Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky says ‘founder mode’ cost him almost his entire executive team: ‘They left or they didn’t want to work for me’
Source: Fortune ·
Chesky was a natural founder but a “terrible CEO,” he said, and fixing that meant losing executives who wouldn’t adapt.
From the source
Long before he cofounded Airbnb—the now-$105 billion short-term rental platform—in 2008, Brian Chesky was practicing being a founder as a kid—designing things, disassembling Christmas toys, and persuading friends to buy what he was selling. By the time he started a company, he figured he’d been preparing for the job his whole life, with 20 years of founder experience under his belt. Stepping into the CEO role, however, was a different matter. “I think I was pretty much naturally a great founder, and I was naturally a terrible CEO,” Chesky told Guy Raz on Monday’s episode of How I Built This. As Airbnb grew, Chesky said he followed advice to hire experienced executives, trust their judgment, and give them room to work. But when he rejected that approach and took a more hands-on role, he was met with resistance. “Almost the entire exec team left,” Chesky said, adding that the departures happened eventually. “They left or they didn’t want to work for me.” The longtime CEO wasn’t looking…
BestAIBroker analysis
- Finance-aware sentiment: slightly negative (-0.15 on a -1 to +1 scale).
- Event classification: OTHER.
- Market importance score: 31/100, weighting entity relevance, source credibility, multi-outlet coverage and recency.
- Symbols referenced: ABNB.