Building Products at Airbnb

The way you get things done is very relationship-driven at our company. So you have to be able to build influence.

The typical time horizon for a product team’s north star, or long-term vision, is three to four years out.

The King of the Hill at Airbnb has switched from designers to product managers in most parts of the org. Vision-led rather than design-led.

" Brian and most everyone at the company is comfortable failing publicly , which I admire. But it’s definitely a challenge for us: figuring out how to be more successful merging that vision-oriented approach with an organizational muscle that helps us reduce failure."

But an orientation toward storytelling and vision can sometimes cause challenges with execution : The only new product launch that succeeded was Airbnb.com. Every other big launch over the last eight years has actually been a complete flop.

Chesky pushes PMs to always lead with the perfect experience without constraint . "Airbnb has stretched me to think about entire experiences, not just software."

The Walt Disney Company inspired Airbnb’s founders, especially the storyboarding technique used by animators. Airbnb, the product, isn't our app. The product is staying at a guest’s home.