My guest today is Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. Our conversation traces the path from his early training as an industrial designer at RISD through the pandemic moment that forced him into founder mode.
He explains why he thinks AI founder mode will demand even more attention to the details and why founders are rarely good early CEOs.
He walks through his eleven-star exercise, which is a way of imagining the most absurd version of a customer experience to achieve product market fit.
We also talk about what changed for him when he stopped chasing adulation and started making things for the love of making them.
For the full show notes, transcript, and links to mentioned content, check out the episode page here.
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Ramp’s mission is to help companies manage their spend in a way that reduces expenses and frees up time for teams to work on more valuable projects. Go to ramp.com/invest to sign up for free and get a $250 welcome bonus.
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Trusted by thousands of businesses, Vanta continuously monitors your security posture and streamlines audits so you can win enterprise deals and build customer trust without the traditional overhead. Invest Like the Best listeners get a special offer of $1,000 off Vanta when you go to vanta.com/invest.
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WorkOS is the infrastructure B2B and AI-native companies use to sell to enterprise. It covers everything enterprise security requires: SSO, SCIM, RBAC, Audit Logs, AI governance, and more. Trusted by 2,000+ fast-growing companies, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Cursor, and Vercel.
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Rogo is the AI platform for finance. They're building agents for Wall Street that are trained to understand how bankers and investors actually do work: from diligence and modeling, to turning analysis into deliverables. To learn more, visit rogo.ai/invest.
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Ridgeline has built a complete, real-time, modern operating system for investment managers. It handles trading, portfolio management, compliance, customer reporting, and much more through an all-in-one real-time cloud platform. Visit ridgelineapps.com.
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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).
Timestamps:
(00:00:00) Welcome to Invest Like The Best
(00:02:29) Episode Intro: Brian Chesky
(00:03:07) Studying Industrial Design at RISD
(00:08:30) Why Founders Don't Make Good CEOs
(00:09:02) Founder Mode
(00:12:51) AI Founder Mode
(00:14:41) The End of Pure People Managers
(00:18:42) Consumer AI
(00:21:45) Project Hawaii
(00:25:49) Make the Problem as Small as Possible
(00:29:46) Becoming a Good CEO
(00:32:11) What Brian Learned From Hiroki Asai
(00:36:32) The Eleven-Star Experience
(00:38:48) AI and Creativity
(00:41:44) Making Things for the Love of It
(00:43:36) The Adulation Trap
(00:46:38) The Ham Sandwich Paradox
(00:52:38) Why Founder-Led Businesses Endure
(00:55:14) The Person as the Atomic Unit of Airbnb
(00:59:40) Disrupting Yourself With AI
(01:02:11) Lessons from Bodybuilding
(01:07:55) Hiring as the Most Important Job
(01:09:16) Are Founders Born or Made?
(01:11:04) The Motivation of an Artist
(01:11:47) The Kindest Thing
Engineering teams often build microservices as their systems grow, but over time this can lead to a fragmented ecosystem with scattered data access patterns, duplicated business logic, and an uneven developer experience. A unified data graph with a consistent execution layer helps address these challenges by centralizing schema, simplifying how teams compose functionality, and reducing operational overhead while preserving performance and reliability.
Viaduct is Airbnb’s open-source, data-oriented service mesh and GraphQL platform built around a single, highly connected central schema. It has played a major role in scaling Airbnb’s engineering organization.
Adam Miskiewicz is a Principal Software Engineer at Airbnb and he worked on Viaduct. He joins the podcast with Gregor Vand to talk about how Viaduct originated inside Airbnb, the architectural principles that shaped it, the challenges of scaling GraphQL to millions of queries per second, and why the team decided to open-source the platform. They also discuss the future of backend development in an AI-driven world and how unified data layers may influence the next generation of engineering systems.
Gregor Vand is a security-focused technologist, having previously been a CTO across cybersecurity, cyber insurance and general software engineering companies. He is based in Singapore and can be found via his profile at vand.hk or on LinkedIn.
Please click here to see the transcript of this episode.
Sponsorship inquiries: sponsor@softwareengineeringdaily.com
The post Airbnb’s Open-Source GraphQL Framework with Adam Miskiewicz appeared first on Software Engineering Daily.
Amid dramatic disruption, what role should business play in building the future? Recorded live at the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky shares his candid perspective on business, politics, creativity, and AI — taking listeners from Airbnb’s humble beginnings to bold plans for the company’s future. Through a designer’s lens, Chesky also reveals the single question leaders must ask themselves, and explores how best to make tricky decisions in a volatile climate.
Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/
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Ed speaks with Nathan Blecharczyk, Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder of Airbnb. They discuss the pros and cons of starting a business with your friends, the moment he realized the business would be a success, and how he learned to turn a crisis into an opportunity.
