Brian Chesky

Current Company

Airbnb — Co-Founder & CEO

Air Mattresses to a Global Travel Platform

Brian Chesky co-founded Airbnb in 2008 with Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk after a moment of improvised entrepreneurship: unable to afford rent in San Francisco, Brian Chesky and Gebbia rented out air mattresses in their apartment to attendees of a design conference. That simple idea — regular people renting space to travelers — became one of the most disruptive forces in the hospitality industry. Brian Chesky, a Rhode Island School of Design graduate, brought a designer’s eye to every aspect of the platform.

Under Brian Chesky’s leadership as co-founder and CEO, Airbnb grew from three air mattresses to over 7 million listings in more than 220 countries. Brian Chesky navigated the company through intense regulatory battles, a near-death experience during the COVID-19 pandemic (when bookings dropped 80% in eight weeks), and a successful IPO in December 2020 that valued the company at over $100 billion. Brian Chesky’s ability to rebuild Airbnb’s business during the pandemic — by leaning into long-term stays and non-urban destinations — is considered one of the great CEO performances of the crisis era.

Design-Led Leadership

Brian Chesky runs Airbnb with an approach he calls being a “founder-CEO” — staying deeply involved in product decisions rather than delegating to layers of management. Brian Chesky restructured Airbnb around a functional model where he personally reviews major product launches, a shift from the more common divisional structure at large tech companies. The approach reflects Brian Chesky’s belief that the best companies are led by founders who maintain a direct connection to what the company actually builds.

Brian Chesky’s design background influences everything from Airbnb’s app experience to its brand communications. He has pushed the company to think of itself not as a marketplace but as a travel company with an end-to-end guest experience, from search to stay. Under Brian Chesky, Airbnb has introduced features like Categories, which lets guests browse by type of stay, and Airbnb Rooms, a return to the company’s original home-sharing concept.