how these 5 famous founders came up with their startup ideas

Andy Stofferis • Jan 10, 2025 • 11 min read

Ever wondered how the founders of Airbnb, Stripe, XOLO, Wise and Bumble thought up their famous startup ideas? Here are the fascinating stories.

Infographic with headshots of famous founders of Wise, AirBNB, Stripe and Bumble

Do you have an innovative idea for a new business or startup? For anyone starting out on a new entrepreneurial journey, it can be inspirational to learn more about how famous founders came up with ideas for their startups.

By finding out more about the startup success of companies like Bumble, Airbnb, Stripe, Xolo and Wise, you can distil key elements of what it takes to grow and succeed as a startup.

One of the most important elements of startup success is choosing the right place to develop, incorporate and launch your company. It can be helpful to weigh up the pros and cons of different startup locations like Delaware, Singapore, Portugal, Ireland and Estonia. It can also be helpful to consider opportunities like the Estonian e-⁠Residency program that enables a range of benefits to startups.

Below we take a deep dive into five startups and how they managed to achieve global success through innovation, determination, and disrupting the status quo.

Airbnb
Wise
Stripe
Bumble
Xolo

1. Airbnb

Founders: Brian Chesky, Joe Gebbia, Nathan Blecharczyk
Founded in: 2008
What Airbnb is famous for: Airbnb is famous around the world for being one of the most popular peer-to-peer travel platforms. According to Airbnb, the platform has “grown to over 5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2 billion guest arrivals in almost every country across the globe.”
Website: Airbnb

How the founders came up with their startup ideas

Two of the founders, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, were roommates in San Francisco back in 2007. As one of the most expensive cities in the USA in which to live, they struggled to pay their rent and decided to rent out mattresses to help cover their monthly expenses.

They did this by creating a simple website and marketing their ‘air mattresses’ to attendees of a local design conference being held in San Francisco. In addition to renting a mattress they also provided breakfast and hospitality. The idea worked and this sparked their interest in developing the concept as a global business idea.

A year later, Nathan Blecharczyk joined them to help develop their concept and business model. Airbnb’s disruptive new business model was able to change the hospitality industry around the world, enabling people to rent out their homes or rooms to travellers.

Airbnb is now active in over 220 countries with millions of hosts dotted around the globe. The company is incorporated in Delaware and headquartered in San Francisco, with its Class A common stock trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market from 2020.

Airbnb’s startup success factors

Below are a few of the reasons why Airbnb succeed as a startup:

When Airbnb launched, it was one of the first peer-to-peer global accommodation booking sites, which gave it a unique and innovative business model that was able to disrupt many traditional travel and accommodation business models. This unique offering and the high demand for affordable and unique accommodation, helped drive early success. It was able to empower home owners everywhere to transform their houses into guest accommodation and connect guests directly with hosts.
By creating features that foster trust in platform and community, Airbnb was able to grow and expand. These trust-enabling features include reviews, guarantees and host protection insurance.
Leveraging advanced technology and driving technological innovation has also been a cornerstone of Airbnb’s success. This helped drive continuous enhancements of its platform and usability, creating a better user experience. Airbnb has also leveraged advanced AI and analytics to optimise search and booking processes, which make it easier for people to find and book stays.

2. Wise

Founders: Taavet Hinrikus, Kristo Käärmann
Founded in: 2011
What Wise is famous for: Wise is a global technology company that is known for disrupting traditional banking by offering innovative money transfer services in 160 countries that help people and businesses (including e-⁠residents) save money and speed up transfer times, while offering transparency in how they operate. Wise (formerly Transferwise) is famous for being an Estonian unicorn: despite being legally registered in the UK, it is deeply connected with Estonia's business and startup ecosystem with both founders being Estonian.
Website: Wise

How the founders came up with their startup idea

Taavet Hinrikus and Kristo Käärmann are two of the most famous founders in the world, both of whom are Estonian. They founded Wise in 2011, with the business idea coming from both founders’ frustrations with transferring money internationally and being charged such high fees to do so.

This sparked the idea to create a way of exchanging money into different currencies, using real exchange rates and avoiding using banks, as a way of reducing the costs and speeding up transborder money transfers. By doing so, Wise managed to disrupt the traditional bank-based business model.

The company’s head office is in the United Kingdom where it is legally registered, but it also has a large office in Tallinn, Estonia.

Wise went public in 2021 and is now one of the largest peer-to-peer financial institutions, processing billions each month in transactions. Interestingly, it is also the first company in the history of London Stock Exchange to use a direct listing rather than use an initial public offering (IPO) off its stock.

Wise’s success has made both founders Estonia’s first billionaires, with shares in the company being valued at over a billion British pounds each.

Wise’s startup success factors

Below are a few of the reasons why Wise succeed as a startup:

One of the reasons for Wise's success is that the founders were able to provide a solution to a real world problem experienced by millions of people and businesses all over the world. This meant that there was a massive market for their innovative idea from the start, with people all over the world wanting to make international money transfers more cost-effectively, simply and with added transparency.
Their ability to disrupt traditional financial models using a peer-to-peer business model, means that they could cut costs and make money transfers more efficient. They also harnessed technology and innovation from the start, which meant they have been able to continuously improve their platform and use automation, machine learning and other tech to ensure efficient, safe, reliable money transfers.
Wise focused on building a strong and recognisable brand that was centred on being radically transparent with customers as a way of winning their trust and loyalty. By focusing on their customer needs and being responsive and engaging with their customers, they were able to build a community of loyal users.

As a key provider of business banking accounts to e-residents, Wise is also a member of the e-Residency Marketplace. Learn more about business banking for e-residents here:

Salary invoices and taxes documents in EU illustration

Access business banking and payment solutions

For your Estonian company: pay and get paid for your hard work. Make international transfers, work in different currencies, or set up an online store.