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This week, Guy is joined by Lady Gaga’s former manager Troy Carter, Joe Gebbia of Airbnb, and Sadie Lincoln of barre3 in a special mashup episode of the Advice Line about playing to your business’s strengths.
First, Honor from Australia wants to partner with a celebrity in a way that actually boosts her pill organizer brand. Then, Arvy from Johannesburg digs into what makes his sporting and outdoor optics company special. And finally, Genevieve from Montana discovers all the different ways her customers can help her sailing instruction business grow.
Thank you to the founders of Dosey, ProltUp Optics, and Go Sail Virgin Islands and Flathead Lake for coming on the show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one-minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
This episode was produced by Noor Gill and Alex Cheng with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by Andrea Bruce. Our audio engineers were James Willetts and Maggie Luthar.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram and sign up for Guy's free newsletter at guyraz.com or on Substack.
To hear our returning guests’ previous episodes:
Lady Gaga & Atom Factory: Troy Carter | Advice Line with Troy Carter
Airbnb: Joe Gebbia | Advice Line with Joe Gebbia
Barre3: Sadie Lincoln | Advice Line with Sadie Lincoln
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Chip Conley is the founder of Joie de Vivre hotels, the second-largest boutique hotel brand in the world. At age 52, he joined Airbnb as Head of Global Hospitality and Strategy, reporting to CEO Brian Chesky, who was 21 years younger. He earned the title of Airbnb’s “Modern Elder” by guiding the young founders on leadership and culture while learning Silicon Valley’s tech mindset himself. Today, Chip leads the Modern Elder Academy, the world’s first midlife wisdom school, and is the author of best-selling books like Wisdom@Work and Peak. He champions the idea that age and experience are assets—and that midlife can be a launchpad for renewed purpose and impact.
In this conversation, we discuss:
1. The reality of Brian Chesky in “founder mode”—the good, bad, and stressful
2. How Chip went from running 52 boutique hotels to becoming Airbnb’s in-house mentor in his 50s
3. The “mentor and intern” mindset: how to simultaneously teach others and stay curious like a beginner
4. Why AI might actually favor older workers (hint: human wisdom vs. artificial intelligence)
5. His framework for navigating midlife transitions and finding meaning after 40
6. Specific tactics for older professionals to thrive in tech companies
7. Surprising data that midlife is often the happiest time of life—and how to leverage your 40s, 50s, and beyond
8. Chip’s formula for managing anxiety and fear (and how to regain control when worry strikes)
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Transcript: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/chip-conley
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My biggest takeaways (for paid newsletter subscribers): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/i/168435278/my-biggest-takeaways-from-this-conversation
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Where to find Chip Conley:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chipconleysf/
• Website: https://chipconley.com/
• Modern Elder Academy: https://www.meawisdom.com/
• Podcast: https://www.meawisdom.com/podcast/
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Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
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In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Introduction to Chip Conley
(04:09) Chip’s journey with Airbnb
(10:35) Insights on working with Brian Chesky
(19:56) The value of intergenerational collaboration
(25:57) Addressing ageism in tech
(41:33) Chip’s early career and founding Joie de Vivre
(43:54) A life-changing near-death experience
(46:39) The importance of company culture
(55:57) The Modern Elder Academy
(59:21) The upside of aging
(01:06:53) AI in daily life
(01:09:14) Lightning round and final thoughts
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Referenced:
• Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/
• Brian Chesky’s new playbook: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/brian-cheskys-contrarian-approach
• Natalie Tucci on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalietuccishoff/
• Laura Modi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurahughes6/
• How to build a cult-like brand | Laura Modi (Bobbie): https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/from-growth-to-slowth-the-making
• George Tenet: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Tenet
• Joie de Vivre Hospitality: https://www.hyatt.com/jdv-by-hyatt/en-US
• Fest300: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fest300
• John Q. Smith on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnqsmith/
•Will A.I. Replace New Hires or Middle Managers?: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/business/ai-job-cuts.html
• Burning Man: https://burningman.org/
• Sheryl Sandberg on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheryl-sandberg-5126652/
• Bill Graham: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Graham_(promoter)
• Maslow’s hierarchy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs
• Measuring what makes life worthwhile: https://www.ted.com/talks/chip_conley_measuring_what_makes_life_worthwhile
• Jonathan Mildenhall on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mildenhall/
• Becca Levy’s website: https://becca-levy.com/
• Kabuki Springs & Spa: https://kabukisprings.com/
• How positive age beliefs can support positive health outcomes with Becca Levy, PhD: https://www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/population-care/how-positive-age-beliefs-can-support-positive-health-outcomes-becca
