Airbnb: Nathan Blecharczyk & Their First Advisor

Nathan Blecharczyk turned a social experiment into Airbnb: a company that would remake travel. But first, it had to survive.

Before it reshaped an industry, Airbnb looked like an idea that shouldn’t work. In this episode, Nathan retraces the moments that almost killed the company: convincing people to trust a stranger in their home, handling their first major crisis, and watching 80% of their business evaporate in a global pandemic. But with each emergency, he developed the philosophies that would engineer real trust in the company. 

Alongside Sam Angus, the first advisor who believed in their idea, Nathan shares how they overcame one of humanity’s most instinctual fears and built something that refused to die.