CS Communication
A New Era for Couchsurfing
We started CouchSurfing with a crazy idea in mind. We thought that maybe, just maybe, the world could be changed one couch at a time. 5,766,182 inspiring experiences later, we couldn’t be more sure of it.
What you’ve done as a community has inspired us to take our mission and our vision to a whole new level. We want to understand what inspiring experiences are made of, so we can enable you to have more of them. We want to make CouchSurfing easier to use so that anyone who’s interested in changing the world one couch at a time will feel welcome here.
To accomplish this, we’re making a radical change in structure. As of today, CouchSurfing is proud to announce that we are joining the growing ranks of certified B Corporations.
What is a B Corporation?
As a B (Benefit) Corporation, CouchSurfing will be part of a group of innovative businesses that deliver products and services with a commitment to social and environmental responsibility, transparency, fair work conditions, and doing good for the world.
Video Info Center: CS and B Corp
What changes?
Expect to see lots of improvements to the website! Becoming a B Corporation allows us to get funding from investors who believe in what we do and want to see us achieve our vision. We’ve already received backing from Omidyar, the philanthropic investment firm behind Wikimedia and Kiva.org, and from Benchmark Capital, a respected firm with investments in social websites like Quora and Twitter. Their support will allow us to give you more of the features you’ve been asking for. When you look at the amazing way that this community has grown with a relatively basic set of tools, it’s really exciting to imagine what it will be like when you’ve got even better systems available to you.
What stays the same?
First of all, our mission and vision won’t change. Becoming a B Corporation makes us accountable to our core values. And you can check out the full audit that B Lab, the non-profit that issues B Corp certifications, recently completed of our social responsibility. We’re proud to say we scored a 106.8 — well over the 80 necessary to earn our certification, and above average for a company of our size.
Secondly, CouchSurfing will never make you pay to host and surf. It’s against our vision to exclude anyone from having inspiring experiences for financial reasons, and that’s not going to change just because our methods of generating revenue do.
Thank you, CouchSurfers!
Your participation in this project of ours has taken us from an idea to a community where people have life-changing experiences every day. CouchSurfing is always evolving. This is a whole new CouchSurfing era of amazing possibilities and a larger-than-ever chance of really making a difference in the world. We’re so glad to have you along for this new stage in our adventure together.
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/a-new-era-for-couchsurfing/
A letter from co-founder Casey Fenton
Dear CouchSurfers,
After Wednesday’s big announcement, I wanted to send you a personalmessage explaining what it means for CouchSurfing to have become a BCorporation, and how this will affect our global community.
Our goal isn’t to make CouchSurfing different. Our goal is to make CouchSurfing even better at what it already does. We tried hard for many years to be certified as a 501c(3) non-profit, but ultimately the US government didn’t accept that hosting and surfing are charitable activities. We needed to evolve to meet that reality, and B Corp is amodel that accomplishes the same support for our mission that we wanted from non-profit status. The core of who we are will never change. As we look into our future, I want to make three commitments to you:
— The CouchSurfing features that you use today will continue to be free. If you’re worried that we are going to start charging you tobe a part of the CouchSurfing community, don’t. We want a world where everyone can explore and connect, regardless of their financial situation.
— CouchSurfing’s top priority will always be to make this world a better place. We are as committed as ever to our mission, vision, and guiding principles. These will always come before any other concerns, including generating revenue. In fact, that’s the reason why we decided to become a B Corporation in the first place: B Corporations meet high standards of social responsibility towards the community, their employees, the environment and the world.
— Just because we’re not a non-profit doesn’t mean we’reactually “for” profit. CouchSurfing is not for sale, and money is no tour goal. We recognize that the community is what makes this movementreal and supporting it is what our organization is here for. Everyone on our staff is a CouchSurfing member, and we want to keep it that way.
I am personally committed to moving CouchSurfing closer and closer to our vision, without compromising the great way that we all experience our community today. I want to help as many people as I can be a part of our dream of a world where people appreciate each other’s differences —and have fun while doing it! I know that we can get there together.
