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Chesky: Airbnb operated by doing everything manually until it became painful

Brian Chesky · Airbnb's Brian Chesky: Do things that don’t scale · May 3, 2022 · at 14:47

Brian Chesky explains the operating rule he and co-founder Joe Gebbia used to manage early operational growth at Airbnb.

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“We had a saying that you would do everything by hand until it was painful. So Joe and I would photograph homes until it was painful, then we got a photographer's. Then we'd manage them with spreadsheets until it was painful, then we got an intern.”

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