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I've seen a few people running this type of thing (in a much smaller scale) via Airbnb. They seem to mostly cater to people visiting the area that want to camp in Yosemite or similar but don't want to travel with all their own gear. I've thought about doing that since my gear sits in a closet most of the time.

Of course this is different. I like the idea. Good luck.

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That's right travelers are a segment of our users! The majority though, are folks who are not very outdoorsy but going for the first time and not interested in spending a ton of money upfront.

I know there are a lot of businesses sprouting in this arena, many of which are focused on the p2p aspect. One of the reasons we've so shied away from that is because we're worried that the very underlying behavior we're incentivizing is buying more stuff--once you figure out you can monetize it and make a profit. Not everyone can buy an apartment as an income generating property, but everyone can buy a tent.

At some point it might equilibriate out and have a net impact of lower consumption anyway, but it's harder to go this route when our mission is purely focused on reducing unnecessary consumption and changing cultural perception of need to buy.

Thanks for your thoughts!

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