Make some time in your down time – like lunch, in the evening, or over the weekend, to check it out. And besides, when are you ever going to attend a class like this, at Stanford Uni? It’s right here for free. Plus Chesky is a charming speaker, particularly in this intimate class environment.

OK, it’s reasonably long this talk (at an hour and a half), but there are some gems of wisdom in it from the co-founder of one of the most successful startups on the planet right now. Not bad for someone who was broke a short time ago. With Chesky’s purported ‘net worth’ at US$3 billion. Now AirBnB is in 191 countries, 65,000 cities and the company has been valued at US$30 billion. It’s pretty interesting I reckon it wasn’t all that long ago – only 2008. In the talk, Chesky tells how the idea of renting your home out to strangers seemed “crazy” to investors and how they survived in the early days by maxing out their credit cards. If you’re starting a new business or you have an idea for a business, you really need to see this.Īnd, just in case you’ve been living on the moon the last few years and don’t know, AirBnB is the site that allows people to rent out their place directly to other people (for a brokerage fee.) I found what he had to say beguiling, insightful and inspirational. In this video Brian Chesky, the co-founder of AirBnB, is interviewed by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of Linkedin, at Stanford University.Ĭhesky describes the humble beginnings of AirBnB and what he learnt as an entrepreneur along the way.

Every now and again you trip over something on YouTube that makes your day, your month, or maybe even your year.

Brian airbnb