Rapid Response: Airbnb’s Brian Chesky: "Crisis is pushing us back to our roots"
Masters of Scale
WaitWhat
4.6 • 4.4K Ratings
🗓️ 13 April 2020
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
As the pandemic hit, Airbnb was preparing for an IPO. Within a matter of days, everything changed dramatically, as travel worldwide screamed to a halt. “I felt like I was captain of a ship and a torpedo hit the side,” says CEO Brian Chesky. Airbnb responded quickly, announcing that they'd override host rules and allow for guest cancellations. They went on to establish a relief fund for hosts, lobby the U.S. Congress to include hosts in the CARES stimulus package; open up a new business line of virtual experiences, and raise an astounding one billion dollars in new capital — all with the goal of both weathering the storm and laying the groundwork for the new era of travel that Chesky firmly believes will follow. Chesky takes our co-host Bob Safian through the last few weeks, shares what gives him hope and explains why he’s bringing Airbnb back to its roots as a scrappy, resilient startup that can adapt and evolve.
Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com
Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, you may have heard read talking about the future of AI and chat GPT on |
| 0:04.8 | Master's of Scale recently. |
| 0:06.6 | If you're interested in learning more, I want to recommend Wired's new podcast Have |
| 0:10.6 | a Nice Future. |
| 0:12.0 | Each episode explores the future of AI through illuminated conversations, featuring top technologists, |
| 0:17.7 | thinkers, and creators who share stories of how politics, culture, commerce, and more |
| 0:22.3 | are all touched by technology. |
| 0:24.8 | New episodes of Have a Nice Future are released every Wednesday. |
| 0:28.2 | You can listen and follow now wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:31.5 | We were preparing to go public. |
| 0:34.2 | We had a plan and I felt great about the plan. |
| 0:37.4 | And all of a sudden, it felt like I was a captain of the ship in a torpedo hit the side |
| 0:42.4 | of the ship. |
| 0:44.9 | The world changed irreversibly. |
| 0:46.6 | It just felt like everything was breaking at once. |
| 0:50.3 | And so we had this really, really difficult choice. |
| 0:52.8 | Never thought I would have to make a choice like this before. |
| 0:55.7 | My principles were do more than people expect. |
| 0:58.9 | Be remembered for how we conduct ourselves. |
| 1:01.5 | Be nimble. |
| 1:02.5 | Pivot to where we think the world is going. |
| 1:05.8 | It feels like you're in a house and it's on fire. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WaitWhat, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of WaitWhat and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.