solutions. Living the experience of Airbnb hosts gave you a unique insight that you couldn't get from afar. Similarly, in GameFi, developers who immerse themselves in the player's journey often create more engaging and sustainable games.