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Pivot

Guest Episode: Decoder with Nilay Patel: Why the future of work is the future of travel, with Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky

Pivot

Vox Media Podcast Network

News Commentary, News, Technology, Tech News

4.37.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 December 2021

⏱️ 69 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky prides himself on thinking very differently than other CEOs, and his answers to the Decoder questions about how he structures and manages his company were almost always the opposite of what I’m used to hearing on the show. Airbnb is pretty much a single team, focused on a single product, and it all rolls up to Brian. That’s very different from most other big companies, which have lots of divisions and overlapping lines of authority. And Airbnb’s relationship to cities is changing as tourism changes. Airbnb used to be the poster child for a tech company that showed up without permission and fought with regulators, but as the company has grown and the pandemic has changed things, it’s entered what is hopefully a more mature phase — it just came to a deal with New York City after ten years of argument. I asked Brian about that and about what it’s like to run a public company now — the transition from scrappy startup to public company engaged with regulators is a big one. Of course, I also had to ask about cryptocurrency and the metaverse — does Brian think we’re all going to be visiting virtual NFT museums on vacations in the future? You have to listen and find out. Okay, Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, here we go. Transcript: https://www.theverge.com/e/22547463 Credits: Decoder is a production of The Verge, and part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Today’s episode was produced by Creighton DeSimone, and Andrew Marino, our research was done by Liz Lian. And we are edited by Callie Wright. Our music is by Breakmaster Cylinder. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi everyone, this is Pivot from New York Magazine in the Vox Media Podcast Network.

0:08.5

I'm Cara Swisher and today we're sharing a special episode of decoder with Nealai Patel

0:13.6

from our friends over at the verge.

0:15.8

Nealai, the verge's co-founder and editor-in-chief, interviews CEO's policy makers and tech

0:20.8

leaders asking them critical questions.

0:23.2

In this episode, Nealai interviews Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky about how they're navigating

0:28.3

the pandemic, handling the backlash towards big tech and how they're maturing from their

0:32.4

rise as a tech company who showed up to cities without permission and thought with regulators.

0:37.8

Take a listen to the episode and follow decoder with Nealai Patel wherever you find your

0:42.3

podcast.

0:43.3

New episodes come out every Tuesday.

0:45.5

Hello and welcome to decoder.

0:49.0

I'm Nealai Patel, editor-in-chief of the verge and decoder is my show about big ideas and

0:53.8

other problems.

0:54.8

Today, I'm talking to Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky and I have to tell you this conversation

1:00.0

was really surprising.

1:02.2

Brian prides himself on thinking very differently than other CEOs and his answer to the decoder

1:08.2

questions about how he structures and manages his company were almost always the opposite

1:13.4

of what I'm used to hearing on the show.

1:16.3

Airbnb is pretty much a single team focused on a single product and it all rolls up to

1:20.8

Brian.

1:21.8

That's very different from most other big companies which usually have lots of divisions

...

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