33 Quotes by Brian Chesky
Brian Chesky, born on August 29, 1981, is an American entrepreneur and co-founder of Airbnb, the global online marketplace for lodging and vacation rentals. Chesky's innovative vision and leadership have revolutionized the way people travel and experience hospitality. By creating a platform that connects travelers with unique accommodations and local hosts, Chesky has disrupted the traditional hotel industry and empowered individuals to become hosts and entrepreneurs themselves. Under his guidance, Airbnb has grown exponentially, expanding into new markets and offering diverse travel experiences.
Chesky's emphasis on creating a sense of community, trust, and belonging has shaped Airbnb's culture and helped establish it as a trusted brand worldwide. Beyond his business ventures, Chesky is recognized for his philanthropic efforts and commitment to social impact. He has pledged significant funds towards causes such as affordable housing and disaster relief. Brian Chesky's entrepreneurial spirit, innovation, and commitment to fostering meaningful connections have made him a respected figure in the business world and a catalyst for change in the travel industry.
Brian Chesky Quotes
The stuff that matters in life is no longer stuff. It's other people. It's relationships. It's experience.
Somebody asked me 'what's the job of a CEO', and there's a number of things a CEO does. What you mostly do is articulate the vision, develop the strategy, and you gotta hire people to fit the culture. If you do those three things, you basically have a company. And that company will hopefully be successful, if you have the right vision, the right strategy, and good people.
Culture is so incredibly important because it is the foundation for all future innovation. People with passion can change the world.
It's better to have 100 people love you than to have 1,000,000 people like you. (Meaning)
If you want to create a great product, just focus on one person. Make that one person have the most amazing experience ever.
People went to Dell for the computers, but they go to Apple for everything… That’s the difference between a transactional company and a transformational one.
Do things that won't scale; it will teach you.
The American dream, what we were taught was, grow up, own a car, own a house. I think that dream's completely changing. We were taught to keep up with the Joneses. Now we're sharing with the Joneses.
Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like.
The second thing I had to do was not to be reluctant as a leader. And when I started doing that, I realized that people are thriving from this, and that it's so much more helpful for people.
Every day I would wake up and think, 'Today is another missed opportunity to do something important.' After enough days like this, you start feeling like you are getting old, even when you are relatively young. We are all natural entrepreneurs, and being manacled to a desk job is not for us.
Everyone's got a moment or two in their life where something happens and you make a decision and then your entire life changes.
Designers + artists see potential in things where others do not. I think artists in many ways are the original entrepreneurs.
We start with the perfect experience and then work backward. That's how we're going to continue to be successful.
Customers are willing to try new things, and if you can survive, you will have fewer competitors. It's like entering the eye of the storm. As long as you are strong enough to survive, you can end up in still water by yourself.
The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs. When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing. People can be independent and autonomous. They can be entrepreneurial.
[On culture] It's living the core values when you hire; when you write an email; when you are working on a project; when you are walking in the hall.
A company's culture is the foundation for future innovation. An entrepreneurs job is to build the foundation
Our "overnight" success took 1,000 days.
Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with passion.
I'm not saying the whole world will work this way, but with Airbnb, people are sleeping in other people's homes and other people's beds. So there's a level of trust necessary to participate that's different from an eBay or Facebook.
Brand is really the connection between you and your customersif you have a very strong culture, then the brand will come through.
In June 2010, I moved out of my apartment and I have been mostly homeless ever since, off and on. I just live in Airbnb apartments and I check in every week in different homes in San Francisco.
Whatever career you're in, assume it's going to be a massive failure. That way, you're not making decisions based on success, money and career. You're only making it based on doing what you love.
What I've been surprised by is not how different people are, but how similar they are. There are certain types of Airbnb people, and they are in every city in the world - it's just that in some cultures, there is more of a generational divide.
Having a clear mission and making sure you know that mission and making sure that mission comes through the company is probably the most important thing you can do for both culture and values.
In organizations (or even in a society) where culture is weak, you need an abundance of heavy, precise rules and processes.
When you start a company, it's more an art than a science because it's totally unknown. Instead of solving high-profile problems, try to solve something that's deeply personal to you. Ideally, if you're an ordinary person and you've just solved your problem, you might have solved the problem for millions of people.
Don't listen to your parents.
Companies that hire employees that are deeply passionate create companies that customers are really really passionate about, and those are the companies that have strong brands.
Whatever the press is talking about, they want to keep talking about it. So instead of asking yourself, 'How can I get them to start talking about me?', figure out a way to get yourself involved in what they're already talking about.
There's no such thing as a good or bad culture, it's either a strong or weak culture. And a good culture for somebody else may not be a good culture for you.
The office is the laboratory and meeting your users is like going into the field. You can't just stay in the lab. And it's not just asking users what they want, it's about seeing what they're doing.
― Brian Chesky Quotes
Chief Editor
Tal Gur is an author, founder, and impact-driven entrepreneur at heart. After trading his daily grind for a life of his own daring design, he spent a decade pursuing 100 major life goals around the globe. His journey and most recent book, The Art of Fully Living, has led him to found Elevate Society.