If you’d like to share your thoughts or concerns about this moment in our history, you can reach me directly at casey.fenton@couchsurfing.org. I look forward to hearing from you and will do my best to reply as soonas possible. If you’d like more information about this new conversion, please check out my blog and these videos.
Thank you so much for being part of this adventure!
Casey Fenton
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/a-letter-from-co-founder-casey-fenton/
A letter from Dan Hoffer
Dear CouchSurfers,
This past year at CouchSurfing has been a unique one in our history. We’ve changed our legal structure. We shrank our team significantly (previously at 44 including part-time), and then grew it to around 35 people (roughly half in engineering). We opened our first real office, ever. We grew up a lot as an organization, adopting more internal structure and accountability than we’ve ever had. And we’re going to continue hiring experienced people at all levels of the organization, from the top to the bottom. But throughout all the changes, it has always been important to me to preserve the original CouchSurfing spirit, values, vision, and mission. After all, that’s why we all got involved in the first place.
As President of CouchSurfing International, the organization that supports the CS community, there are a number of areas I’d like to focus on improving. First, we need to make it easier for surfers and hosts to connect with one another. The ability to post travel plans, which gives hosts more ability to select when and who to host, was one of our first steps to address this issue. We’ve also just begun taking member suggestions on other ways to work on this problem.
Second, I think it is crucial that new members understand what CouchSurfing is really about. If we attract the wrong kinds of people, or the right kinds of people who have the wrong expectations, then we will lose some of our magic. So it’s important to grow with the right people and in the right ways.
And finally, we have plans to improve the reference system, release a mobile app, improve the speed and reliability of the website, enhance our user interface and usability, and more. There is no shortage of things to do, and it takes time to build everything we want to build, even with our newly expanded team. But we’re working hard and making progress every day!
I know that there has been a lot of change lately, and many of you are watching carefully to see where we’re going. It’s important to me that you know that our ideals as an organization have not changed. CouchSurfing has always been about something greater than just travel. It’s about human connection. It’s about experiences. It’s about finding friends, experiencing community, and expanding your horizons wherever you go. It’s about making the world a better place. I think we’re closer than we’ve ever been to that goal.
Happy surfing and big hugs from California,
Dan Hoffer
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/a-letter-from-dan-hoffer/
A letter from Casey
Dear Couch Surfers,
Thirteen years ago, CouchSurfing was nothing but an idea and a project that I worked on from home in the evenings and on weekends. Now CouchSurfing is woven into the lives of millions of people and we have a full-time staff of nearly 30 employees. I have actually been able to witness a dream become reality and grow into a movement that has changed my life, and the lives of many. I feel so very lucky and grateful to share this experience with you all.
I’m proud to see how much momentum this idea has gained, and I feel confident in the team that has been built to support it. Some of our staff members have been around since the earliest days of our community. Others are new to us and bring with them decades of experience in their fields. All of them are talented, committed people who have the expertise and the heart that the CouchSurfing community needs behind it. I see great things in store for the community.
With such a great team in place, from here on out Dan and I are stepping back from the day-to-day tasks involved in operating the company. We’ll still be very much involved, on a strategic level, in our roles as members of the Board of Directors. But it’s time for us to get some new ideas out into the world. For many years, we’ve put in countless hours of overtime building CouchSurfing. Now that it’s launched, we’re both looking forward to being creative once again. There are many ways to change the world, and we each have more projects that we’d like to see come to life.
One of those projects is CERI, the CouchSurfing Cultural Exchange Research Institute. The CouchSurfing community has demonstrated so much about the nature of trust, generosity, and friendship. There are lessons there that can have a huge amount of positive impact on the world. CERI will focus on concrete research that can help spread intercultural understanding and appreciation of diversity, based on those lessons. I’m very excited to get this new endeavor off the ground.
