My View: City Airbnb rules should help local entrepreneurs find their place in Portland’s economy

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, June 10, 2014

In 2011, I graduated from Oregon Health & Science University with a doctorate in neuroscience. After six years in graduate school, I was eager to finally become the scientist I had aspired to be since childhood.

Unfortunately, I soon learned that I had graduated into one of the worst funding climates in a generation and the postdoctoral fellowship positions that were my logical next step had all but evaporated. After nearly a year of searching I had no choice but to pound the pavement to look for anything.

I applied for more than a hundred jobs, many not related to my field — from bartender to barista — with little luck. Not only was I unemployed, but I was close to homelessness.

And then I discovered Airbnb. I lived in a charming Victorian-era apartment building near the Pearl District in one of the most vibrant cities in America. The income I earned by sharing my home literally saved me from losing my apartment.

I had a Murphy bed, so at times guests stayed with me; other times they rented the entire place while I camped outdoors and enjoyed the beautiful Pacific Northwest. I meticulously vetted my guests before accepting reservations, and there has never been a problem. I’ve even made lasting friendships.

Sharing my home through Airbnb not only allowed my survival through an extremely challenging economic crisis, it also allowed me the personal liberty I needed to pursue a career as a biomedical research entrepreneur.

Together, with fellow OHSU-trained neuroscientist Dr. Julia Perederiy, I started a company called Cynvest. Just as Airbnb connects the resources of hosts to the needs of travelers, Cynvest connects passion-driven philanthropic sponsors with top scientists that need funding to discover the next treatments and cures to diseases. We are a company that builds bridges to facilitate scientific progress — truly an entrepreneurial Portland company.

I hope our City Council passes short-term rental legislation that enables people like me in apartments to share our homes and makes it simple and easy to do so. If it weren’t for my guests, I might not still live in Portland, I may not have had the economic means or the liberty to create and start my company in Portland, and I know I’m not the only one that could say such things.

I hope Portland realizes how homesharing keeps innovators, artists, freelancers, families, scientists, entrepreneurs — and everyone that makes our community so unique and special — in the city we are so proud to call home.

Dustin Johnsen is founder of Cynvest, a Portland company that seeks to recruit funding for high-risk/high-reward

biomedical research.