As chief business affairs and legal officer, I am responsible for driving Airbnb's engagement strategy and civic partnership efforts as well as overseeing the company's global public policy, community mobilization, legal, communications, compliance, social initiatives, and philanthropy efforts.
Belinda Johnson
Being an online platform, we ran into challenges with Cuba's lack of Internet accessibility. We were able to work around that by creating a program unique to Cuba where many local hosts are working with hosting partners who have Internet access and can help them manage their Airbnb requests and bookings.
While Airbnb cannot singlehandedly level the playing field for women, I believe we can play a role in enabling women around the world to follow their passions and design the lives they want.
Even with uncertainty around the future of work in an increasingly automated world, Airbnb will remain a way for women to achieve greater financial independence and social empowerment in the years ahead.
It's important for anyone working at a hyper growth company such as Airbnb to embrace learning and be open in order to keep pace with the changing environment.
When I learned about Airbnb, I was like, 'Wow, this is an amazing, new way to travel; it's about community, and there's a lot to figure out to clear the way,' so I was really drawn to that.
Uber, and Airbnb to a different extent, implemented the same battle plan. Bezos is an investor in both companies and, to some degree, has relationships with both CEOs. It is not a surprise that they are heirs to Amazon.
Brad Stone
With tough interpretation of taxi and zoning regulations, neither Uber nor Airbnb would have gotten started. By the time many cities recognized their existence, both were fairly large and had the political support of their customers.
The one thing that Airbnb had was, Brian and Joe were designers, and they did a great job. They also had Nate Blecharczyk, who was the CTO, who I describe his history as a high schooler and at Harvard as really a creator of tools for spammers.
Certainly some hosts on Airbnb are opening up their spare bedrooms to meet new people; and some drivers use Uber to carpool with strangers for the companionship. But the most productive members of each community are professional operators, making available their homes or cars as a way to earn or supplement a living.
Airbnb's genius was moving into cities and recognizing that millennials would want to go and maybe spend a vacation or visit some friends in an urban center.
Airbnb is a company with values around hospitality.
Airbnb is different from most brands. We're a community of individuals, and yet there's a consistency holding us together through the values we share. We have a common belief in belonging, but everyone's expression of it will naturally always be a little different.
Brian Chesky
Our shared vision of belonging is the thread that weaves through every touchpoint on Airbnb.
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.
When we started Airbnb, I had no idea about the people we would meet or the friendships I would make.
People don't use Airbnb overtly to trust people more. They use it because they want to get a better sense of the culture and to save money. A by-product was that they live in someone else's shoes.
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.
I think the key that makes Airbnb is the fact that we're a community, not just a series of commodities.
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.
Managing directors at top-tier investment banks may pocket a million a year and be worth tens of millions after a long career. Early employees at tech firms like Uber, Airbnb, and Snapchat can make many times that amount of money in a matter of years.
We see these wonderful apps that really have changed our world in many good ways such as Uber or Airbnb, but at the same time, they're drastically changing the workforce. And they're changing them so much that the industries themselves are not able to keep up.
We looked into and tested the Airbnb website and found the inquiries generated were at price points substantially lower than the market is prepared to pay us directly. It was clear that there were no real synergies between the level of our offering and what Airbnb clientele is looking for.
I don't think I have to combat Airbnb. It is like comparing Tiffany to a shop that sells things for one dollar.
There's always room for an operator like Airbnb, but it's quite a different thing to my serviced apartments. Airbnb is a different market - it has nothing to do with me.
Early investors in Uber and Airbnb, though they remain private companies, have valued them at stratospheric multiples based largely on the notion that Uber will transform and dominate local transportation and Airbnb will revolutionize the hotel industry.
Airbnb is a much more effective protest than shutting down the Brooklyn Bridge.
When we talk about the things at Airbnb that are challenging and that they are going to have to overcome, the parallels with eBay are across the board. It's community management. It's making sure the marketplace is in balance - the right amount of buyers and sellers.
Airbnb started with 'air bed and breakfast.'
Of course Airbnb made mistakes the first year! Some came from our own preconceptions. When we started, we designed our interface for ourselves, Internet-savvy twentysomethings. We never considered the role of good eyesight in our interface - font size, vernacular; it all matters.
I have the privilege of working with our in-house design studio, called Samara, and our humanitarian team, called Human. Samara is thinking about the future of Airbnb, and Human is working on ways to leverage our platform outside the cause of day-to-day business.
Staying at Airbnb listings gives me the opportunity to truly understand and experience the local culture of the countries I visit.
Airbnb was born out of necessarity. Our rent went up. It was born out of a problem.
By helping New Yorkers turn their greatest expense - their home - into an asset, Airbnb is a vehicle that artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators can use to earn extra money to pursue their passion.
Given Miami's unique role in Airbnb's roots, I'm particularly proud of how South Floridians have embraced home sharing as an opportunity to earn supplemental income and catalyze economic development in their communities.
Starting a company in San Francisco when we did usually meant it was destined to be a data-driven tech company. But that didn't seem to fully encompass what we wanted with Airbnb. When we tried looking through a tech lens, it didn't work. The humanity was missing.
Airbnb has grown thanks to our hosts creating memorable experiences and inspiring their guests to be hosts in their hometowns.
What we're doing with Airbnb feels like the nexus of everything that is right. We're helping people be more resourceful with the space they already have, and we're connecting people around the world.
Ultimately, the power of the Airbnb platform is that it motivates guests to blend into communities, belong anywhere, and live like locals.
Airbnb is about travel.
We started Airbnb because, like many across the U.S. and in New York, we were struggling to pay our rent and decided to open up our living room to fellow artists coming to town for a design conference. Sharing our apartment allowed us to stay in our home and start our company.
I feel triumphant when our moms can use Airbnb without their technically inclined kids.
Everything at Airbnb is a continuation of what it's like to be a guest in somebody's house. We think about how each stage makes people feel.
At Airbnb, we're trying to build a culture that supports details, celebrates them, and gives our teams creative license to pursue them.
Airbnb is a trusted online marketplace for people to list, discover, and book unique accommodations around the world. From a private room to a private island, we offer an entertaining and personal way for travelers to unlock local experiences and see their surroundings through the eyes of a local.
We believe that the best solutions come from solving your own problem. If you have a real problem, there's likely someone else who can relate. That's how Airbnb was born.
We're a community-driven brand, but at the same time, we want every host in every home to recognize that they're all individuals, and to use Airbnb as an expression of their individuality.
My role is to think about what the future could be for Airbnb - and that includes crafting an effortless and easy-to-use service on any platform, whether mobile, tablet, or Web.
Airbnb is about the nexus of the online and offline to create the perfect customer experience.
You must have the ability to recognize good design and good user experience. These are core things at Airbnb. It doesn't matter which department you're in.
