E36 Running the world's largest trust experiment with Couchsurfing founder Casey Fenton

ln this episode, Erasmus Elsner is talking to Casey Fenton, founder of Couchsurfing and Upstock, about the early days for Couchsurfing when Casey was pioneering what has since become known as the “sharing economy” and how is is now bringing the sharing economy to the cap table with Upstock.     00:00​​ Intro  01:13 The Couchsurfing proof-of-concept  02:46 The first Couchsurfing stay  03:49 501(c)3 non-profit status  06:34 The mechanics of the benchmark Series A  06:34 The mechanics of the benchmark Series A  08:27 The Couchsurfing MVP  10:38 The donation-based model  11:58 The demand side monetization model  15:34 The chicken-and-egg question  17:11 Casey’s philosophy on ego hacking  21:11 Building for the internet without ego  23:57 Upstock  28:34 Ideal customer moment  30:20 Switching costs  31:09 Competitors and integrations  33:40 Milestone-based equity kickers  35:03 Following Casey’s work