• The U-shape of Happiness Across the Life Course: Expanding the Discussion: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7529452/
• The Midlife Unraveling: https://brenebrown.com/articles/2018/05/24/the-midlife-unraveling/
• Four Seasons: https://www.fourseasons.com/
• Blue Zones: https://www.bluezones.com/
• The Esalen Institute: https://www.esalen.org/
• Wisdom Well blog: https://www.meawisdom.com/wisdom-well/
• Elizabeth Gilbert TED Talk: Your elusive creative genius: https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_your_elusive_creative_genius
• Ted Lasso on AppleTV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy
• I’ll Push You: https://www.illpushyou.com/
• Vuori shorts: https://vuoriclothing.com/collections/shorts
• Fly Ranch: https://flyranch.burningman.org/
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Recommended books:
• Wisdom at Work: The Making of a Modern Elder: https://www.amazon.com/Wisdom-Work-Making-Modern-Elder/dp/0525572902
• Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World: https://www.amazon.com/Range-Generalists-Triumph-Specialized-World/dp/0735214484
• Peak: How Great Companies Get Their Mojo from Maslow: https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Great-Companies-Their-Maslow/dp/0787988618
• Learning to Love Midlife: 12 Reasons Why Life Gets Better with Age: https://www.amazon.com/Learning-Love-Midlife-Reasons-Better/dp/0316567027
• Man’s Search for Meaning: https://www.amazon.com/Mans-Search-Meaning-Viktor-Frankl/dp/0807060100/
• Emotional Equations: Simple Steps for Creating Happiness + Success in Business + Life: https://www.amazon.com/Emotional-Equations-Creating-Happiness-Business/dp/1451607261/
• Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Magic-Creative-Living-Beyond/dp/1594634726
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Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
To hear more, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com
Today, I’m talking with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky. This is Brian’s fourth time on the show, and he’s one of my favorite guests because he’s so clearly obsessed with things like company structure, design, and decision making. You know, Decoder stuff.
This time, Brian came on to talk about the company’s new services product and the full-scale redesign and rebuild of the Airbnb app to support these broader ambitions. There’s a lot of fun, very Decoder-y stuff in this one. Read the full transcript here on The Verge.
Links:
Airbnb’s new app has all of your vacation extras in one place | Verge
“Flat design is over” | Brian Chesky
Airbnb Is in midlife crisis mode | Wired
He revolutionized travel. Can Airbnb’s founder redesign your entire life? | WSJ
Airbnb’s CEO explains how he helped Sam Altman during OpenAI fiasco | Fast Company
A conversation with Airbnb’s Brian Chesky | Figma
Jony Ive is bringing his design talents to Airbnb | Verge
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on what founder mode really means | Decoder
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is taking it back to basics | Decoder
Why the future of work is the future of travel, with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky | Decoder
Help us plan for the future of Decoder by filling out this brief survey. Thank you!
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Ursa Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
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From cold emails to global dominance - the Airbnb story began with rejection. In this unmissable episode of CEO Diaries, Airbnb founder and CEO Brian Chesky reveals the brutal truth about rejection, resilience, building world-changing companies, and the one thing more important than product or profit: culture.
Visit - www.linkedin.com/DOAC
Listen to the full episode here -
Spotify -https://g2ul0.app.link/WgBxbVavJTb
Apple - https://g2ul0.app.link/89nODBivJTb
Watch the Episodes On YouTube -
https://www.youtube.com/c/%20TheDiaryOfACEO/videos
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Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia joins Guy on the Advice Line, where they answer questions from three early-stage founders. Plus, Joe shares an update on his latest entrepreneurial adventure: Samara.
Today we meet Marina in Texas, who’s wondering if her language-teaching singing books need to be on Amazon. Then Ray in California, who’s seeking fundraising guidance for his self-distributed Mexican-style beer brand. And Jael in South Dakota, who’s navigating her women’s collegiate sports apparel brand to the next $10 million dollars in revenue.
Thank you to the founders of Lufi & Friends, Norwalk Brewhouse and Gameday Social for being a part of our show.
If you’d like to be featured on a future Advice Line episode, leave us a one minute message that tells us about your business and a specific question you’d like answered. Send a voice memo to hibt@id.wondery.com or call 1-800-433-1298.
And be sure to listen to Airbnb’s founding story as told by Joe on the show in 2016.
This episode was produced by Carla Esteves with music by Ramtin Arablouei. It was edited by John Isabella. Our audio engineer was Jimmy Keeley.
You can follow HIBT on X & Instagram, and email us at hibt@id.wondery.com.
And sign up for Guy’s free newsletter at guyraz.com.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Since the inception of social media, content moderation has been hotly debated by CEOs, politicians, and, of course, among the gatekeepers themselves: the trust and safety officers. And it’s been a roller coaster ride — from an early hands-off approach, to bans and oversight boards, to the current rollback and “community notes” we’re seeing from big guns like Meta, X, and YouTube.
