CouchSurfing

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For other uses, see Couch surfing (disambiguation).
Couchsurfing International Inc.
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Type of businessC corporation[1]
Founded2 April 2003 (New Hampshire nonprofit organization)[2]
3 May 2011 (Delaware for-profit corporation)[3]
Area servedGlobal
Founder(s)Casey Fenton
Daniel Hoffer
Key people Patrick Dugan, CEO
Francesco Deparis, CFO[4]
Casey Fenton, Chairman
Matt Cohler, Benchmark, Director[5]
ProductsHomestay
ServicesSocial networking service
Employees11–50[6]
URLwww.couchsurfing.com Edit this at Wikidata
Alexa rank9,422 (As of 17 May 2020)[7]
Users15,000,000 users[8]
4,000,000 surfers/year[8]
400,000 active hosts[8]
Launched12 June 2004; 15 years ago (2004-06-12)[9]

CouchSurfing is a global homestay and social networking service accessible via a website and mobile app. The platform is a gift economy; hosts are not allowed to charge for lodging.[10][11] Members can request lodging publicly or directly from other members,[12] "hangout" with other members,[13] or join/create events.[14][15] Members set up user profiles on which other members can post reviews.[16]

To use the platform some members must either pay a fee of approximately US$2/month or US$15/year.[17] Members can also pay a one-time US$60 charge to have their name and identification verified, adding a layer of security.[18]

History[edit]

Conception (1999–2004)[edit]

Couchsurfing was conceived by computer programmer and New Hampshire native Casey Fenton in 1999, when he was 21 years old.[1][19][20] The idea arose after Fenton found a cheap flight from Boston to Iceland but did not have lodging. Fenton hacked into a database of the University of Iceland and randomly e-mailed 1,500 students asking for a homestay. He received between 50 and 100 offers and chose to stay at the home of an Icelandic rhythm and blues singer.[19] On the return flight to Boston, he came up with the idea to create the website. He registered the couchsurfing.com domain name on 12 June 1999.[19][21]

Couchsurfing International Inc. was formed on 2 April 2003 as a New Hampshire nonprofit corporation,[2] with plans to convert to a 501(c)(3) organization.

The website was launched on 12 June 2004[19] with the cooperation of Dan Hoffer, Sebastien Le Tuan, and Leonardo Silveira.[20]

Development of the website by volunteers (2006–2011)[edit]

From 2006 until the company raised financing in 2011, development of the website occurred mostly at events called "Couchsurfing Collectives", in which members met to voluntarily improve the website.[19] Collectives took place in Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Rotterdam, Costa Rica, Samara, Alaska, Istanbul, and Thailand.[19][22] However, the collectively-coded website was full of software bugs and crashes were common. Many members believed that the website needed to be redesigned from scratch.[23]

In June 2006, problems with the website database resulted in much of it being irrevocably lost.[19][24][23] Founder Casey Fenton posted online asking for help.[25] A Couchsurfing Collective was underway in Montreal at the time and those in attendance raised $8,000 in donations and committed to recreate the website.[19] In 2007, Google search volume for couchsurfing.org overtook the search volume for its major competitor Hospitality Club, after the one of Hospitality Club peaked in 2006. [26]

Change to a for-profit corporation and financing (2011)[edit]

The company applied for status as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in November 2007 but was rejected by the Internal Revenue Service in early 2011.[1][27] After researching alternatives, advice from lawyers, the need for additional financial resources, and competition from Airbnb, management decided that the company would convert to a for-profit corporation.[27][1]

The New Hampshire entity Couchsurfing International Inc. was dissolved on 4 November 2011.[2] Its assets were sold to a for-profit Delaware corporation, also called Couchsurfing International, Inc., which was formed on 3 May 2011.[3][28][29]

At first, the company was a certified B corporation.[30][1][31][32]

In August 2011, in conjunction with the reorganization to a for-profit corporation, the company raised $7.6 million in a first-round financing led by Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network.[33][34][35][36]

In August 2012, Couchsurfing received an additional $15 million in funding from an investor group led by General Catalyst Partners, with participation by Menlo Ventures, as well as existing investors Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network. The additional funding brought the company's total funding raised to $22.6 million.[28] The founders did not receive any cash from the financing.[30]

Criticism from members of the conversion to a for-profit corporation[edit]

The conversion to a for-profit corporation was objected to by many members.[23][37][38] Founder Casey Fenton said he received 1,500 emails in the days after announcing the conversion.[1] The company spent more than $10,000 on a public relations firm to educate its directors on how to respond to the press about the conversion to a for-profit entity. A 3-page letter was sent to over 1,000 volunteers.[1]

Launch and development of mobile apps[edit]

In 2012, the company launched mobile apps for iOS and Android.[39] In June 2016, the company added a feature called "hangouts" that enables members to quickly meet with other nearby members.[13][40]

Management turnover (2012–2015)[edit]

Jennifer Billock, CEO of CouchSurfing from October 2013 to October 2015

Co-founder Dan Hoffer served as CEO from 2011[33] to 2012, Tony Espinoza served as CEO from 2012 to 2013,[34] and Jennifer Billock served as CEO from 2013 to 2015.[41] Casey Fenton is Chairman[5] but is no longer involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.[42]

Change to membership fee revenue model (2020)[edit]

In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company instituted a membership fee for some regions of the world.[17]. Members who have previously contributed have been given 12 months of free access.

