Brian Chesky never stopped running Airbnb like a founder
From air mattresses in a San Francisco apartment to a public company, and now a new bet on AI.
Airbnb started with air mattresses. In 2007, Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, two design-school graduates struggling to pay rent in San Francisco, offered space on their floor to people attending a conference in the city. With Nathan Blecharczyk, they turned the idea into Airbnb in 2008.
Chesky, who studied industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design, has run the company ever since. Airbnb went through the Y Combinator accelerator in 2009 and grew into a global marketplace for short stays.
The worst year, then the IPO
In 2020, travel stopped almost overnight. Airbnb cut about a quarter of its staff and narrowed its focus to its core business. Months later, in December 2020, it went public, and bookings recovered as people returned to travel.
Founder mode
Chesky is known for staying close to product details. A talk he gave about how he runs Airbnb inspired Paul Graham’s 2024 essay “Founder Mode,” which argued that founders should not hand everything off to layers of managers. In August 2026, Fortune reported that AI now writes about 60% of Airbnb’s code.
In June 2026, Bloomberg reported that Chesky is planning to start a separate AI company, citing people familiar with the matter, and that he will remain Airbnb’s CEO.
What to watch
Running Airbnb while building a second company would test the very idea of founder mode. Airbnb’s push beyond stays into services and experiences is the other thing to watch.
- Company
- Airbnb
- Role
- Co-founder & CEO
- HQ
- San Francisco, California
- Founded
- 2008
- Section
- Consumer Tech
This profile draws on public reporting and company materials.
Sources: Fortune: Chesky on founder mode and AI · Fortune: Chesky plans new AI company · Wikipedia: Brian Chesky
Photo: Airbnb, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
