It's not looking for a way to tear them down, it's having a critical eye. For example, read this paragraph:
> they said the biggest surprise was how many of the hosts were in the same position they’d been in: they needed this money to pay their rent.
Twelve years later, Airbnb has been a very relevant factor in the increase of prices of rentals in a lot of major cities. People still can't pay their rent, although this time Airbnb is not precisely helping. You can also take a look at this other paragraph:
> But something surprising happened: they enjoyed having those first three guests staying with them. And the guests enjoyed it too. Both they and the guests had done it because they were in a sense forced to, and yet they’d all had a great experience.
Most listings you find now on Airbnb are full rentals, no sharing experience at all. Basically a page for booking hotels and apartments, only they don't care if you're doing it illegally.
So no, for a lot of people they are not an inspiration. In fact, for me, it is the perfect representation of what is wrong with the current tech world: capable people with good ideas and good intentions (let's assume) who just abandon those ideas and intentions in the road to making absurd amounts of money, and who will take advantage of morally grey (and even morally wrong) areas with no regard for real world consequences.
> they said the biggest surprise was how many of the hosts were in the same position they’d been in: they needed this money to pay their rent.
Twelve years later, Airbnb has been a very relevant factor in the increase of prices of rentals in a lot of major cities. People still can't pay their rent, although this time Airbnb is not precisely helping. You can also take a look at this other paragraph:
> But something surprising happened: they enjoyed having those first three guests staying with them. And the guests enjoyed it too. Both they and the guests had done it because they were in a sense forced to, and yet they’d all had a great experience.
Most listings you find now on Airbnb are full rentals, no sharing experience at all. Basically a page for booking hotels and apartments, only they don't care if you're doing it illegally.
So no, for a lot of people they are not an inspiration. In fact, for me, it is the perfect representation of what is wrong with the current tech world: capable people with good ideas and good intentions (let's assume) who just abandon those ideas and intentions in the road to making absurd amounts of money, and who will take advantage of morally grey (and even morally wrong) areas with no regard for real world consequences.