Dan and I are overflowing with love for this truly inspirational community and we’ll continue to do everything we can to ensure a great future for all of us. Naturally, there will be opportunities and challenges as we chart our course towards CS’s vision of a better world. That’s where we will always be involved: in making the best strategic decisions to support our community. I am proud that, as a socially-responsible B corp, we have a responsibility to our mission and values that goes beyond the scope of most companies. The magic that defines CouchSurfing is something that I believe in and will always champion.
I am grateful to each and every one of you for being part of this incredible movement, and I’m excited to keep adventuring with you. Thanks for dreaming with me!
Happy surfing,
Casey Fenton
Chairman, Board of Directors
CouchSurfing International
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/a-letter-from-casey/
Member Removal: Is Couchsurfing Censoring the Community by Removing Outspoken Members?
There’s a rumor circulating that Couchsurfing removes members because they are outspoken or don’t agree with the organization.
We have a passionate, involved, and vocal community. We absolutely do not remove member accounts for dissenting opinion. We haven’t, and we won’t.
Couchsurfing is a community of difference, tolerance, and cultural exchange. It’s our goal to do everything possible to promote the safety and wellbeing of all members.
As indicated in an earlier blog post by our Head of Safety, if a member has been removed by Couchsurfing, it’s typically for one of the following reasons:
We’ve received a safety-related report: When we receive credible information that a member is a safety threat to the community, we’ll remove the profile.
Member privacy has been violated: We’ll also remove members who attempt to violate other members’ privacy (by publicly posting user data, for example).
It’s a duplicate profile: Duplicate profiles don’t serve the community. When we find them, we remove them – this is the most common reason for profile removal.
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/member-removal-is-couchsurfing-censoring-the-community-by-removing-outspoken-members/
Changes at HQ
This morning, Couchsurfing’s leadership team announced some changes to the staff that we wanted to pass along to the community. A letter from Tony Espinoza:
Dear Couchsurfing –
Couchsurfing began as a global movement, and I am honored to have been part of its transformation into a mission-driven startup with a deep sense of purpose. The past 18 months serving as CEO have yielded some of the most meaningful and powerful experiences of my 20 year career building technology. Today as I step down as CEO I’m proud that Couchsurfing is poised for the future with a great team, substantial funding, strong investor backing, and a passionate, growing community.
I remain in awe of the CS community which has grown in every dimension, doubling in size to 7M members just since I joined the company. Along the way we raised significant financial support from investors who are aligned with the CS mission to make the world better through travel and travel richer through connection.
Late last year, I realized Couchsurfing’s rapid organic growth required that we crystalize and strengthen our core values — the foundation for everything we do. It was at this time that I reached out to long-time colleague, Jen Billock, whose proven track record as a compassionate startup leader made her the perfect candidate to focus on our community and transform the way we work from the inside out. She immediately championed the voice of the community and led key initiatives such as the new Ambassador program and an integrated approach to all communication channels, building the scaffolding for Couchsurfing’s evolving brand and member experience.
The board of directors and I are pleased to announce Jen’s appointment as interim CEO. The board will soon commence a search for a long-term CEO, and Jen has graciously accepted our request for her to step in at this important moment. We have a great deal of faith in her ability to lead the company through the next phase. I look forward to continuing to partner with her in the coming months as we double down on mobile and continue driving Couchsurfing’s mission.
Please join me in welcoming Jen to her new role!
Tony
A response from Couchsurfing’s interim CEO Jennifer Billock:
Thank you, Tony. I’m deeply grateful to have spent the past 11 months working so closely with you, and look forward to our continued work together.
