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
- creates a structure for us to work on it full time and live together
- 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
- existential threats
1.survival
government
competitors
Q & A Session
- Learn how to learn
short circuiting to learn from the definitive source about the top
seek out the experts
seek out knowledge
- Pre-history with your co-founders
luck
suggestions
- should be people better than you
- people who you deeply trust and like
- complementary skilss
- A designer to an entrepreneur
the best way:just start something
passion
- Convictions
happens over time and repetition
leaders are people somebody they follow
- Difficulties right now
- scaling the culture for the new size
- start a new business inside a company