The Airbnb Founder Mode: How to Build a Scalable, Agile, and Resilient Company
Leadership, innovation, and speed. See how Airbnb overcame stagnation, cut inefficiencies, and created a founder-driven strategy to drive long-term success
Hello, and Welcome back to Tech Trendsetters! I'm excited to bring you another episode from our Business Strategies & Insights series, where we not only explore game-changing developments in technology and innovation, but also find insights you can apply in your own business and daily life.
Today's story is particularly captivating as we look at how Airbnb found its way back to its roots by embracing what I call a "founder mode":
What exactly is founder mode?
How did Airbnb implement this strategy to transform their business?
What can we learn from this approach to apply in our own ventures?
All of this will come to you as short notes that I've gathered (honestly, they started as my personal reminders, but they're too good not to share). So let’s begin.
Why Did Airbnb Need a Reset?
Before we jump into the story of Airbnb’s transformation, let’s take a brief trip into a history. Back in 2008, Airbnb started with three guys renting out an air mattress in their living room (because all hotels in San Francisco were sold out during a design conference).
By 2022, Airbnb was an industry giant. 4,000 engineers. Thousands of employees. A sprawling product ecosystem. And yet, it was running into familiar problems. Too many teams. Too many priorities. Too much red tape. Sound familiar? Because it should.
Overall – no surprises. This is what happens to almost every tech company as it scales. The scrappy, fast-moving startup turns into a slower, more bureaucratic machine.
Some key symptoms also started showing up at Airbnb:
Siloed product teams were working independently, which meant different groups were building the same things over and over again, accumulating technical debt;
Development stalled because teams had too many interdependencies, creating bottlenecks and politics over resources;
Direction was lost. With so much autonomy, different groups pursued different goals. There was no unifying strategy;
At one point, Airbnb had multiple independent product divisions , each operating like a mini-startup within the company. While this might sound like a great way to encourage innovation, in reality, it led to the above mentioned duplication of efforts, conflicting priorities, and a lack of accountability.
It’s a classic problem. Companies start hiring “real” executives, adding layers of management, and before you know it, the thing that made the company special – their product obsession, just fades away.
Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnb, says, this wasn't just inefficient. It was existential. He realized that to save Airbnb’s soul, he needed to burn the old structure down and rebuild it from first principles. Yes, it might sound dramatic, but sometimes this is the only way.
What is The "Founder Mode"
Now, here’s where things get interesting. Most CEOs, when faced with these problems, make minor tweaks. Maybe they shuffle leadership or introduce new processes.
As you may have already guessed Brian Chesky just blew up the entire system.
Fewer Teams, More Depth
Traditional product management was restructured. Instead of a separate product management function, Airbnb split responsibilities between marketing and engineering;
Program managers took over execution. Many former product managers were reassigned and trained as program managers focused on execution;
Fewer teams, bigger impact. Instead of chasing a hundred small ideas, Airbnb focused on a few big bets;
Why does this matter? Because companies tend to assume that the more people and teams they have, the more they can accomplish. The opposite is usually true.
A short disclaimer: what exactly is program manager?
Program management deals with overseeing a group or several projects that align with a company’s organizational strategy, goals, and mission. These projects, are intended to improve an organization's performance.
So, unlike product managers, who focus on what to build and why, program managers focus on how to build it efficiently.
At Airbnb, many product managers were already doing program management work – coordinating teams, managing timelines, and ensuring smooth execution. So instead of maintaining a separate product management function, Airbnb formalized program management as a distinct role.
A New System for Prioritization
Airbnb didn’t just restructure – it changed how decisions were made.
Jira Product Discovery became the single source of truth for prioritizing projects;
A two-year rolling roadmap replaced quarterly planning. Instead of revisiting strategy every few months, they built long-term commitments;
A/B testing became more disciplined. They even emphasized it – that every experiment needed a clear hypothesis and a measurable outcome. Instead of endless micro-optimizations, Airbnb now focused on meaningful improvements.
This shift alone forced Airbnb to be more intentional about what they built.
By the way, if you've been following Tech Trendsetters , you know we've already explored the importance of structured A/B testing. With a strong hypothesis, clear success metrics and even more. Airbnb is just another case study of how this approach can drive meaningful product decisions.
Merging Product and Marketing
Most companies treat product and marketing as separate worlds. Product teams focus on building features, while marketing teams focus on selling them. The problem here is that a great product without great storytelling is invisible. I would like to bring this exact quote of Brian:
If you build a great product and no one knows about it, did you even build a product?
So Airbnb merged product strategy with marketing strategy.
Performance marketing (ads, paid acquisition) was deprioritized. (They had been spending $1 billion on Google ads!);
Marketing became about education. Instead of just running ads, Airbnb focused on explaining product benefits to users;
Product managers worked closely with marketing. They didn’t become marketers themselves, but they played a bigger role in storytelling, positioning, and communication.
This is so obvious in hindsight. No one cares about a feature if they don’t understand why it’s valuable. By making storytelling part of product development itself, Airbnb basically ensured that their updates actually resonated with users.
The Leadership Shift
Now, let’s talk about what really changed in the leadership approach.
The CEO Became the Chief Product Officer (Again)
Airbnb doesn't have a Chief Product Officer (CPO). Brian Chesky himself took on that role. He believes that in a product-first company, the CEO has to be the ultimate product expert.
