AI is seen as a big opportunity for Airbnb, but the company believes that it cannot prioritize AI until people love its core service. To understand what people want fixed, Airbnb created a blueprint of every complaint and mapped social media posts, customer calls, and interviews with customers onto this blueprint. By prioritizing the top issues identified, Airbnb aimed to fix what people wanted before exploring new ideas. Additionally, Airbnb recognized the need to revive its original idea of people staying with each other in their homes and reinvest in this core idea. The ultimate goal was to make people feel heard and listened to.
Airbnb CEO and Co-Founder Brian Chesky joins Jason to tell the story of Airbnb’s early startup struggles (1:29) and discuss how the company has restructured operations to heighten focus on the product and its customers (16:05). They dive into addressing customer complaints, hyper-focused marketing, the AI opportunity for Airbnb, and much more (40:26).
(0:00) Airbnb’s Brain Chesky joins Jason
(1:29) Brian’s experience with early rejection
(14:48) Lemon.io - Get 15% off your first 4 weeks of developer time at https://Lemon.io/twist
(16:05) Airbnb’s company structure and focusing on product first
(25:26) Miro - Sign up for a free account at https://miro.com/startups
(26:42) Staying focused, getting permission from your customers, and Airbnb’s new updates
(38:53) Embroker - Use code TWIST to get an extra 10% off insurance at https://Embroker.com/twist
(40:26) Addressing customer complaints and Brian’s philosophy on remote work
(49:23) AI’s future in hospitality and Brian’s personal experience with ChatGPT
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