Brian Chesky on Launching Airbnb and the Challenges of Scale

Why Airbnb?

Co-founder: Joe Gebbia & Nate Blecharczyk

Start at San Fransisco

Air beds and breakfast

Lessons

Good Ideas often sounds like stupid ideas

Often about you solving your own problems

B & B for the design conference

Early days

Keep launching

Payments

Three clicks to book it button

Chicken and egg problem

book with someone and pay then directly

we hold, collect and remit money

we cannot get guests come without homes

we cannot get homes if there is no customers

solutions:

get press

high profile event

outcome:

still in debt

started selling breakfast

Y Combinator

  1. creates a structure for us to work on it full time and live together
  1. a serious of advice that changes our business forever

it's better to have 100 people that love you,
than a million customers that just sort of like you

started to write reviews

Sequoia Capital invest

Challenge of scale

Move to many cities

network effects

Events

words of mouth

PR

7 stars principles

If you love it, you tell other people

when you travel, you trasform

online-to -offline business

Apply design to the office

everything can be designed and reinvernted

recreate your home in the office

people need to be in the mindset of your product

One year living in Airbnb

Lessons

calling and passion

people believe and feel what you do

everyone is the "product person"

need a rule

expert

Design the culture

strong culture

when people aren't fit, remove them

interviews

most important culture decision made

hiring people

beliefs that should never change under any technological condition

functional interviews

cultural interviews

culture = repetition

infinite learner

hiring and management

plan the road maps

from short term focus to year plans

being adaptable

general intelligence and talents

curious and adaptable

everyone gives you wrong advice, you have to work out on your own

stages

2 . firefighting

  1. existential threats

1.survival

government

competitors

Q & A Session

  1. Learn how to learn

short circuiting to learn from the definitive source about the top

seek out the experts

seek out knowledge

  1. Pre-history with your co-founders

luck

suggestions

  1. should be people better than you
  1. people who you deeply trust and like
  1. complementary skilss
  1. A designer to an entrepreneur

the best way:just start something

passion

  1. Convictions

happens over time and repetition

leaders are people somebody they follow

  1. Difficulties right now
  1. scaling the culture for the new size
  1. start a new business inside a company