MARKETING CASE STUDY SERIES Airbnb

DRAFT 1 Introduction

Background Airbnb started in 2008 as a way for two roommates to make a little money. The original idea – airbedandbreakfast.com – was for hosts to rent out space on an air mattress, serve breakfast, and provide local tips and insights to travelers visiting large cities during major events when hotel rooms would be scare (e.g., SXSW, the 2008 Democratic Convention, etc.). Over time, the concept and platform evolved – a simpler name, flexible concept (neither air mattress, nor breakfast, nor major conference are required) -- leading to a globally recognized brand with a presence in over 190 countries, and an estimated valuation of $38B.1

Why we chose Airbnb 1) Airbnb makes for an ideal case study to highlight best-in-class brand and marketing across all aspects of the discipline. 2) There is a wealth of publicly available information on Airbnb – podcasts with founders, business journal articles, and a book that chronicles the company’s history – which enabled us to better understand the company’s approach across multiple aspects of the business. 3) We believe that strong marketing is the result of consistently and continuously reinforcing key messages and visual assets over time. Coke, Apple, Starbucks, Nike, etc. are often cited as best-in-class brands, largely because they have consistently reinforced the same message and brand identify over decades. In contrast, Airbnb is an example of a brand that went from zero to global scale in less than 10 years. We find this merits further study, as it gives us optimism for the possibility of creating strong brands in a relatively short timeframe.

DRAFT 2 Team, Trefis, “As A Rare Profitable Unicorn, Airbnb Appears to be Worth At Least $38 Billion, Forbes, May 11, 2018. Introduction, cont.

Findings and Implications 1) Marketing is more than communications; it is a holistic discipline that touches all aspects of the product or service. One can argue that Airbnb’s branding and marketing efforts are only part of the company’s success, that it is the disruptive business model that deserves all the credit. However, we believe that it is because of marketing that the business model was successful. It was marketing that made the concept relevant to the audience. It was marketing that made the experience of using Airbnb a delight for host and guest alike. And it was marketing that inspired the employees with the passion and conviction required to surmount challenges from the hotel industry and local housing authorities. 2) Human centered design [design thinking] can enable deep audience understanding and strategic focus. Inspired by learning how Walt Disney had developed storyboards to create Disney’s first feature film, Airbnb also experimented with the approach. Storyboards enabled them to gain empathy and understanding for the audience experience, as the process required them to use all of the data at their disposal and to make specific decisions about the audience (What are they wearing? How are they feeling?). They storyboard process also enabled them to reframe how they thought about the company strategy, shifting how they thought about their product – from “the website and app” to “the entire trip experience.” 3) One must understand the audience, but not follow the audience. As quoted on page 10, Airbnb sought to understand the audience, but did not ask the audience for the solution, instead taking “responsibility to create something better than the customer could have imagined.” 4) Airbnb’s insight is a best in class example that can be used as a point of reference when developing an insight. Airbnb’s insight is “headfirst explorers love to discover new places, but hate being a tourist.” This is the gold-standard for a great insight. 5) A powerful brand vision can inspire passion and advocacy among all stakeholders. The brand vision – to help people belong anywhere – enabled Airbnb to transition from an app to a brand that inspires passion and advocacy among hosts, guests, and employees. 6) Brand identity is of the utmost strategic importance, and is the managed at the highest level of the organization. The current Airbnb brand identity, launched in 2014, was developed in close partnership between Brian Chesky, Airbnb CEO, and Paul Stafford, the co-founder of DesignStudio, the creative agency that developed the brand identity. 7) Audience understanding is an internal function embedded in each team. Audience understanding doesn’t just happen at the start of the project, but throughout the process. At Airbnb, a research generalist is embedded in each product team, bringing audience perspective and understanding to every decision.