And to the rest of the Couchsurfing team…
I came here to Couchsurfing to work with Tony. It’s not every day that one gets to work for a trusted friend and mentor. I am grateful to Tony for that fateful text message (I leapt at the opportunity via text before even speaking to him) because I landed a job that I knew I would LOVE, and it’s changed my life for the better in countless ways. I’m most grateful for being given the opportunity to work with such a talented team in service of Couchsurfing’s inspiring and passionate community. Working with a stellar team is what gets me up in the morning. And to be able to do that for Couchsurfing and its community has been both amazing and humbling. There is nothing in the world that I value more than the power of human connection, and, like a good tech start-up junkie, I believe in the power of technology to facilitate that and to make the world a more open place. Couchsurfing does that in profound ways. I have the pleasure of seeing it every day. Under Tony’s leadership, the global CS community has doubled, which has been incredible to watch.
I’m honored to be offered this opportunity, and to shepherd Couchsurfing, along with all of you, as the board conducts a search for a long-term CEO. Thanks for being here with me. I look forward to spending time with you all in the next few days as we continue to build momentum. My door is always open, and I’m always happy to talk, day or night.
Jen
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/changes-at-hq/
Couchsurfing HQ Leadership Update
Last October, I took on the role of Interim CEO during a time of extraordinary change at Couchsurfing. Since then I’ve been working with our team to address longstanding technical challenges. Our goal: to make the site easier to use and more helpful for members as they travel and connect.
Today I’m delighted to accept the Couchsurfing Board of Directors’ offer to remain the company’s CEO in the long term, and to welcome two extraordinary new members to the company’s board – experienced leaders who bring tremendous perspective and wisdom to our extended team.
The team at Couchsurfing HQ
Transitioning Couchsurfing from a community-organized global movement to a mission-driven technology company has been a challenging road, but the Couchsurfing community continues to thrive despite those challenges. Since October we’ve radically increased the stability of the website, built and shipped the first mobile updates in over two years (tripling the service’s daily mobile activity in just under two months), and begun the necessary process of (finally) rebuilding the service’s technologies from the ground up. The community is now 9 million strong.
In many ways, our work is just beginning. Delivering the world class service that the community deserves and building a sustainable business model that is in line with Couchsurfing’s core values will take time, dedication, focus, and a good amount of experimentation and learning.
Couchsurfing continues to benefit from the strong backing of top investors. Joel Cutler recently joined our Board of Directors, and today we’re delighted to welcome Erik Blachford, who will be joining Couchsurfing’s board as Executive Chairman.
Both Erik and Joel have extensive experience in and passion for the travel industry. They also bring a native understanding of how technology can be used to make travel experiences more personal and responsive. Joel sits on the boards of many consumer Internet companies, co-founded National Leisure Group (one of the largest travel technology and distribution companies in the U.S.) and served on the board at KAYAK. Erik – a former CEO at Expedia – advises numerous travel-related startups and sits on the boards of Zillow, Glassdoor and Choose Energy, among others. He has also served as president and CEO of Terrapass, IAC Travel and Butterfield & Robinson.
I couldn’t ask for better additions to our Board and look forward to continued success together. I’m thrilled to continue in this position and humbled by the acts of kindness that Couchsurfers around the world show each day.
– Jennifer
*Couchsurfing’s current Board of Directors includes: Couchsurfing founders Casey Fenton and Daniel Hoffer, Benchmark General Partner Matt Cohler, Managing Partner at General Catalyst Joel Cutler, travel industry veteran Erik Blachford and Couchsurfing CEO, Jennifer Billock.
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/leadership-update/
Ask the CEO: Revenue at Couchsurfing
When people ask me how Couchsurfing will make money, my answer is pretty simple: we’ll experiment with well-understood monetization models to see what works best for the community and the company. Experimenting means we’ll test, iterate and learn.
Couchsurfing’s revenue, at present, comes from its Verification service. Members have been asking for a long time about our plans for monetization. The answer wasn’t very illuminating but it was the truth: until now, we hadn’t been particularly focused on monetization.
Build a strong foundation first
When I started leading the company in 2013, the team and I determined that a full-scale re-write of Couchsurfing’s services was the only sensible way to move forward. That became our main (basically only) priority.
