How Experience-Led Growth Catapulted Airbnb to Unicorn Status

By

João Alves
Last Updated:
June 25, 2025
Reading time:
8 minutes

Before we begin, do me a favour…
...take your phone…
...enter your passcode to unlock it....
...and now, please hand it over to one of your colleagues, a friend, your partner, or a family member…
Hmm, yeah...perhaps not the best idea, is it?
Naturally, we’re all a bit hesitant to share some of our most private possessions - like our phones - even with people who are closest to us.

Now, just imagine opening up their houses to total strangers?!
That’s the type of complex problem that Airbnb has been trying to fix since its founding in 2008. It was by championing customer-centricity that propelled Airbnb to grow from a small startup that allows users to rent out their air mattresses, to today’s ubiquitous, full-service travel and hospitality pioneer.

Welcome Airbnb

As they say, desperation breeds innovation. That maxim holds true in Airbnb’s case.

Back in 2008, Brian Chesky and his friends had no money and were going into debt. Amidst the hardship and uncertainty, being scrappy and resourceful as they are, the co-founders transformed the living room of their San Francisco apartment into an [Air]Bed & Breakfast (reference to the air mattress that they used as the luxurious bed) in order to help pay the rent during a weekend where hotels were sold out for a design conference. And so, Airbnb was born (under the domain, airbedandbreakfast.com).

Airbnb has since come a long way. The company now has over 7 million listings in over 100,000 cities spread across 220+ countries around the world. And as of early September 2019, it reported top-line growth of over 1 billion in 2Q19. Designing and operating for customers certainly pays off.

Culture & Leadership: Making People Feel at Home

A whole book could be written about Airbnb’s corporate culture. In an attempt to synthesise all the learnings, it’s key to understand that their entire culture is tailored around their customers, both hosts and guests.

The holistic customer-centricity is embedded in Airbnb’s culture and leadership.

Values - “Make it unique to you”

_“What is different about you, that every single other person, if you could only tell them three or four things, you would want them to know about you.