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
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Find the full transcript at: [ Ссылка ]

Where to find Brian Chesky:
• X: [ Ссылка ]
• LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]

Where to find Lenny:
• Newsletter: [ Ссылка ]
• X: [ Ссылка ]
• LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]

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

Referenced:
• Localmind: [ Ссылка ]
• Config 2023 in review: [ Ссылка ]
• Why Founders Fail: The Product CEO Paradox: [ Ссылка ]
• Hiroki Asai on LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
• Jony Ive on Crunchbase: [ Ссылка ]
• Charles Eames: [ Ссылка ]
• Airbnb 2023 Winter Release: [ Ссылка ]
• Airbnb 2023 winter release reel: [ Ссылка ]
• John Wooden’s website: [ Ссылка ]
• An 85-year Harvard study found the No. 1 thing that makes us happy in life: It helps us ‘live longer’: [ Ссылка ]
• Sam Altman on X: [ Ссылка ]
• Alfred P. Sloan: [ Ссылка ]
• Bob Dylan quote: [ Ссылка ]
• OpenAI: [ Ссылка ]
• Michael Seibel’s website: [ Ссылка ]
• Y Combinator: [ Ссылка ]
• The Norman Rockwell Museum: [ Ссылка ]
• Rhode Island School of Design: [ Ссылка ]
• Joe Gebbia on LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]
• Nathan Blecharczyk on LinkedIn: [ Ссылка ]

Production and marketing by [ Ссылка ]. For inquiries about sponsoring the podcast, email podcast@lennyrachitsky.com.

Lenny may be an investor in the companies discussed.

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