So how do the folks who wrote the early rules of the road look at what’s happening now in content moderation? And what impact will it have on the trust and safety of the platforms over the long term? This week, Kara speaks with Del Harvey, former head of Trust and Safety at Twitter (2008- 2021); Dave Willner, former head of Content Policy at Facebook (2010-2013); Nicole Wong, a First Amendment lawyer, former VP and deputy general counsel at Google (2004-2011), Twitter's legal director of product (2012-2013), and deputy chief technology officer during the Obama administration (2013-2014).
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram and TikTok @onwithkaraswisher
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Brian Chesky is the CEO and co-founder of Airbnb. This week on Big Technology Podcast, we roll back the clock to our interview with Chesky in 2023, where he discussed cleaning fees, listening to customer feedback, and getting involved in the details of the product and user experience. This interview was one of the earliest moments Chesky shared his 'Founder Mode, philosophy, passionately talking about why he gets in the details, even as CEO. Please enjoy this holiday throwback. Alex and Ranjan will return to their regularly scheduled Friday show next week.
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Today, I’m talking with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky, who is only the second person to be on Decoder three times — the other is Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Brian made a lot of waves earlier this year when he started talking about something called “founder mode,” or at least, when well-known investor Paul Graham wrote a blog post about Brian’s approach to running Airbnb that gave it that name.
Founder mode has since become a little bit of a meme, and I was excited to have Brian back on to talk about it, and what specifically he thinks it means. Talking to Brian is a ride, but I think I held my own, and I think you’ll really like this one.
Links:
Founder Mode | Paul Graham
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky is taking it back to basics (2023) | Decoder
Why the future of work is the future of travel, with Airbnb’s Brian Chesky (2021) | Decoder
Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky: ‘I Never Called it Founder Mode’ | Skift
Why Silicon Valley is abuzz over ‘Founder Mode’ | NYT
After Apple, Jony Ive Is Building an Empire of His Own | NYT
Airbnb can now help you find somebody to manage your listing | The Verge
Airbnb creates new chief business officer role | Reuters
Why Jeff Bezos Says Your Goal Is to Make 3 Good Decisions per Day | Inc
Taking the Mystery out of Scaling a Company | Ben Horowtiz
Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/24043611
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Our producers are Kate Cox and Nick Statt. Our editor is Callie Wright. Our supervising producer is Liam James.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, joins Scott to discuss the latest for Airbnb including their Co-Host Network, how the company views AI, and how it is a leading indicator for the broader economy. Brian also shares his thoughts on his viral moment around Founder Mode and what’s next for the platform.
Follow Brian, @bchesky.
Scott opens with his thoughts on private equity firms pouring millions of dollars into acquiring HVAC, plumbing, and electrical companies, per the WSJ.
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From the Senate, to the VP Residence to the Oval: Former White House Chief of Staff Ron Klain has been inside President Biden’s inner circle for nearly 40 years. This spring, he even took time off from his brand new job as Airbnb’s Chief Legal Officer to help Biden prep for his (no good, very bad day) debate against Donald Trump. Kara talks to Klain (her former Hoya college buddy) about the many questions, accusations and now conspiracy theories swirling around President Biden’s decision to exit the presidential race, whether Republicans are right to call it a “coup”, how Vice President Kamala Harris should be positioning herself in the next 100 days, and what President Biden’s legacy will be in the years to come.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find Kara on Threads/Instagram @karaswisher
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Just because the AWS Cloud hangs above our heads, doesn’t mean your bill needs to be just as sky-high. In this Screaming in the Cloud Summer Replay, Corey is joined by Airbnb Staff Software Engineer Melanie Cebula. Her job is to ensure they keep their monthly cloud bill low, and that the cost isn’t just there for a temporary stay. Hear Melanie and Corey chat about the vital role engineers play in helping balance the company books, tricks to optimizing your organization’s cloud spending, how inexperience can have a dangerous effect on cost-cutting, and the growing pains facing today’s world of data infrastructure. We hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane (just be sure you checkout on time to avoid any fees).
Show Highlights:
(0:00) Intro to episode
(0:27) Backblaze sponsor read
(0:54) The role of a Staff Engineer
(2:09) Working for a large company reliant on the cloud
(3:59) Melanie’s Area of Expertise
(5:58) Efficiently Managing AWS Bills
(11:33) Optimizing cloud spend
(14:50) The harmful hesitancy to turn things off
(18:17) Inexperience and cost-saving measures
(21:17) Firefly sponsor read
(21:53) How to avoid snowballing cloud bills
(23:40) Kubernetes and cloud billing
(27:12) The perks of compounding microservices
(29:19) Misconceptions about Kubernetes
(31:10) Growing pains of data infrastructure
(34:44) Where you can find Melanie
About Melanie Cebula
Melanie Cebula is an expert in Cloud Infrastructure, where she is recognized worldwide for explaining radically new ways of thinking about cloud efficiency and usability. She is an international keynote speaker, presenting complex technical topics to a broad range of audiences, both international and domestic. Melanie is a staff engineer at Airbnb, where she has experience building a scalable modern architecture on top of cloud-native technologies.
