Big things are going to come for Airbnb in the near future according to Brian Chesky
When Airbnb will be there, what will it be? A Conversation with Brian Chesky during his 2025 anniversary at WIRED’s Big Interview
Big changes could be coming to Airbnb next year. In a conversation at WIRED’s Big Interview even in San Francisco on Tuesday, the company’s cofounder and CEO Brian Chesky told global editorial director Katie Drummond that he hopes that, in 2025, “people say ‘that was one of the biggest reinventions of a company in recent memory.’”
Though Chesky kept details scant, he did say that the company hopes to reimagine its Experiences section, which he says consumers really like but that he doesn’t think has caught on as much as it could. The move seems to be an extension of the belief Chesky has in the value of physical experiences and community, despite the fact that most digital experiences are not all that good.
“Ten years ago, everyone thought we’d all be in self-driving cars right now,” Chesky said, noting that while there are a lot on his street, they haven’t permeated the rest of America. We underestimate how much technology can change in the short term, and underestimate how much it will change in the long term. I think there’s going to be a huge change once it comes, but it will take some time.
Chesky was questioned about his leadership style which has become a subject of much attention in Silicon Valley because of phrases like founder mode and the notion that he doesn’t take one-on-one meetings anymore.
He told me that he has been more involved in the day to day activities of his employees since the company lost 80% of its business due to the P.C. Chesky says he monitors between 75 and 80 projects at a time, dedicating half of his 60-plus-hour work week to project reviews each week. He doesn’t do many one-on-ones anymore and leans in to group meetings where he can meet multiple levels of staff at once.
Another thing I’m reminded of on my return to the Ring is how skillful Cook is at touting the results of his big decisions, from the Apple Watch to his bet on custom silicon chips, which unleashed innovations that boost Apple phones and laptops. (And not mentioning decisions that didn’t pan out, like that multibillion-dollar smart-car project.) When Cook walks in the conference room where we are having a meeting, I know he will be friendly and courteous, as well as defending his company and the virtues of its products. He did not want to comment on the election results, which came in after our talk. Steve Jobs would come at a journalist like the rain in Buenaventura, aggressively pitching his message; Cook envelopes his interlocutors in a gentle mist and confides awed assessments of his company’s efforts.
According to Apple, its focus on privacy is a hallmark of the Cook regime. Data doesn’t go to the cloud with the tools rolling out through software updates on the latest iPhone and Macs. The computation for more complicated AI tasks, Cook assures, occurs in secure regions of Apple’s data centers.
Cook didn’t panic. Steve Jobs did not believe that first was best. He puts it that “Classic Apple” is a field of first-movers and that the products that make the latest technologies and even sexy are the ones that make the most sense. Think back to how the iPod rethought digital music. It wasn’t the first MP3 player, but its compactness, ease of use, and integration with an online store thrilled people with a new way to consume their tunes.
When I visit the Apple Park campus, I think of a tour I took months before construction finished, when the floors were covered with mud and dust. Tim Cook was the CEO of Apple. A proprietor told me that it was a 100 year decision to commit to the new campus.