3. Stripe

Founders: Patrick Collison, John Collison
Founded in: 2010
What Stripe is famous for: Stripe is known as one of the world’s leading payment processors. Processing over $1 trillion each year, it’s valued at over $65 billion, making it one of the most valuable venture-backed private companies in the world.
Website: Stripe

How the founders came up with the idea of starting Stripe

Stripe is another example of startup success. Founded by two brothers, this financial services company was borne out of the famous founders’ first-hand experience with complex online payment systems and the desire to make them more simple and effective.

Realising how challenging many existing payment processors were to create and use, they spotted a gap in the market. This inspired the creation of Stripe to try and provide a more simple and streamlined online payment process.

Given that e-commerce and online payments were at the time starting to boom, providing an efficient and developer-friendly way to process online payments provided a welcome solution for many merchants and businesses around the globe.

Stripe’s co-founding brothers became the world's youngest self-made billionaires after attracting significant private investment into the company.

Stripe’s startup success factors

Below are a few of the reasons why Stripe succeed as a startup:

From the start, Stripe focused on providing a developer-friendly product so that website developers could easily integrate Stripe’s payment processing tools into their websites. This, together with integrations, made it easy for Stripe to be adopted and used by people around the world, especially startups and businesses.
Stripe was able to attract significant funding from venture capitalists and in 2021 raised $600 million in a funding round. This has helped it to scale and become one of the world’s largest fintech companies.
Online payments need to be made securely, and having the most robust security systems are necessary requirements to create trust and loyalty. Stripe has been committed to ensuring strong security and compliance to help protect sensitive financial information and privacy. This has resulted in many users trusting their system and remaining loyal customers.

4. Bumble

Founders: Whitney Wolfe Herd
Founded in: 2014
What Bumble is famous for: Bumble is famous for revolutionising online dating by introducing a female-first approach, where only women can initiate conversations in heterosexual matches. It also expanded into networking and friendship-building through Bumble Bizz and Bumble BFF.
Website: Bumble

How the founder came up with the idea of starting Bumble

After leaving her role as a co-founder at Tinder, the now famous founder of Bumble Whitney Wolfe Herd wanted to create a platform that addressed gender dynamics in online dating.

Recognising the need for a safer, more empowering space, she launched Bumble with the idea of giving women control in initiating conversations. Wolfe Herd drew inspiration from her personal experiences and a broader cultural movement towards equality and respect, aiming to challenge traditional dating norms.

As of 2021, Bumble had over 100 million users worldwide and achieved a historic milestone when founder Whitney Wolfe Herd became the youngest woman to take a company public, with Bumble's IPO valuing the company at over $8 billion.

Bumble's startup success factors

Below are a few of the reasons why Bumble succeeded as a startup:

By letting women make the first move, Bumble distinguished itself from competitors with a unique value proposition and addressed a key pain point for users.
Wolfe Herd’s personal story and the app’s mission-drive commitment to inclusivity and empowerment resonated strongly with its audience.
Beyond dating, Bumble broadened its appeal by adding features for networking and friendship, thereby establishing itself as more than a dating app and expanding its market.

5. Xolo

Founders: Erik Mell, Erko Hansar, Urmo Pärg, Avo Alender
Year Founded: 2015
What Xolo is famous for: Xolo is known for being a virtual office solution for solopreneurs, providing business setup, invoicing, accounting, taxation and compliance services to help solo businesses scale and grow. To date, it boasts over 130,000 clients from 150 countries and is predicted to be one of Estonia’s next unicorns.
Website: Xolo

How the founders came up with their vision for Xolo

Xolo’s origin story is that of four friends with a mix of skills who had a vision for creating a successful business.

Xolo was initially launched as LeapIN and later changed its name to Xolo. This virtual office company was started by a group of co-founders from Estonia, who each had personal experience as an entrepreneur or freelancer.

Original LeapIN team — The original LeapIN team. Source: Estonian World

The founders identified several key challenges that many small businesses, freelancers and entrepreneurs experience when starting and running their companies, namely accounting, tax filing, and establishing a company.

As increasing numbers of people were using e-Residency to establish companies in Estonia, this provided additional demand for their services aimed at helping non-Estonians manage their EU-based companies online. This gave them the inspiration to found Xolo and offer a platform to help manage small businesses from anywhere by leveraging Estonia’s advanced digital infrastructure.

Xolo’s startup success factors

Below are a few of the reasons why Xolo succeed as a startup:

Xolo was created in response to a need from freelancers, digital nomads, and small businesses to have their business formation and administration managed more efficiently and effectively. Given that there are hundreds of thousands of freelancers, digital nomads and small businesses globally, this meant that their services had a large potential customer base. Xolo managed to attract a global customer base and now provides services in over 150 countries worldwide
In response to the burgeoning rise in remote work and digital nomad, Xolo has been able to provide a solution that supports the digital nomad movement. This has led to it being a go-to solution for many location independent businesses.
By forming strategic partnerships with a range of business services providers, Xolo has been able to enhance their service offering and provide a range of integrated services on the platform like banking and payment processing.

Xolo was also an early supporter and partner of e-Residency, which allows entrepreneurs from around the world to start a business in Estonia easily, seamlessly and 100% online. Xolo is one of the longest-standing members of the e-⁠Residency Marketplace.

Xolo recently started offering services to e-commerce businesses for the first time. Read more on the blog:

An accountant's checklist to starting an e-commerce business

Xolo offers this checklist to help e-commerce entrepreneurs streamline operations, manage finances effectively, and build a strong, sustainable business strategy

This article was written by guest contributor and seasoned digital nomad Andy Stofferis (www.andysto.com).

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how these 5 famous founders came up with their startup ideas

Table of Contents

1. Airbnb