Besides her expertise in the online world, Melanie spends her time offline on the “sharp end” of rock climbing. An adventure athlete setting new personal records in challenging conditions, she appreciates all aspects of the journey, including the triumph of reaching ever higher destinations.
On and off the wall, Melanie focuses on building reliability into critical systems, and making informed decisions in difficult situations. In her personal time, Melanie hand whisks matcha tea, enjoys costuming and dancing at EDM festivals, and she is a triplet.
Links Referenced:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/melaniecebula
Melanie Cebula’s website: https://melaniecebula.com/
Sponsors
Backblaze: https://www.backblaze.com/
Firefly: https://www.firefly.ai/
As Rapid Response begins a twice-weekly cadence, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky returns to reveal how the company’s new Icons initiative points toward a surprising new chapter ahead. Host Bob Safian gets Chesky to open up about the mental struggles of being a high-profile CEO, plus the inside story behind Airbnb’s recent ad campaign targeting hotels. The pair cover so much, we’ve split the episode into two parts. Part 2 drops this Friday exclusively in the Rapid Response podcast feed. Make sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out!
Watch this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvhh4U2_EFE
For more info, visit: www.rapidresponseshow.com
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Judd Antin has spent 15 years leading research and design teams at companies like Yahoo, Meta, and Airbnb. His direct reports have gone on to lead user research at Figma, Notion, Slack, Robinhood, Duolingo, AllTrails, and more. In our conversation, we unpack the transformation that the user-research field is experiencing. Specifically:
• Where user research went wrong over the past decade
• The three types of research—macro, middle-range, and micro—and the purpose of each
• How to effectively integrate researchers into the product development process
• The “user-centered performance” phenomenon and why it’s a waste of time
• Common tropes about PMs, from researchers
• The ideal ratio of researchers in a company
• Why Judd says NPS is useless, and what to use instead
—
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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/the-ux-research-reckoning-is-here
—
Where to find Judd Antin:
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juddantin/
• Website: https://juddantin.com/
• Blog: https://medium.com/onebigthought
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Judd’s background
(04:16) Critiques and responses to Judd’s post “The UX Research Reckoning Is Here”
(07:33) The state of user research
(08:53) Macro, middle-range, and micro research
(14:05) What teams get wrong when it comes to research
(15:46) The importance of integrating research from the beginning
(17:30) Traits of great researchers
(19:53) Advice for evaluating user researchers
(21:10) Balancing business and product focus
(23:55) User-centered performance
(26:42) The role of intuition in product development
(30:15) Checking your gut instincts
(32:54) Common tropes about PMs, from researchers
(41:02) A/B testing vs. user research
(43:15) Hindsight bias and narrative fallacy
(44:55) Making recommendations based on research
(47:26) Advice for teams on how to leverage researchers
(51:18) How product managers can be better partners to user researchers
(56:53) The ideal ratio of researchers in a company
(59:43) Empowering user researchers to drive impact
(01:03:39) The limitations of NPS as a metric
(01:06:48) The risks of dogfooding
(01:08:51) Lightning round
—
Referenced:
• Matt Gallivan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattgallivan/
• Janna Bray on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janna-bray-a4046a25/
• Celeste Ridlen on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/celesteridlen/
• Rebecca Gray on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccagray2/
• Hannah Pileggi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hannah-pileggi-43169314/
• Louise Beryl on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/louise-beryl-13225833/
• The UX Research Reckoning Is Here: https://medium.com/onebigthought/the-ux-research-reckoning-is-here-c63710ea4084
• The end of the “free money” era: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/apr/11/techscape-zirp-tech-boom
• Cognitive biases: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cognitive_biases
• IDEO design thinking: https://designthinking.ideo.com/
• Everything Is Obvious: How Common Sense Fails Us: https://www.amazon.com/Everything-Obvious-Common-Sense-Fails/dp/0307951790
• Patrick Collison’s tweet: https://twitter.com/patrickc/status/1443215022029619200?lang=en
• Brian Chesky on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/
• Brian Chesky on Lenny’s Podcast: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-cheskys-new-playbook/
• NPS: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Net_promoter_score
• What is CSAT and how do you measure it?: https://www.qualtrics.com/experience-management/customer/what-is-csat/
• Michael Murakami on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhmurakami/