I think the CEO should be the chief product officer of a product or tech company. If the CEO is not the chief product officer then I don't know if they're a product or tech led company. Maybe that's okay if they're an ops company or if they're a marketing company or if they're not a tech company.
This goes against traditional norms. But think about it – why would a company built around product innovation have a CEO who isn’t directly shaping product decisions?
This meant:
Personally reviewing major product decisions;
Being deeply involved in design and engineering;
Ensuring that every leader was an expert in their field – not just a people manager;
One of Brian’s fundamental beliefs is that leaders are not mere administrators or “people managers.” They need deep mastery of their domain. Chesky often refers to this as “knowing the work,” meaning that if you’re leading design team, you’re actually skilled at design. If you run engineering, you’re a true engineering expert, not just a manager.
This sets the standard that decision-making is rooted in expertise rather than hierarchy. In a way, it flips the typical corporate structure: if you can’t actively shape or critique the work, you probably aren’t the right person to lead it.
Big takeaway here: If you’re a founder, don’t delegate product strategy too early. Stay in the details.
Faster Decision-Making, Fewer Meetings
If you want to improve the speed of a company, then make faster decisions.
Chesky set up structured product reviews. Depending on priority, projects were reviewed weekly, biweekly, or monthly;
No more back-and-forth approvals – just decisive execution;
The roadmaps dictated priorities, not the loudest voices in meetings;
One major friction point in big tech companies is what I like to call “approval limbo.” The endless cycle of passing project briefs up and down the ladder, revising them based on each new person’s feedback, and then having to circle back yet again. Instead of layering on extra consultations or sign-offs, the Airbnb team instituted a single, structured review process. After a project is green-lit in that review – teams go build.
In practice, that means if a feature is on the roadmap and gets a green light in the weekly or biweekly review, the relevant folks – marketing leads, program managers, engineers – don’t have to tiptoe around multiple higher-ups. They already got their green-light and get it done.
Interestingly, this ends up reducing everyone’s total meeting load. People aren’t trapped in perpetual “update and approval” calls. Yes, those product reviews can be intense, but it’s a single go-to forum for clarity.
This approach killed two birds with one stone:
Work moved faster (no layers of approval);
Teams spent more time building, less time justifying their existence;
The Micromanagement Myth
A common criticism of deeply involved CEOs is that they become “micromanagers”, slowing things down by obsessing over every detail. Brian Chesky sees it differently.
There’s a difference between micromanaging – telling people exactly what to do – and being deeply in the details.
His philosophy is closer to how great boards oversee CEOs: they don’t make decisions for the company, but they understand everything well enough to challenge, guide, and ensure success.
This shifted how accountability worked at Airbnb. Leaders weren’t just trusted to handle things autonomously – they were accountable for producing great work that could stand up to scrutiny.
And here’s the paradox: The more Chesky got involved, the less time he had to spend fixing problems.
The Return to Founder-Led Innovation
As we wrap up this episode of Tech Trendsetters, let's reflect on what Airbnb's transformation teaches us about the future of tech leadership and innovation.
Way too many founders apologize for how they want to run the company. They find some midpoint between how they want to run a company and how the people they lead want to run the company. That's a good way to make everyone miserable. Because what everyone really wants is clarity.
This quote from Brian Chesky captures the essence of what we've explored today. The conventional wisdom of scaling tech companies – delegate everything, add management layers, create independent divisions – might actually be holding innovation back.
This way it leaves us with some key points:
Leadership Isn't Just Delegation
Being "in the details" doesn't mean micromanagement;
True leadership means understanding enough to guide effectively;
The founder's vision should remain the driving force;
Simplicity Beats Complexity
Fewer teams doing bigger things > Many teams doing small things;
Clear roadmaps > Political negotiations;
Expert leadership > Pure people management;
Product and Marketing Are Inseparable
Great features mean nothing if users don't understand them;
Education and storytelling should be part of product development;
Marketing isn't just about acquisition – it's about creating lasting value;
Another interesting aspect of Airbnb’s “founder mode” transformation is how they handle creative work. Instead of outsourcing branding and advertising to big agencies, they built an in-house creative team. Why does that matter? Because it goes hand in hand with the idea of combining product and marketing.
When the same creative minds work on both the product interface and the promotional campaigns, the storytelling becomes seamless. You no longer have that disconnect between what users see in ads and what they actually experience on the app or website. And guess what? That’s a huge competitive advantage – especially when you’re trying to convey the uniqueness of your product.
The Essence of Airbnb's Product Strategy
So, what can we take away from all this?
First, Airbnb’s transformation is a refreshing alternative to the traditional scaling playbook, which normally says “multiply everything” – people, teams, management layers, even marketing spend. Airbnb’s approach goes against of that: shrink teams, integrate product and marketing, ensure leaders are experts, and relentlessly focus on the user experience. This shows that scaling up doesn’t have to mean “going corporate” in the classic sense.
Second, there’s a paradox of hands-on leadership: the more Chesky dives into the details, the more autonomy his teams ultimately gain. Being in the weeds early on – reviewing product features, clarifying roadmaps – prevents breakdowns that lead to micromanagement later. When the vision is clear and every leader truly owns their craft, execution becomes smoother. People know the plan, believe in it, and can run on their own without constant oversight.
This wraps up our another episode of Tech Trendsetters. Stay smart, stay focused, and run your company with all the wisdom gained from knowledge! Meanwhile, I’ll see you in the next episodes!
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