On Monday, October 21, 2013, Brian Chesky sent a letter to his team - which , I believe shows the framework of his success - why he had someone believe in investing $150k in his startup at a $1.5m valuation, why he got Peter Thiel to invest $150m into his business , and why he has just been able to list at a $100 billion valuation!
This was the just of his letter to his team
Peter Thiel said to Brian who had just invested $150m into AirB&B when asked what the single most important piece of advice he had for the team
He replied, “Don’t fuck up the culture.”
He said one of the reasons he invested in us was our culture.
How could AirB&B defend, and actually build the culture.
How many company CEOs are focused on culture above all else? Is it the metric they measure closest? Is it what they spend most of their hours on each week?
Culture is simply a shared way of doing something with passion.
The thing that will endure for 100 years, the way it has for most 100 year companies, is the culture. The culture is what creates the foundation for all future innovation. If you break the culture, you break the machine that creates your products.
So how do we build culture?
By upholding our core values in everything we do.
Culture is a thousand things, a thousand times.
It’s living the core values when you hire; when you write an email; when you are working on a project; when you are walking in the hall. We have the power, by living the values, to build the culture.
We also have the power, by breaking the values, to fuck up the culture. Each one of us has this opportunity, this burden.
Why is culture so important to a business? Here is a simple way to frame it. The stronger the culture, the less corporate process a company needs.
When the culture is strong, you can trust everyone to do the right thing.
People can be independent and autonomous. They can be entrepreneurial.
And if we have a company that is entrepreneurial in spirit, we will be able to take our next “(wo)man on the moon” leap. Ever notice how families or tribes don’t require much process?
That is because there is such a strong trust and culture that it supersedes any process.
In organizations (or even in a society) where culture is weak, you need an abundance of heavy, precise rules and processes.
There are days when it’s easy to feel the pressure of our own growth expectations. Other days when we need to ship product. Others still where we are dealing with the latest government relations issue. It’s easy to get consumed by these. And they are all very important.
But compared to culture, they are relatively short-term. These problems will come and go.
But culture is forever.
Thank you Brian Chesky - and congrats on an amazing listing !!!
Boom 💥 is an understatement!
Here is his article on medium Here is the link to Brian’s Article https://link.medium.com/TSjyuOIQ7bb
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