Membership statistics[edit]

In 2017, Dan Fultz, head of support and safety, stated that "Couchsurfing activity certainly dipped between the 'heyday' and today".[43] Active memberships however are a small percentage of overall registered members.

Date Members Ref
June 2004 0 (Launch)
June 2005 6,000 [27]
June 2006 90,000 [24]
March 2007 173,000 [44]
July 2007 240,000 [45]
August 2007 285,000 [46]
September 2007 300,000 [47]
August 2008 600,000 [48]
December 2008 790,000 [49]
March 2009 1,000,000 [50]
August 2009 1,300,000 [51]
January 2011 2,500,000 [52]
February 2011 2,400,000 [53]
August 2011 3,000,000 [37]
April 2012 3,965,492 [54]
October 2013 6,000,000 [39]
October 2014 9,000,000 [55][56]
October 2015 10,000,000 [57]
February 2016 11,000,000 [58]
January 2018 15,000,000, including 400,000 active hosts [8]
September 2018 Roughly 12,000,000 [59]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Lapowesky, Issie (29 May 2012). "Couchsurfing Dilemma: Going for Profit". Inc.
  2. ^ a b c "Business Information: COUCHSURFING INTERNATIONAL INC". New Hampshire Department of State.
  3. ^ a b "State of Delaware corporate entity search – enter "couchsurfing"".
  4. ^ "Business Search – Results". California Secretary of State.
  5. ^ a b "Company Overview of CouchSurfing International Inc". Bloomberg L.P.
  6. ^ "Crunchbase: Couchsurfing.com". TechCrunch.
  7. ^ "Alexa Internet: Couchsurfing.com". Alexa Internet.
  8. ^ a b c d van Brugen, Isabel (13 January 2018). "Deal watch: budget travel". The Times.
  9. ^ "Where are you celebrating International Couchsurfing Day on June 12?". 2 June 2016.
  10. ^ "I heard of someone charging for a couch. Is that OK?". Couchsurfing.
  11. ^ Da Costa, Celinne (5 August 2016). "I've been couchsurfing nonstop for two months, here's what I've learned about human nature". Matador Network.
  12. ^ "How do I Create or Delete a Public Trip?". Couchsurfing.
  13. ^ a b "Product Update: Make a new friend with Couchsurfing Hangouts!". Couchsurfing. 28 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Global Couchsurfing Event Calendar". Couchsurfing.
  15. ^ "How do I join an event?". Couchsurfing.
  16. ^ "How can I submit references and feedback for other members?". Couchsurfing.
  17. ^ a b "Couchsurfing needs your help". Couchsurfing.
  18. ^ "Verification Payment Questions". Couchsurfing.
  19. ^ a b c d e f g h Camillo, Angelo A. (17 August 2015). Handbook of Research on Global Hospitality and Tourism Management. IGI Global.
  20. ^ a b Moran, Gwen (9 December 2011). "How CouchSurfing Got its Start, and Landed VC Millions". Entrepreneur.
  21. ^ "Whois Record for CouchSurfing.com".
  22. ^ Barnett, George A. (7 September 2011). Encyclopedia of Social Networks. SAGE Publications.
  23. ^ a b c DeAmicis, Carmel (10 January 2015). "How Couchsurfing became the Friendster of the sharing economy". Gigaom.
  24. ^ a b Arrington, Michael (29 June 2006). "CouchSurfing Deletes Itself, Shuts Down". TechCrunch.
  25. ^ Fenton, Casey (28 June 2006). "Help! - Innodb and MyISAM accidental DROP DATABASE – 112 tables gone forever?". forums.mysql.com.
  26. ^ Rustam Tagiew; Dmitry I. Ignatov; Radhakrishnan Delhibabu (2015). Hospitality Exchange Services as a Source of Spatial and Social Data?. (IEEE) International Conference on Data Mining Workshop (ICDMW). Atlantic City. pp. 1125–1130. doi:10.1109/ICDMW.2015.239.
  27. ^ a b c Longenecker, Justin G.; Petty, J. William; Palich, Leslie E.; Hoy, Frank (15 January 2016). Small Business Management: Launching & Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures. Cengage.
  28. ^ a b Gallagher, Billy (22 August 2012). "CouchSurfing Raises $15 Million Series B From General Catalyst Partners, Menlo Ventures, Others". TechCrunch.
