CouchSurfing vs Valence

I stayed with Chiara, and Lorenzo. They were such great hosts from making me feel welcome, to great conversations; and great food! I had a great experience with couch surfing, and recommend it to anyone!

- Erica A.

"Great concept, UX and UI could use some work. I think the site could be wildly more popular." What do you like best about CouchSurfing? I like the camaraderie and openness - it's a good feeling to know there are generous and friendly people in the world. I often check the site when traveling. I think the site could be wildly more popular if the design was better looking and had a more unique look and navigation that had an easier flow. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about CouchSurfing? It's all about the flow of the site, I do wish it was more Airbnb streamlined and easy to navigate and less craigslist. It's a challenge navigating from one profile to another - it would be great if once you click on a user's profile you could then navigate to another without having to go back. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering CouchSurfing: It's a great site for expanding your networking and creating a community in a new area. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is CouchSurfing solving and how is that benefiting you? again knowing that there are good, honest, warm people around is just amazingly comforting even if you don't actually meet them.

- Jen L.

"CouchSurfed during a motorcycle trip from Virginia to Texas" What do you like best about CouchSurfing? The CouchSurfing community is incredibly welcoming and friendly. I enjoyed the feeling of staying with a friend versus staying in a hotel or even an AirBNB. I made new friendships, bonded with my hosts and learned about lifestyles & interests that were new to me. Hanging out to watch TV, or meet hosts' friends over a beer are memories that will last forever. They added to my trips in ways I didn't anticipate. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What do you dislike about CouchSurfing? The only real downside is it can take a lot of effort to find a bite for hosts. The amount of inquiries and connections needed for a single stay may be daunting for some users. Given the nature of hosting a stranger for free on your couch, it's not terribly surprising though. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. Recommendations to others considering CouchSurfing: Forget any stigma about staying on a stranger's couch. It's not shady or weird or icky. It's a great way to meet people and make lasting friendships. Review collected by and hosted on G2.com. What problems is CouchSurfing solving and how is that benefiting you? There are a few problems that were solved with CouchSurfing: Price/Budget - having somebody host you overnight for free, especially on their sofa is a huge benefit to keeping long road trip budgets in check. With a light pack and some smart food planning, lodging becomes one of, if not the biggest expense. Cutting that out helps make long bike trips affordable. Location - With most road trips, there may not be as many lodging or AirBNB options available in certain areas. I found that basing my trips around CouchSurfing destinations added interesting stops to the trip. Adventure/Interest/Bonding - Hotels and AirBNBs are fine for getting a roof over your head for the night. But I loved the personal connections that I made with my hosts. They were friendly, warm, and opened up their extended friend network to me. The memories from those connections made every trip better.

- Aaron G.

Most of us live in capitalist-driven societies where money and results are the only viable outcomes. Thus discriminating is not a viable strategy. Rejecting a great talent because he is black is stupid in a capitalist driver society but it should be allowed nonetheless. In this case, a competitor is going to hire him or her and make a profit. I can't recommend this type of product who are gravitating toward racism and racial segregation. I can't recommend this type of product because they are defying science. Do you want to support racial neutrality? We have a solution! In fact, we have known this solution for thousand of years. It's called double-blind testing. Developing a platform to ease the process of double-blind interviews would be a good step towards selecting great talents without any racial biases. When I review a product, I always wonder: "Could I explain this to my 5 years old kid?" In this case, I can't. I have been thinking about it for a few minutes, I can't teach my kid about acceptance, efforts and being neutral regarding races while trying to explain the existence of a marketplace exclusively for black people. I was not able to come up with a good reason. This promotes racial segregation.

- Swann Polydor

Companies in all industries, including those in the innovation economy, are actively working to address the underrepresentation of Black executives in their boardroom in the C-Suite. We’re excited to partner with Valence to launch BONDS and provide the program’s executive coaching and contribute to the development and progress of our employees and clients.

- Greg Becker CEO of Silicon Valley Bank

Thank you so much! I’m already sourcing through candidates. I am loving the platform!

- LeRay Belk Technical Recruiter at HashiCorp