strange, the post doesn't mention how in the beginning Airbnb was spamming the short-term rental posters on Craigslist https://www.businessinsider.com/airbnb-harvested-craigslist-...

"[...]he placed a vacation rental on Craigslist [...] Hours later, he had an email from a young lady who said that Airbnb was a great site, and that he should list his rental on it. She included a direct link in case he wanted to check it out for himself."

If i remember correctly similar strategy of leaching off of competitor worked for FB when they got AOL IM friends lists.