  29. ^ Perlroth, Nicole (24 August 2011). "Non-Profit CouchSurfing Raises Millions In Funding". Forbes.
  30. ^ a b "Myths and Facts: Couchsurfing's conversion to a B Corp". Couchsurfing. 14 September 2011.
  31. ^ "CouchSurfing becomes a B Corp". American City Business Journals. 27 January 2012.
  32. ^ Baker, Vicky (26 August 2011). "Not-for-profit Couchsurfing becomes a company (with a conscience)". The Guardian.
  33. ^ a b "CouchSurfing Raises $7.6 Million in Series A From Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network to Expand Services and Fuel Growth in Cultural Exchange Network" (Press release). PR Newswire. 25 August 2011.
  34. ^ a b Vivion, Nick (11 October 2013). "CouchSurfing CEO steps down amid layoffs, uncertainty". Phocuswire.
  35. ^ Tweney, Dylan (24 August 2011). "Benchmark plops down $7.6M to make Couchsurfing into a for-profit". VentureBeat.
  36. ^ DeLuca, Matt (30 August 2011). "CouchSurfing Just Closed A $7.6 Million Round Of Funding". Business Insider.
  37. ^ a b Johnson, Bobbie (1 September 2011). "After going for-profit, CouchSurfing faces user revolt". Gigaom.
  38. ^ Roudman, Sam (7 November 2013). "How to Lose Funds and Infuriate Users: Couchsurfing, a Cautionary Tale From the Sharing Economy". techPresident.
  39. ^ a b Graham, Jefferson (12 October 2013). "Couchsurfing your way to a free place to stay". USA Today.
  40. ^ Jacobs, Harrison (17 January 2018). "A little-known travel app that is Airbnb-meets-Tinder helped me have the wildest night in Tokyo partying until sunrise". Business Insider.
  41. ^ Lunden, Ingrid (10 October 2013). "Tony Espinoza Steps Down As CEO Of Couchsurfing, Jennifer Billock Steps Up As Interim As Startup Lays Off Staff, "Doubles Down" On Mobile". TechCrunch.
  42. ^ Chan, Nathan (15 May 2018). "112: The Crazy Origin Story of Sharing Economy Pioneer Couchsurfing.com with Casey Fenton". Foundr.
  43. ^ Coca, Nithin (13 October 2017). "Why hasn't there been a new Couchsurfing?". The Daily Dot.
  44. ^ Ward, Terry (11 March 2007). "Divan Intervention". The Washington Post.
  45. ^ "Couch surfing around the world". The Daily Telegraph. 30 July 2007.
  46. ^ Olds, Jacqueline; Schwartz, Richard S. "The Lonely American: Drifting Apart in the Twenty-First Century" (EPUB).
  47. ^ Green, Penelope (20 September 2007). "Surfing the World Wide Couch". The New York Times.
  48. ^ Thomas, Daniel (14 August 2008). "Couch-surfing: going it alone". The Daily Telegraph.
  49. ^ Weiss, Jennifer (19 December 2008). "Catch a Wave: Giving CouchSurfing a Chance". NJ.com.
  50. ^ Gross, Matt (12 April 2009). "FRUGAL TRAVELER; 3 Cushions, a Million Guests". The New York Times.
  51. ^ McKenna, Brittney (1 August 2009). "Couch surfing the USA". Chattanooga Times Free Press.
  52. ^ Baker, Vicky (22 January 2011). "How to stay with a local". The Guardian.
  53. ^ Kittle, Cody (15 February 2011). "Adventures in Couch Surfing: One Sojourner's Truth". Time.
  54. ^ Marx, Patricia (16 April 2012). "You're Welcome". The New Yorker.
  55. ^ Burns, Hilary (22 October 2014). "She's trying to turn Couchsurfing into a profitable business. And she's got her hands full". American City Business Journals.
  56. ^ Line, Harriet (21 August 2014). "Couchsurfing: would you sleep with a stranger?". The Daily Telegraph.
  57. ^ McAlone, Nathan (13 October 2015). "Best traveling-and-working apps". Business Insider.
  58. ^ Saiidi, Uptin (12 February 2016). "Office Envy: Inside CouchSurfing's San Francisco workspace". CNBC.
  59. ^ Shaffer, Randi (5 September 2018). "Meet the Chicagoans who let strangers sleep in their homes — free of charge". Chicago Tribune.

External links[edit]

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