Airbnb, Shopify & Spotify Stock: How to Invest in Apps You Use Every Day
You probably use Airbnb to travel, Spotify to listen, and Shopify (without knowing it) to check out at every indie brand you buy from on Instagram. All three are publicly traded — meaning you can own a piece of them.
Here's how to think about consumer brand investing, using three apps that are probably already on your phone.
The advantage of consumer-brand investing
Peter Lynch's famous rule: invest in what you know. The reason it works for consumer brands is that you have firsthand information Wall Street analysts don't:
- Has the app gotten better or worse in the last year?
- Do your friends use it more or less?
- Are prices going up, and are people still paying?
- What's the competition doing?
Wall Street eventually catches up to what users already know — sometimes after a 30% drop.
Airbnb (ABNB) — the travel platform
Airbnb owns the short-term rental market in most countries. The business model is brutal in a great way: Airbnb doesn't own any properties, doesn't clean any sheets, and takes 15% of every transaction. That's why margins are huge.
The risks: local regulation (NYC and Barcelona have restricted short-term rentals), hotel competition, and a general slowdown in travel during recessions.
Shopify (SHOP) — the picks-and-shovels of e-commerce
Shopify makes the software that lets small businesses run online stores. If you've bought from an indie brand on Instagram, you've probably used Shopify checkout without noticing.
It's a beautiful business model — recurring monthly subscription revenue from merchants, plus payment processing fees on every transaction. The risk is concentration: if e-commerce slows or a big competitor (Amazon, TikTok Shop) eats market share, Shopify slows.
Spotify (SPOT) — the music monopoly that isn't quite a monopoly
Spotify is the largest paid music streaming service in the world by users. The challenge: music labels take roughly 70% of every dollar Spotify earns, so net margins have been razor thin for years. The recent push into podcasts and audiobooks is an attempt to fix that — own the content, not just rent it.
Spotify finally turned profitable in 2024. Bull case: pricing power and lower content costs. Bear case: Apple Music and Amazon Music are well-funded competitors who don't need streaming to be profitable on its own.
How to actually buy any of them
- All three trade on major U.S. exchanges with simple tickers (ABNB, SHOP, SPOT).
- Available on every major brokerage (Fidelity, Schwab, Robinhood, Public).
- Fractional shares work — you can buy $10 of any of them.
- Cap each individual stock at a few percent of your portfolio.
- Index funds (VTI, VOO) already include all three. Buying them individually is on top of the index, not instead of it.
Key Takeaway
The apps on your phone are research material. You know whether Airbnb, Shopify, and Spotify are getting better or worse before Wall Street does. Use that information — but still keep an individual position small, and own a broad index as your core.
Frequently asked questions
Is Airbnb stock a good investment?
Airbnb has high margins, dominant market share, and a capital-light business model. The biggest risks are local regulation and travel slowdowns. Like any single stock, size the position so a 50% drop wouldn't hurt your portfolio.
What does Shopify actually do?
Shopify makes the software that powers online stores for millions of small and medium businesses. Every time you buy from an indie brand online, there's about a 1-in-3 chance you used Shopify checkout. They make money on subscriptions plus payment processing fees.
Is Spotify profitable?
Spotify finally turned profitable in 2024 after years of losses. Music labels still take the majority of revenue, but the company has been growing margins through podcasts, audiobooks, and pricing increases.
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Findexhq Editorial Team
A team of personal-finance writers and former fintech operators on a mission to make money make sense — for everyone.