We now have a platform that we can iterate on, develop new features for and continue to improve. Without question, there’s a lot to do on the site and mobile apps. Here’s what we’re working on next.
Some of the tools Couchsurfers regularly request (such as web-based map search) cost money not only to develop but also to run on an ongoing basis. So building our revenue streams is an important part of building features.
Test and Learn
We’re beginning the process of building additional revenue streams for Couchsurfing.
There are three main ways that consumer Internet/mobile companies make money:
Freemium/subscription
Advertising
Transaction fees
You’ll see us begin experimenting with two of these in the near future:
Freemium/subscription – the Verification service that’s been offered to date falls into the “freemium” category. It’s an optional way to add to your Couchsurfing identity and improve the safety and trust of the network as a whole. We’ll begin making changes and upgrades.
Advertising – we’re testing display advertising. Some of you might see an ad soon!
We’ve run tests to help us build preliminary revenue models and understand Couchsurfing’s business potential in the past. We’re picking that work up again now.
We’ve previously said we wouldn’t focus on an advertising model – but it’s a sensible way for us to learn and begin creating additional revenue to fund the ongoing development of this service.
We’ll update you here as we progress.
– Jennifer Billock
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/ask-the-ceo-revenue-at-couchsurfing/
Product Update: Limited Introductions
When you are Couchsurfing, it’s not about the places you stay, but the people you meet. Couchsurfing can be the best way to create lifelong friendships and unforgettable adventures, but sometimes our hosts feel overwhelmed by impersonal requests from new community members.
To encourage our surfers to spend more time selecting hosts they’d like to meet and reading hosts’ information before sending a request, we will be limiting the number of messages and Couch Requests you can send. This change will be rolling out to all Couchsurfing members over the next few weeks.
Each member will have 10 “Introductions” they can use each week. An Introduction is used any time you initiate a conversation with a member for the first time with a message or Couch Request. Verified members are able to send unlimited Introductions.
We have been testing this system over the last few weeks and have seen that members with a limited number of Introductions have more success finding a Couchsurfing host than member with unlimited requests. In addition, we’ve received overwhelmingly positive feedback from hosts, who report that the Couch Requests they receive are warmer, more detailed, and more personal as members invest more time crafting each message.
How do I find a host with Limited Introductions?
Finding a host with Limited Introductions should be done in the same way as before. We encourage all members to follow the below steps to find an amazing host easily:
Completely fill out your profile. Your profile is the first impression you’ll give to both potential guests and hosts! Make it count. Fill out every section and include multiple pictures of yourself so that other Couchsurfing members have a good idea of who they are interacting with before they meet you.
Post a Public Trip. Once you have created a Public Trip, you will appear as a Traveler in that city during the dates you have specified. Hosts in that area receive email notifications about Travelers visiting that area, and can offer to host you.
Use the date filter. When you filter by your arrival and departure date, you will only see hosts that are available during your trip. Hosts that are already hosting, or have otherwise indicated that they are busy, will not appear in your search results.
Adjust other search filters. Click “More Filters” to narrow down your search results further. You can find hosts that have similar interests as you, or have qualifications you are looking for. To increase your chances of a response from your host, you may want to filter by “Last Login Date”.
Make sure that you meet your host’s Host Preferences. Be sure that you have read your host’s profile and My Home information, to ensure that you meet your host’s rules and preferences. Checking this before you send a Couch Request will increase your chances of being accepted by your host.
Write personalized requests. Let your host know that you respect and value their time by writing personalized requests that clearly explain why you want to meet them.
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/product-update-limited-introductions/
Couchsurfing needs your help
For over 14 years, the Couchsurfing community has been available to anyone who wants to meet new people, see new places and gain a greater perspective on their world. Our community – your community – unites people in real life to celebrate their shared human experience. Couchsurfing members spend time getting to know one another through the places they love and the lives they live, fully embracing their differences. True, global acceptance and understanding – especially of people unlike ourselves – cannot happen without the type of in-person encounters that come from participating in the Couchsurfing community. Without your immediate help, all of this will be in jeopardy.
