David Berman

Matulovic was placed in a difficult position as a result of the task that was appointed to him. He should not provide special outside treatment, however, because this sets a precent for continuing of perhaps the prior cronyism system that was in place where projects were being overfunded and underachieved. Matulovic’s position is to create a…[Read more]

The new process provided a structure where one was not present. As Matulovic stated, it can be easy to forget the process was transparent and involved group dynamics. As in all new processes, especially at this scale, the criticisms are always rampant, but many of them are justified. Unfortunately, not all processes can be perfected and there will…[Read more]

Hey Diane,
I have seen that review and you would be pleased to know as a customer it did not affect my opinion of your business at all. Perhaps that is the smart consumer leading through all the information and discarding that which seemed superfluous. That individual’s comments come across as narrow minded and angry and based on their own…[Read more]

To be honest, it seems like the risk is largey on the side of the host. If Airbnb is made to require a background check for potential renters what will that entail and will it effectively reduce their business to zero? A background check that is meaningful is labor and cost intensive, requires time and dedication on behalf of the renter as it…[Read more]

I tend to agree with the way Cataldo explains Yelp. If you have to say it to a 5 year old, you say that there are certain people who are trustworthy and others who are not. Yelp says it is doing its best to cut out information from those that are less trustworthy, but sometimes they may even exclude information that is trustworthy. It’s impossible…[Read more]

You can’t help as a consumer but feel quite a bit of dread and anger at the lack of attentiveness to extremely useful security breach information provided from FireEye to Target on multiple occasions. While doing business through electronic means will always afford a degree of risk, the use of checks and balances and the rapid awareness and action…[Read more]

I have used both Airbnb and Uber once in my life. I have good experiences from both, however, I felt that Airbnb had much more value added for me personally than Uber. The Uber experiences was predicated after lots of negative views of the company existed from a public perspective. Despite having taken me from point A to point B as I desired, I…[Read more]

It’s impossible to out myself in the shoes of Sunnylane, but as one of the editorial comments suggested, the CEO really messed up and got complacent with his trust in his technology officer. Yet, there is a hard moral line that needs to be drawn at this point. You must reveal the information to all constituents involved that you have had this…[Read more]

These questions go to the core of what you believe Airbnb should be. Are they the itermediatary and background screener between hosts and renters or is their role more importantly to match supply and demand. I would say on a persona level that I would be unwilling to compromise on details of a renter if I were hosting. I would be more apt to turn…[Read more]

As a crisis consultant, the most important thing is counseling Airbnb to deliver accurate, thoughtful information information and response to the community of Airbnb users. First and foremost, you would want Airbnb to be discussing with police and their legal counsel what sort of recourse their renter will be able to seek and making sure other…[Read more]

Airbnb’s concept being quite new and the potential concerns being present from the outset opened them up to the potential hazard of the EJ incident. Certainly, more precautions could have been taken but perhaps to what effect and detriment to their success and growth as a young business. I have used Airbnb only once for trace in Paris and n…[Read more]

I have used Google Maps heavily as well in Tokyo. It has been several years now since my month long journey there, but using the transit planning and location identification in English was incredibly useful to me as well. It is amazing how it is really a global guidemap and transportation assistant.

Kickstarter. I have an unhealthy obsession because I find the concept to be incredibly fascinating. The idea of crowdfunding projects to create new companies and products is something that is a huge “need” gap that was filled most successfully by this organization. This helps greatly break down the barriers to product development and target a…[Read more]