LIVE: Airbnb Co-Founder Nathan Blecharczyk on the value of purpose, and building through a crisis.

Giant Ventures is a multi stage venture fund, founded by Cameron McLain and Tommy Stadlen. We recorded these first episodes at our live Giant Ideas summit, held at London’s Tate Modern. The Giant Ideas summit brings together 200 founders, CEOs, heads of state and other leaders to explore how we can harness cutting edge technology as a force for good. 

Today we bring you an interview with Nathan Blecharczyk, the co-founder of Airbnb. Airbnb is one of the biggest technology success stories of the last 20 years and, at the time of recording, they have a market cap of 90 billion dollars.

Airbnb is the ultimate ‘Giant Idea’: when they started the idea of staying in a stranger’s home was unthinkable, and 14 years later they’ve had over a billion stays. But it didn’t begin with a grand vision and there were plenty of false starts. 

In this interview, Nathan talks about the power of purpose, and specifically how Airbnb’s values helped them survive a series of crises including a racism scandal involving hosts, guests trashing apartments, and losing 80% of their revenue in 8 weeks during the pandemic. Asking the questions here at the Giant Ideas summit was CNBC and Sky News anchor, Wilfred Frost.

Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.

Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING.

Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.