CouchSurfing

Couchsurfing was conceived by computer programmer and New Hampshire native Casey Fenton in 1999, when he was 21 years old.{{cite news |url=https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220724 |title=How CouchSurfing Got its Start, and Landed VC Millions |first=Gwen |last=Moran |work=Entrepreneur |date=9 December 2011}} 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. 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.{{cite web |url=https://whois.domaintools.com/couchsurfing.com |title=Whois Record for CouchSurfing.com}} Fenton was also inspired by a trip he took 2 years earlier to Egypt, where he was shown around by a local.

Couchsurfing International Inc. was formed on 2 April 2003 as a New Hampshire nonprofit corporation,{{cite web |url=https://quickstart.sos.nh.gov/online/BusinessInquire/BusinessInformation?businessID=126502 |title=Business Information: COUCHSURFING INTERNATIONAL INC. |publisher=New Hampshire Department of State}} with plans to apply for 501(c)(3) tax exemption.

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

File:CS Headquarters in SF .jpg

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. Collectives took place in Montreal, Vienna, New Zealand, Rotterdam, Costa Rica, Samara, Alaska, Istanbul, and Thailand.{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCfrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA190 |title=Encyclopedia of Social Networks |first=George A. |last=Barnett |publisher=SAGE Publications |date=7 September 2011 | isbn=9781506338255 }} 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. The collectives were also hindered by volunteers, who just came to party, as well as by tax laws in each jurisdiction.

In June 2006, problems with the website database resulted in much of it being irrevocably lost.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vQx4CgAAQBAJ&pg=PA295 |title=Handbook of Research on Global Hospitality and Tourism Management |first=Angelo A. |last=Camillo |publisher=IGI Global |date=17 August 2015|isbn=9781466686076 }}{{cite news |url=https://techcrunch.com/2006/06/29/couchsurfing-deletes-itself-shuts-down/ |title=CouchSurfing Deletes Itself, Shuts Down |publisher=TechCrunch |last=Arrington |first=Michael |date=29 June 2006}} Founder Casey Fenton posted online asking for help.{{cite web |url=https://forums.mysql.com/read.php?28,99328,99328#msg-99328 |first=Casey |last=Fenton |title=Help! - Innodb and MyISAM accidental DROP DATABASE – 112 tables gone forever? |website=forums.mysql.com |date=28 June 2006}} 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. In 2007, Google search volume for couchsurfing.org overtook the search volume for Hospitality Club.{{cite conference |doi=10.1109/ICDMW.2015.239 |title=Hospitality Exchange Services as a Source of Spatial and Social Data? |year=2015 |author1=Rustam Tagiew |author2=Dmitry I. Ignatov |author3=Radhakrishnan Delhibabu |conference=(IEEE) International Conference on Data Mining Workshop (ICDMW) |pages=1125–1130 |place=Atlantic City|arxiv=1412.8700 }}

The company applied for 501(c)(3) tax status as a nonprofit organization in November 2007 but tax exempt status was rejected by the Internal Revenue Service in early 2011.{{cite news |url=https://www.inc.com/magazine/201206/issie-lapowsky/couchsurfing-new-profit-model.html |title=Couchsurfing Dilemma: Going for Profit |work=Inc. |first=Issie |last=Lapowesky |date=29 May 2012}}{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WyBTCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT684 |title=Small Business Management: Launching & Growing Entrepreneurial Ventures |first1=Justin G. |last1=Longenecker |first2=J. William |last2=Petty |first3=Leslie E. |last3=Palich |first4=Frank |last4=Hoy |publisher=Cengage |date=15 January 2016|isbn=9781305405745 }} The assets then needed to be acquired from the New Hampshire non-profit, which including legal fees, was to cost $1 million. In August 2011, a private for-profit Delaware C corporation, also called Couchsurfing International, Inc., which was formed on 3 May 2011,{{cite web |url=https://icis.corp.delaware.gov/Ecorp/EntitySearch/NameSearch.aspx |title=State of Delaware corporate entity search – enter "couchsurfing"}}{{cite web |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoleperlroth/2011/08/24/non-profit-couchsurfing-raises-millions-in-funding/ |title=Non-Profit CouchSurfing Raises Millions In Funding |work=Forbes |first=Nicole |last=Perlroth |date=24 August 2011}} raised $7.6 million in a first-round financing led by Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network and acquired the assets of the New Hampshire company.{{cite press release |url=https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110825005488/en/CouchSurfing-Raises-7.6-Million-Series-Benchmark-Capital |title=CouchSurfing Raises $7.6 Million in Series A From Benchmark Capital and Omidyar Network to Expand Services and Fuel Growth in Cultural Exchange Network |publisher=PR Newswire |date=25 August 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://venturebeat.com/2011/08/24/benchmark-couchsurfing/ |title=Benchmark plops down $7.6M to make Couchsurfing into a for-profit |first=Dylan |last=Tweney |work=VentureBeat |date=24 August 2011}}{{cite news |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/couchsurfing-just-closed-a-76-million-round-of-funding-2011-8 |title=CouchSurfing Just Closed A $7.6 Million Round Of Funding |first=Matt |last=DeLuca |work=Business Insider |date=30 August 2011}} The New Hampshire non-profit company was dissolved on 4 November 2011.

The conversion to a for-profit corporation was objected to by many members since the guiding principles of the original non profit organisation promised that CouchSurfing operates as a nonprofit, a promise that was broken by Fenton and Hoffer. Founder Casey Fenton said he received 1,500 emails in the days after announcing the conversion.