• Bad Leadership: What It Is, How It Happens, Why It Matters: https://www.amazon.com/Bad-Leadership-Happens-Matters-Common/dp/1591391660
• Demon Copperhead: https://www.amazon.com/Demon-Copperhead-Novel-Barbara-Kingsolver/dp/0063251922
• All Systems Red: The Murderbot Diaries: https://www.amazon.com/All-Systems-Red-Murderbot-Diaries/dp/0765397536
• The Last of Us on HBO: https://www.hbo.com/the-last-of-us
• Belay glasses: https://www.amazon.com/Belay-Glasses-Climbing-Comfortable-Sturdy/dp/B08GSBYDKQ/
• Epictetus: Control What You Can—Especially Yourself: https://www.shortform.com/blog/epictetus-control/
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change: https://www.amazon.com/Habits-Highly-Effective-People-Powerful/dp/0743269519
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
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Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Brian Chesky is the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. Under Brian’s leadership, Airbnb has grown into a community of over 4 million hosts who have welcomed more than 1.5 billion guests across over 220 countries and regions. I had the privilege of working under his leadership, so it is a great honor to have him on the show. We discuss:
• How Airbnb has shifted their thinking on product management
• Why bureaucracy happens in companies, and how to avoid it
• The importance of founders diving into the details
• Why Airbnb moved away from traditional growth channels and what they are doing instead
• Airbnb’s newly released features
• How and why Brian encourages his team to set ambitious goals
• Why he says he still has a lot to prove
—
Brought to you by Sidebar—Catalyze your career with a Personal Board of Directors | Jira Product Discovery—Atlassian’s new prioritization and roadmapping tool built for product teams | Eppo—Run reliable, impactful experiments
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Find the full transcript at: https://www.lennyspodcast.com/brian-cheskys-new-playbook/#transcript
—
Where to find Brian Chesky:
• X: https://twitter.com/bchesky
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brianchesky/
—
Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com
• X: https://twitter.com/lennysan
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lennyrachitsky/
—
In this episode, we cover:
(00:00) Brian’s background
(05:18) The current structure of product management at Airbnb
(09:21) How fast-moving companies become slow-moving bureaucracies
(12:20) Brian’s thoughts on performance marketing
(13:50) Airbnb’s rolling two-year roadmap
(15:30) Brian’s journey as CEO in a growing company
(18:34) Best practices for A/B testing
(20:30) Who inspired Airbnb’s new direction
(23:18) The first changes Brian implemented at the onset of the pandemic
(24:51) Why founders should be “in the details”
(30:15) Airbnb’s marketing, communication, and creative functions
(31:38) Advice for founders on how to lead
(34:15) Tips for implementing Airbnb’s business methodology
(38:48) Airbnb’s winter release
(41:47) Why Airbnb no longer has separate guest and host teams
(42:38) Brian’s thoughts on design trends
(45:36) The importance of empowering hosts with great tools
(45:57) How setting ambitious goals improves team performance
(50:05) Tips for preventing burnout
(56:02) Tips for personal and professional growth
(58:19) Why Brian says he still has a lot to prove
(1:02:58) Paying it forward
(1:05:03) A fun fact about Brian
(1:09:26) Airbnb’s origin story
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Referenced:
• Localmind: https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/localmind
• Config 2023 in review: https://www.figma.com/blog/config-2023-recap/
• Why Founders Fail: The Product CEO Paradox: https://techcrunch.com/2013/08/10/why-founders-fail-the-product-ceo-paradox/
• Hiroki Asai on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hiroki-asai-a44137110/
• Jony Ive on Crunchbase: https://www.crunchbase.com/person/jonathan-ive
• Charles Eames: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Eames
• Airbnb 2023 Winter Release: https://news.airbnb.com/en-in/airbnb-2023-winter-release-introducing-guest-favorites-a-collection-of-the-2-million-most-loved-homes-on-airbnb/
• Airbnb 2023 winter release reel: https://x.com/bchesky/status/1722243847751970861?s=20
• John Wooden’s website: https://coachwooden.com/
• An 85-year Harvard study found the No. 1 thing that makes us happy in life: It helps us ‘live longer’: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/02/10/85-year-harvard-study-found-the-secret-to-a-long-happy-and-successful-life.html
• Sam Altman on X: https://twitter.com/sama
• Alfred P. Sloan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_P._Sloan
• Bob Dylan quote: https://quotefancy.com/quote/950807/Bob-Dylan-An-artist-has-got-to-be-careful-never-really-to-arrive-at-a-place-where-he
• OpenAI: https://openai.com/
• Michael Seibel’s website: https://www.michaelseibel.com/
• Y Combinator: https://www.ycombinator.com/
• The Norman Rockwell Museum: https://www.nrm.org/
• Rhode Island School of Design: https://www.risd.edu/
• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jgebbia/
• Nathan Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/blecharczyk/
—
Production and marketing by https://penname.co/. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.
—
Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.
