Well, one example is what John Malone did (which I covered in The Games People Play With Cash Flow).
An additional example is linked to in the blog comments for that Cash Flow article here.
Basically, Airbnb collects payments for bookings up front (you pay, as a guest, using your credit card), and then Airbnb pays out to hosts in the future, after your stay. This cash may be used to fund operations. You can see how — so long as people continue to book on Airbnb — the cash from future bookings can continue to be used to pay salaries and other business expenses today, even if the company doesn’t show an accounting profit. This is a fantastic situation to be in, and explains why Airbnb did not have to raise that much money as it expanded.
This is known as a negative cash conversion cycle. Amazon also had this cycle, as we explain in the Amazon Scale Economies case.
The flip side of that is if people suddenly stop booking on Airbnb, the company would be in dire straits almost immediately. This is what happened during the pandemic. Airbnb was forced to raise emergency financing, with an incredibly high cost of capital, in order to refund all guests and to keep the company afloat. This is why today, Airbnb does not charge you for your stay up-front. (Or at least, it doesn’t charge the full amount).