Aug 13, 2020 · 23m · how-i-built-this
How I Built Resilience: Brian Chesky of Airbnb
0:00 / 0:00
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
In this episode of NPR's 'How I Built This: Resilience Edition,' host Guy Raz interviews Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky about steering the company through the COVID-19 pandemic. Chesky discusses executing compassionate workforce layoffs, adapting to dramatic shifts toward local and remote-work travel, and preparing the company for a resilient public market debut.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Guy holds 24% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Guy as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 3.3 Guest disagreement 0.7 Guy pushing back 0.3
speaking balance: gold is Guy, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:02 Rebuttal of business downturn assumption
Chesky immediately counters Raz's assumption that Airbnb's revenues remain significantly down, noting that booking levels have rebounded close to last year's figures.
Hardest push from Guy ▶ 17:00 Challenging revenue recovery claimsRaz questions whether Airbnb's travel business is still heavily impacted, expressing genuine surprise when Chesky notes a return to pre-pandemic demand.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 17:04 Clarifying global booking rebound metricsChesky educates Raz on the geographic divergence of travel recovery, showing how home rentals outside dense cities offset traditional hotel and flight declines.
Guy holds their own ▶ 8:04 Raz cites Airbnb's early fundraising strugglesRaz showcases detailed familiarity with the company's early history, citing specific metrics around the 20 investor rejections and the exact cereal box fundraising campaign.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Guy as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Guy pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Startup Struggles vs. Leading Through a Pandemic | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Guy Raz facilitates an empathetic discussion around the layoff of 25% of Airbnb's workforce. Brian Chesky provides an extensive, candid monologue detailing his leadership philosophy, severance provisions, and crisis management principles. | |
| Maintaining Company Morale and Fostering Optimism | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Raz demonstrates his knowledge of Airbnb's founding lore, bringing up early investor rejections and the cereal box marketing campaign. Chesky humorously reminisces about hot-gluing cereal boxes in his kitchen. | |
| Decisive Crisis Response and the Surge in Local Travel | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Chesky explains the operational challenges of handling one billion dollars in guest refunds while supporting host livelihoods. He delivers insights into the unexpected shift toward rural, drivable travel destinations. | |
| Mid-Show Break and Travel Outlook Preview | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | Following the mid-show recap, Raz probes whether Airbnb will expand into RV rentals given the outdoors boom. Chesky highlights eccentric lodging types and domestic travel trends. | |
| Adapting Listings for Remote Work and Wi-Fi Transparency | 3 | 6 | 3 | 1 | Raz presumes that Airbnb's overall business remains severely depressed due to the collapse of business travel. Chesky gently corrects the premise, revealing that bookings have rebounded to near prior-year levels in North America and Europe. | |
| Implementing the Enhanced Cleaning and Safety Protocols | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | Raz asks audience questions about sanitation guidelines and checks whether IPO plans are shelved. Chesky clarifies that S-1 preparation is actively underway before offering closing reflections on resilience. |
Statements from this episode (16)
Chesky: Leaders should reject robotic corporate playbooks when executing layoffs
“There is no playbook, I don't think, to lay people off, and that's the kind of thing that if there was a playbook, you should never use it, because the thing that people want more than anything is, They want humanity. They want compassion, and that means that …”
Chesky: Airbnb lost 80% of its business in eight weeks during COVID-19
“We spent 12 years building Airbnb, and then we lost 80% of business in eight weeks.”
Chesky: Airbnb slashed over $1B in planned marketing spend during COVID-19
“We cut over a billion dollars of planned marketing spend.”
Chesky: Airbnb raised $2B in emergency financing in 72 hours
“Then we quickly raised two billion dollars... Thankfully we had some great investors step up but we had to do that deal, and that was like over the course of 72 hours to like get that deal done.”
Chesky: Airbnb raised $20K-$30K selling novelty cereal boxes in 2008
“Yeah, like 20 or 30,000. It was yeah, something like that. Joe told the story. We had to raise collectible breakfast cereal. We were air, bed, and breakfast. So we said, well, let's do collectible breakfast cereal for the Democratic-Republican National Convent…”
Chesky: Airbnb customers canceled over $1B in bookings at pandemic start
“First thing is we had over, we had customers cancel over one billion dollars of reservations.”
Chesky: Airbnb gave $250M directly to hosts during the pandemic
“We took a quarter of a billion dollars, two hundred fifty million dollars, and we sent it to our host. Just didn't loan it, just sent it to host.”
Chesky: Remote work will shift travel to long stays in smaller communities
“I mean, maybe the most fundamental change that I see in our world that's going to happen, if you're so fortunate enough, typically upper middle class person or upper class, not everyone can do this, but for those who can, They're realizing, maybe I'll go a mon…”
Chesky: Travelers will shift from crowded cities to outdoor destinations
“People are gonna, instead of traveling to the same 20 cities, going to the same hotel districts that are really crowded, and then standing in line, To get their selfie photo, instead of the same landmarks, to put it on Instagram, say, look, I got that too. The…”
Chesky: Airbnb is likely one of the world's largest RV rental platforms
“Without having intended to be in that business, we're probably one of the largest, largest RV rental companies in the world. As far as they're not our RVs, it's the communities, but yeah, I'm sure thousands and thousands of RVs.”
Chesky: Airbnb bookings rebounded from an 80% drop to 2019 levels
“So it dropped by about 80%, and I mean, you know, nobody knows if this is pent up demand or not, but no, we're around last year's levels.”
Chesky: Hotels require density and cannot serve smaller communities efficiently
“The smaller the community, less likely they have a hotel because a hotel only works with density, right? You need a bunch of rooms, you need efficiency, and so people are basically traveling and going to small communities.”
Chesky: Airbnb planned to file its S-1 in March 2020 before pausing
“We were, we're going to file it late March. We put on the shelf and recently we've been dusting it off, you know, and you have to update it because the business has changed.”
Chesky: Airbnb will be ready to IPO in 2020 if markets allow
“And we don't know when we'll be public, but I basically said, we'll be ready this year if the market's ready for us. If the market's not ready, we'll be ready when they are.”
Chesky: Airbnb was stretched thin and sprawling across businesses pre-pandemic
“Before a pandemic, Airbnb was stretched thin. We were sprawling. We were going into all these businesses, you know, just kind of feeling pressure of trying to make everyone happy.”
Chesky: Airbnb will refocus on core connection rather than travel or real estate
“We didn't start this company to be a travel company. We didn't start this company to be a real estate company. It was about connection, and if it took a crisis for us to get back to that core truth, then that's what we're going to focus on.”