The COVID-19 global pandemic is severely impacting your beloved Couchsurfing community and we are facing a crisis unlike any other in our history. Due to the economic downturn and the direct impact on travel, the sources of funding for Couchsurfing have been depleted and we have no other option than to turn to you, the community, for support.
We have reduced the size of our team, taken pay cuts, eliminated or renegotiated all contracts, eliminated our physical office space (we are now a 100% remote workforce), and applied for COVID-19 relief funds provided by the United States Government through the CARES Act. Unfortunately, this will not be enough and we will soon be unable to meet our financial obligations.
As of May 14, 2020, we are asking for member contributions of $2.39 per month, or $14.29 per year if paid upfront, to keep Couchsurfing alive. This member contribution is required to access the Couchsurfing website and mobile applications. Your member contributions will be used to support Couchsurfing through the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond, and to continue keeping this community safe. This is a decision of last resort, and not one taken lightly.
The reality is that over 96% of the community provides no financial support to Couchsurfing because we have not asked for it. Couchsurfing also generates only a few thousand dollars per month from advertising. Clearly this is unsustainable in the current environment. This decision to ask for member contributions was based on internal conversations among team members and advisors, conversations and input from Couchsurfing Ambassadors, and input provided by thousands of members. We are grateful for their perspectives and assurances that the Couchsurfing community will want to contribute in this way to keep Couchsurfing alive. We want to thank everyone who made the time to participate in the decision making process.
There is good news:
Your contribution will enable those in “unbanked” and developing countries to maintain free access to the Couchsurfing community. The diversity of the Couchsurfing community is what unites us. It is imperative, especially during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, that we demonstrate compassion and inclusion to those who may be economically unable to participate.
We will remove all limits on messages and Couch requests. We want the community to continue to thrive. Having access to the Couchsurfing community during this time is a way to stay connected and engaged. Please continue to participate in Couchsurfing.
We will remove third-party advertising from the website and mobile applications. Advertisements were implemented by Couchsurfing in 2014 out of necessity. We feel that this business is at odds with the Couchsurfing ethos. Couchsurfing has never sold member data to third parties which could have generated lucrative advertising revenue. In 2018 we extended large portions of European standards for privacy rights to our entire community. We can now proudly take this a step further and commit to no longer relying on corporate advertisers.
We will reduce the price of Verification. While the price of Verification is seemingly high, the services we provide as part of Verification also come with significant costs. Our goal is to significantly lower the price of Verification so that is more accessible for more of the community. Couchsurfing members who purchased Verification prior to these changes will not need to contribute for one year beginning May 14, 2020. No action is needed to receive this benefit.
We will continue to evolve the Couchsurfing website and mobile applications. This includes better messaging and notifications, a virtually bug-free experience, maps, showcasing the Couchsurfing community, and enabling Couchsurfing to support other organizations that share the same values and mission as Couchsurfing.
If you believe that the world is a better place with Couchsurfing, we are asking for your support. Every member of Couchsurfing believes in something greater than money, possessions, and status. It took over 14 years for the Couchsurfing community to come together. Without your immediate help, this community will be lost forever.
If you know of anyone who wants to promote and uphold the Couchsurfing ideals, we ask that you speak with them about Couchsurfing and to encourage them to join Couchsurfing and participate in the Couchsurfing community.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please contact Couchsurfing Support via support@couchsurfing.com
Thank you for the opportunity to support you and the Couchsurfing community.
The Couchsurfing Team
https://blog.couchsurfing.com/couchsurfing-needs-your-help
Note: Remember August 27, 2011 ?
"The CouchSurfing features that you use today will continue to be free. If you’re worried that we are going to start charging you to be a part of the CouchSurfing community, don’t. We want a world where everyone can explore and connect, regardless of their financial situation."
Casey Fenton