Brian Chesky
From Renter of Air Mattresses to Disrupting the Hotel Industry
Net Worth
$9B
Born
August 26, 1981 (age 44)
Country
United States
Occupation
Entrepreneur, CEO
Gender
male
Generation
Millennial
Marital Status
single
Children
0
Single Parent Household
No
Education
Bachelor's
University
Rhode Island School of Design
Industries
tech, business
Wealth Category
billionaire
Wealth Origin
self-made
First-Gen Wealth
Yes
Overcame
- • Rejected by investors over 50 times before Y Combinator
- • Funded early Airbnb by selling Obama O's cereal boxes
- • Nearly went bankrupt multiple times in first two years
- • Faced regulatory battles in cities worldwide
Brian Chesky is an American entrepreneur who co-founded Airbnb and has served as its CEO since 2008. He transformed the way people travel by creating a platform for home-sharing that disrupted the entire hotel industry. A design school graduate with no business background, he built Airbnb into a company worth over $70 billion at its peak.
Career Timeline
Notable Quotes
"If we tried to think of a good idea, we wouldn't have been able to think of a good idea. You just have to find the solution for a problem in your own life."
"Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works."
"Build something 100 people love, not something 1 million people kind of like."
"Don't fuck up the culture."