Airbnb CEO: “Airbnb Was Worth $100 BILLION & I Was Lonely & Deeply Sad!”
Is being an artist the secret behind running a Fortune 500 company?
In this new episode Steven Bartlett 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
