Brian Chesky is co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. His primary responsibility is driving the company vision and assembling a passionate team to realize that vision.
# Airbnb is a community marketplace that connects people through unique spaces around the world.
# Brian holds a BFA in industrial design from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
# Brian aims to disrupt the industry with ideas that change the way people live. To grasp the full impact and experience of Airbnb, Brian rid himself of an apartment and has been living in the homes of the Airbnb community since June of 2010.
# How Chesky came about the idea for Airbnb
” Joe [Gebbia] and I had just moved to San Francisco and become roommates in 2007. Neither of us had a job and we needed money for rent. We were both designers and we knew the International Design Conference was coming to San Francisco in October, yet all the hotels were sold out. We thought we could make some money if we rented out our place and turned it into a bed and breakfast. We got three airbeds and created a Web site called “Air Bed and Breakfast.” People signed up to rent the airbeds and we cooked them breakfast every morning and acted like tour guides. ”
“We didn’t mean to start a business. It just sort of happened. There was no flash of genius. In the beginning, we didn’t realize that this would be the big idea. It was the thing that would pay the rent until we thought of the big idea. Gradually it became obvious that this was the big idea. Eventually we expanded beyond our apartment and our three airbeds and shortened the company name to Airbnb.”
# Brian Chesky admires Steve Jobs. In Chesky’s own words Steve “changed the rules. He showed that someone with a liberal arts background can runs a technology company and become a leader. That is what I want to do.”
# Advice Brian Chesky has for entrepreneurs:
#Conventional wisdom is overrated.
#Being broke brings an incredible amount of discipline and focus.
#What your company does in its childhood has a big impact on its future.
#In solving your own problems, you solve problems for other people, and through this, an opportunity often arises.
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