This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.lennysnewsletter.com/subscribe
Chip Conley, the founder and CEO of Modern Elder Academy and the former head of global hospitality and strategy at Airbnb, joins Scott to discuss solutions to the agist workforce, thinking of a mid-life crisis as a chrysalis, and the things to consider as you build your career path.
Scott opens with his thoughts on Rite Aid’s bankruptcy. He then shares his thoughts on TikTok becoming a major news source.
Algebra of Happiness: When your kids are gone.
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If you enjoyed hearing about the highs and lows of creating the world’s biggest brands, I recommend you listen to my conversation with Spotify founder, Daniel Ek, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_35cUaU_NA
Is being an artist the secret behind running a Fortune 500 company?
In this new episode Steven sits down again with the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, Brian Chesky.
Brian created ‘Airbed and Breakfast’ in 2007 with his college friend Joe Gebbia as a scheme to pay their rent. Cut to 2020, when Airbnb became a public company, with its initial public offering reaching $100 billion, one of the highest in history. Brian has been named by Forbes as one of America's Richest Entrepreneurs Under 40, and one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People.
In this conversation Brian and Steven discuss topics, such as:
His difficult childhood
Always feeling like an outsider and different
How his art teacher changed his life
The way industrial design shaped his career as a CEO
Always wanting to design his own world
Wanting to escape his childhood
His work addiction
Working as a way of finding love
How success is isolating
What no one told him about success
The need to fight to be connected with people
Why success won't fix you
How Obama changed his life
The life changing impact of one text message
His biggest regret
The impact of Walt Disney upon him
How creativity changes the world
Airbnb initially just being a way to pay the rent
How creativity beats data
Why more companies need creativity and heart
Why company culture is everything
The importance of leaders as examples
How your worst moments define you
Airbnb’s fight for survival
What he learned about true happiness
The world’s loneliness pandemic
Follow Brian:
Instagram: https://bit.ly/46vt340
Twitter: https://bit.ly/3RSjGYo
Follow me:
https://beacons.ai/diaryofaceo
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Brian Chesky is the CEO of Airbnb. He joins Big Technology Podcast for an in-depth discussion covering Airbnb's product, business, culture, and roadmap. In the first half, we cover a series of product improvements the company is rolling out, breaking news on the state of cleaning fees, verified listings. and more. In the second half we go deep into how Airbnb builds its products, how it impacts neighborhoods, and the fallout of New York's new restrictions on the company. Tune in for a deep, unique, and compelling interview with one of tech's most well known CEOs.
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Brian Chesky (Co-founder and CEO of Airbnb) is a businessman and industrial designer. Brian joins the Armchair Expert to discuss if gaining success lived up to the expectations, how he struggled to fit in at school, and what his first startup was. Brian and Dax talk about what being an industrial designer means, where the idea for Airbnb came from, and how detrimental loneliness can be to human health. Brian explains why streamers were okay with losing money for years, how fast technology is accelerating human society, and what rules should have been instituted for social media.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Naba Banerjee’s identity as a “forever learner” led to her become the first female engineer in her family. That curiosity has informed her career choices as well, leading her to companies as varied as Tata, Cognizent, Walmart, and AAA. Now, as director of trust product and operations at vacation rental platform Airbnb, she is continuing let her curiosity be her guide as she applies her previous data science experience to the travel industry. On this episode, Naba joins Shervin and Sam to talk abouthow she and her team use AI and machine learning to increase the safety of the guests and hosts who use Airbnb’s platform. She also discusses collaboration between humans and machines and the importance of recognizing that neither is an infallible decision maker. Read the episode transcript here.
Me, Myself, and AI is a collaborative podcast from MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group and is hosted by Sam Ransbotham and Shervin Khodabandeh. Our engineer is David Lishansky, and the coordinating producers are Allison Ryder and Sophie Rüdinger.
Stay in touch with us by joining our LinkedIn group, AI for Leaders at mitsmr.com/AIforLeaders or by following Me, Myself, and AI on LinkedIn.
Guest bio:
Naba Banerjee is the director of trust product and operations at Airbnb, overseeing the company’s efforts to combat fraud, build trust between hosts and guests, and stop bad actors from using the platform. Her most recent work includes the development of Airbnb’s reservation screening technology, which helps to identify users making potentially high-risk reservations and prevent them from taking advantage of the platform. Banerjee has over two decades of experience building products that deliver innovative, customer-centric solutions. She joined Airbnb after spending 13 years at Walmart.com, where she played an instrumental role in the evolution of product management, including shipping packages to customers more quickly and building mobile apps to enable customers to check out faster.
We encourage you to rate and review our show. Your comments may be used in Me, Myself, and AI materials.
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Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, joins Scott to discuss a slew of updates, including how the firm is building a community, leveraging AI, and expanding its geographical reach. We also learn about Brian’s experiences with loneliness, and how work has impacted his relationships. Follow Brian on Twitter, @bchesky. (Disclosure: Scott invests in Airbnb).
