3S Rules — The Star Experience Model Questions: The Secret of Airbnb’s Scaling

Progress Ibrahim
Nov 3 · 5 min read

If you can only understand what I’m about revealing, you will know how to scale a company. If you can apply it then you will succeed as an entrepreneur. I believe you like to to succeed like Jack Ma, like Jeff Bezos, like Strive Masiyiwa, like Aliko Dangote etc. These captains of companies understood what im about to share with you.

why do you think Peter Drucker said, “ the only two things that make money for a company are innovation and marketing other things are cost?”. Well i want you to think and comment your answer below.

Here is my own reason. It has been agreed that the world exists on a bi-polar forces. we have light and darkness co-existing. we have good and bad co-existing. we have positive and negative coexisting. We have demand and supply -the market forces coexisting. The same bi-polar force exists in a company which are innovation and marketing.

These components of a company represent the supply side and the demand side of a company. The product innovation is the supply side of the company while the marketing is the demand side of the company. The two have to be created by an entrepreneur. without these two a business is said not to exist. So innovation and marketing makes a company or a business complete. The process of creating a market for your product is called marketing.

This makes me to formulate a hypothesis that states that a product without a market has zero value because it only has the supply side without the demand side.

Do you agree with this? Let me read your reason why Peter Drucker said so ;

This will lead us to two fascinating stages of product development of an entrepreneur.

The Two Stages of Product Innovation

An entrepreneur is a professional that always attempt to proffer a welcome solution to a problem. In his attempt to create a solution which is in the form of product, he undergoes two kinds of product innovation stages. They are;

  1. The Assumed Product innovation
  2. The actual product Innovation

The assumed product need is the first product that an entrepreneur launches to solve a problem. He built it based on his research, assumption and what he feels the market target needs. In most cases, this stage of product innovation is always the same for every entrepreneur. This stage of innovation is an innovation that does not yet address the actual problem of the target market. for example, when airbnb founder started the company, the services were not satisfactory because they were yet to determine what the target market actually need.

The actual product innovation is the stage of product innovation where an entrepreneur actually develop the product that solves the actual problem of the target market. This second stage will take process and time to be achieved. This may be the difference between the failure and success of the company because at this stage you now have a product that the market will accept.

To have an actual product you must allow the target market to tell you what features they actually want in your product and what they want your product to do. This is only possible through feedback system. This will lead us to the airbnb star experience model questions. You will fully understand this article when you read the first series on this article- Star experience model.

The Effect of the Airbnb Feedback Questions

This was the secret of airbnb’s scaling and market success. The founders of this company (Brain Chesky ) used these feedback questions to develop an actual product for the target market (ie, the guests and the hosts).

Here are the two main feedback questions they usually ask their users.

  1. what should we do to surprise you?
  2. what should we do not just to surprise you but to make you tell others?
credit: scmp.com

The effect of the first question is that they need suggestions from the users to develop the product in such a way that they will be marvel at the value generated. The reason why these suggestions from them is very strategic is because they are the actual users.

If a product is great in value then the users wouldn’t like to stop using the product. so, this actually a marketing strategy. When you improve the value of a product, you will achieve customer satisfaction and retention goals. For example, if airbnb only gives accommodation they can add having dinner with the host in the best eatery in town to the service.

The effect of the second question is that with the suggestion of the users, they would develop a product that will marvel them and they won’t be able to help but to share it with others. For example, from their suggestion airbnb can add tour or hiking to the service. With the experience, the users will always use the product and will recommend others to use the product or service.

The goal is to develop a product that gives high level of satisfaction to the users, that they automatically recommend others to use it.

The action point of this article is to ensure you ask for feedback when dealing with your customer. The feedback will help your business a great deal to develop an irresistible product in the market.

You already know; this is how Priceless and valuable the epic book ‘3S Rules’ is . I just share this article from the 3S Rules book. You can order your copy via any of the following platforms:

1.3S Rules eshop

2. 3S Rules Amazon

kindly drop your comment below as we discuss this interesting and valuable topic of product development. Subscribe to the newsletter to receive weekly business transforming articles and newsletters.


Originally published at https://3srules.com.

Progress Ibrahim

Written by

Progress is an entrepreneur, author and a keynote speaker. He is the author of the business model book captioned "3S Rules @3srules.com.

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