The company was briefly certified as a B corporation (mistakenly labeled as a Benefit corporation in a blog post by Casey Fenton),{{cite web |url=https://blog.couchsurfing.com/a-new-era-for-couchsurfing/|title=A New Era For Couchsurfing|date=24 August 2011 |publisher=Couchsurfing}} but that certification was eventually removed.{{cite web|date=14 September 2011|title=Myths and Facts: Couchsurfing's conversion to a B Corp|url=https://blog.couchsurfing.com/myths-and-facts-couchsurfings-conversion-to-a-b-corp/|publisher=Couchsurfing}}{{cite news |url=https://www.bizjournals.com/portland/blog/sbo/2012/01/couchsurfing-becomes-a-b-corp.html |title=CouchSurfing becomes a B Corp. |work=American City Business Journals |date=January 27, 2012}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2011/aug/26/couchsurfing-investment-budget-travel |title=Not-for-profit Couchsurfing becomes a company (with a conscience) |first=Vicky |last=Baker |work=The Guardian |date=August 26, 2011}}

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.{{cite web |title=CouchSurfing Raises $15 Million Series B From General Catalyst Partners, Menlo Ventures, Others |url=https://techcrunch.com/2012/08/22/couchsurfing-raises-15-million-series-b-from-general-catalyst-partners-others/ |first=Billy |last=Gallagher |publisher=TechCrunch |date=22 August 2012}} That year, the company launched mobile apps for iOS and Android.{{cite news |title=Couchsurfing your way to a free place to stay |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/columnist/talkingtech/2013/10/12/talking-tech-couchsurfing/2959867/ |first=Jefferson |last=Graham |work=USA Today |date=12 October 2013}}

Tony Espinoza, previously vice president and general manager of social-network games at MTV, was CEO from April 2012 to October 2013.{{cite news |title=CouchSurfing CEO steps down amid layoffs, uncertainty |url=https://www.phocuswire.com/CouchSurfing-CEO-steps-down-amid-layoffs-uncertainty |work=Phocuswire |first=Nick |last=Vivion |date=11 October 2013}} Under his leadership, driven by an aggressive advertising campaign, membership doubled; however, new users were less interested in hosting other travelers and in the "pay it forward" spirit of other members. Tensions between Fenton and Espinoza led to Fenton being fired from the company he founded, although at that time, he kept his seat on the board of directors. The company rented office space in San Francisco.{{Cite news | url=https://www.cnbc.com/2016/02/12/couchsurfings-awesome-sf-workspace.html | title=Office Envy: Inside CouchSurfing's San Francisco workspace | work=CNBC | date=February 12, 2016}} By the end of Espinoza's tenure, the company had depleted half of its financing and laid off 40% of its staff.

File:Jennifer Billock, CEO Couchsurfing, at Sharers Talk.jpg

Jennifer Billock, who had been head of product marketing, then took over as CEO.{{cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/10/tony-espinoza-steps-down-as-ceo-of-couchsurfing-jen-billock-steps-up-as-interim-as-startup-lays-off-staff-doubles-down-on-mobile/ |title=Tony Espinoza Steps Down As CEO Of Couchsurfing, Jennifer Billock Steps Up As Interim As Startup Lays Off Staff, "Doubles Down" On Mobile | first=Ingrid | last=Lunden |publisher=TechCrunch | date=10 October 2013}}

In 2015, Couchsurfing required additional funding but did not have the metrics to raise a Series C round. Instead, the company received funding from Dugan Katragadda, a branch of Valencia Street Capital,{{cite news | url=https://sec.report/CIK/0001648249 | title=Dugan Katragadda, L.P. | publisher=U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission | date=10 October 2020}} led by Patrick Dugan (born 1980), who previously worked for NetSuite, Piper Jaffray, Palantir Technologies and Practice Fusion, an electronic medical records company.{{Cite web | url=https://pitchbook.com/profiles/person/45266-59P#overview |title=Patrick Dugan Overview | publisher=Morningstar, Inc.}} Dugan's investment was large enough to reconstitute the board of directors. Casey Fenton was removed from the board of directors due to differences with management and has since no longer been involved in the day-to-day operations of the company.{{cite news | url=https://www.inputmag.com/features/rise-and-ruin-of-couchsurfing |title=Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com | first=Andrew | last=Fedorov |work=Input | publisher=Bryan Goldberg | date=September 15, 2021}} Fenton later founded Upstock Inc..{{Cite web |title=The Story of Couchsurfing.com with Founder Casey Fenton |url=https://www.under30experiences.com/blog/the-story-of-couchsurfing-com-with-founder-casey-fenton |access-date=2025-05-25 |website=Under 30 Experiences}}{{bsn|date=May 2025}}

In June 2016, the company added a feature to its mobile app called "hangouts" that enables members to quickly meet with other nearby members.{{cite news |url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/travel/2016/06/23/couchsurfing-to-introduce-new-hangout-feature.html |title=Couchsurfing to introduce new "hangout" feature | first=NI NYOMAN |last=WIRA |work=The Jakarta Post |date=23 June 2016}}

In May 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the company switched to a subscription business model requiring users in some countries to pay a fee to access the platform.{{cite news |last=Ferrarese |first=Marco |date=24 June 2020 |title=Pandemic hits 'couchsurfing' travel bug |work=Nikkei Asian Review |url=https://asia.nikkei.com/Editor-s-Picks/Tea-Leaves/Pandemic-hits-couchsurfing-travel-bug}}

• Altruism
• Gift economy
• Hospitality
• List of hospitality exchange services
• Reputation system

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Couchsurfing}}

{{Wiktionary|couch surf}}

• {{Official website|https://www.couchsurfing.com/}}

{{Sharing economy}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}

Category:Hospitality exchange services

Category:Hospitality companies established in 2003

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Category:Social planning websites

Category:Commodification