Scott opens by discussing why we need more third places.
Algebra of Happiness: get out of the house.
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Brian Chesky, the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb, was previously on the show in 2021. Back then, Airbnb was betting big on long-term stays for remote work amid the pandemic, and Chesky had just restructured the company to a more functional organization, getting rid of the divisions it had before.
Now, the pandemic is ending, Airbnb has itself adopted a hybrid policy, Chesky’s back in the office several days a week, and they’re two years into that new structure. So that’s pure Decoder bait. I wanted to ask Chesky how that restructure is going. Has it really made the company more agile and cohesive like he hoped? Has the bet on working from anywhere paid off?
Links:
Brian Chesky's tweet announcing the summer 2023 launch
Microsoft thinks AI can beat Google at search — CEO Satya Nadella explains why
Samsung caught faking zoom photos of the Moon
Why the future of work is the future of travel, with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
Credits:
Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.
Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone and Jackie McDermott and it was edited by Callie Wright.
The Decoder music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Our Sr Audio Director is Andrew Marino and our Executive Producer is Eleanor Donovan.
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After guiding the company through a near-death experience, Airbnb’s Brian Chesky talks with Rapid Response host Bob Safian about what he learned and how responding to a crisis both reveals your character and teaches you what’s most important. Recorded live on stage at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com/
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Airbnb CEO and Co-Founder Brian Chesky joins Jason to tell the story of Airbnb’s early startup struggles (1:29) and discuss how the company has restructured operations to heighten focus on the product and its customers (16:05). They dive into addressing customer complaints, hyper-focused marketing, the AI opportunity for Airbnb, and much more (40:26).
(0:00) Airbnb’s Brain Chesky joins Jason
(1:29) Brian’s experience with early rejection
(14:48) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(16:05) Airbnb’s company structure and focusing on product first
(25:26) Miro - Sign up for a free account at https://miro.com/startups
(26:42) Staying focused, getting permission from your customers, and Airbnb’s new updates
(38:53) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://Embroker.com/twist
(40:26) Addressing customer complaints and Brian’s philosophy on remote work
(49:23) AI’s future in hospitality and Brian’s personal experience with ChatGPT
FOLLOW Brian: https://twitter.com/bchesky
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
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Joe Gebbia joins Jason to discuss the early days of Airbnb, gaining traction, persevering through the “no’s,” and functional design. (2:09) They also discuss gaining customer trust and Airbnb’s incredible COVID turnaround. (21:17) Joe wraps the show by breaking down his new venture, Samara. (45:05)
(0:00) Jason kicks off the show
(2:09) Airbnb’s first sign of traction
(9:05) Vanta - Get $1000 off your SOC 2 at https://vanta.com/twist
(10:04) Persevering through the “no’s,” and functional design
(19:48) Squarespace - Use offer code TWIST to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain at https://Squarespace.com/TWIST
(21:17) Gaining customer trust
(30:46) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(32:17) Airbnb’s incredible COVID turnaround
(45:05) Joe’s new startup Samara
Check out: https://www.samara.com/backyard
FOLLOW Joe: https://twitter.com/jgebbia
FOLLOW Jason: https://linktr.ee/calacanis
FOLLOW Molly: https://twitter.com/mollywood
Airbnb CEO and co-founder Brian Chesky took the company public, laid off 25% of its staff and navigated worker demands for flexibility – all during the pandemic. Oh, and his mom moved in (and made him quiche every day). In this conversation with Kara, Brian discusses the challenge of being professionally successful and, sometimes, personally lonely. They talk about how the pandemic may have permanently changed how we work, travel and live. And Kara gets answers about the company’s lack of transparency on those dreaded cleaning fees.
Before the interview, Kara and Nayeema talk about billionaires owning social media networks. They discuss Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who seems to be riding the MAGA train to amass power in the Republican party. And they reflect on the story of Iranian rock climber Elnaz Rekabi, who caused a stir on social media this week in the midst of the nation’s anti-government protests.
… oh yes, and they dispense some dating advice. If you want advice – it doesn’t have to be about dating – call 1-888-KARA-PLZ!
You can find Kara and Nayeema on Twitter @karaswisher and @nayeema.
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In honor of our five year anniversary of Masters of Scale, we're revisiting our first episode ever, featuring Airbnb's Brian Chesky.
If you want your company to truly scale, you first have to do things that don't scale. Handcraft the core experience. Get your hands dirty. Serve your customers one-by-one. And don't stop until you know exactly what they want. That's what Brian Chesky did. As CEO of Airbnb, Brian’s early work was more akin to a traveling salesman. He takes us back to his lean years — when he went door-to-door, meeting Airbnb hosts in person — and shares the imaginative route to crafting what he calls an "11-star experience.”
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