DRAFT 3 Team, Trefis, “As A Rare Profitable Unicorn, Airbnb Appears to be Worth At Least $38 Billion, Forbes, May 11, 2018. Overall Assessment Excellent Good Average/Poor Insufficient Data

Area Description Findings Assessment

Audience Audience Identification “Headfirst Explorers” is a behavioral / psychographic audience segment. This audience considers finding new ways to travel and Focus experience local culture as part of their identify. Audience understanding Audience understanding is embedded into Airbnb’s culture. It comes from the founders, who were trained as designers at RISD, where they learned the importance of empathy. It also came from advice received from an early advisor, who told the founders to “go to your users,” an expression that later became part of the corporate culture. In subsequent years, CEO Brian Chesky became inspired by using storyboards as a way to gain empathy and think through specific details of the user experience. Insight “I love to travel but hate being a tourist” meets all the criteria for a strong insight. It is true but not immediately obvious, there is tension, it inspires the audience to think or feel differently, and it is emotional. Brand Brand Vision – Clarity Everyone – employees, stakeholders, hosts, guests, the media, etc.– has clarity on what Airbnb stands for. “Belong Anywhere” is Strategy and Relevance highly relevant to the target audience, the Headfirst Explorers, who enjoy travel and seek out local cultural experiences. Brand Identity – In a world where most lodging brands communicate quality and consistency, Airbnb is distinctive both in what it stands for and in the Distinctive, Reflects the way that it presents itself. For example, the logo, which represents people, home, love, and Airbnb, almost literally reflects the brand Brand Vision, Has a vision. All aspects of the brand identity suggest a strong personality: Airbnb is warm, welcoming, and a bit quirky – fitting for a brand Personality, and that believes in a world where people can belong anywhere. Executed Consistently. DRAFT 4 Overall Assessment

Area Description Findings Assessment

Campaign Benefit – Clear, The benefit of Airbnb’s campaign “Don’t Go There. Live There” is to experience living in a different location not as a tourist, but as a Strategy Relevant, and Believable local. This is clearly articulated in the campaign, relevant to the audience (based on the overall brand insight) and believable, as Airbnb offers the opportunity to live in a unique location and experience the culture from the hosts’ perspective. Touches the Heart and / Airbnb’s campaign invites users to rethink what it means to travel, to shift from thinking of travel as tourism, to thinking of travel as a or Opens the Mind way to live in a new location, even if just for one night. Continuity and Marketing Airbnb’s “Live There” campaign used a mix of traditional and non-traditional channels. The traditional channels (TV, video, and print) Vehicle Selection were well suited to driving awareness, while the non-traditional channels were ideal for the marketing idea. For example, Airbnb used Facebook Live to feature actual footage of real hosts in real Airbnb homes and experiences. Similarly, the company created Pinterest boards with the headline (Don’t Just Pin There. Live There). Delights the Audience Airbnb delights both guests and hosts in a number of ways. A few examples: the experience of using the app is simple and fun; the ability to sign up for local “experiences” is a unique way to discover a new location, perfectly suited to the target audience; and the brand’s quirky sense of humor is also a delight for the intended audience. Engages the Audience The nature of using Airbnb is highly engaging, but Airbnb also seeks to engage its audience in everything it does, from involving them in the rollout of the new logo, to organizing “Airbnb Open” meet ups for hosts to learn from each other and from the company, to incorporating real user experiences in their social media (e.g., Airbnb gave guests access to company’s snapchat account, allowing them to post their experiences using Airbnb). DRAFT 5 Overall Assessment

Area Description Findings Assessment

Measurement Message Effectiveness Data not available

Program Results The company’s growth speaks for itself. After 10 years, Airbnb is valued at approximately $38B.

Brand Performance While we have limited data, the “Live There” campaign demonstrated strong performance on awareness and important brand attributes. Marketing Vehicle Data not available Effectiveness Governance Processes & Decision- The literature suggests a best-in-class approach to this practice. Airbnb leadership is recognized for listening to its stakeholders making (employees, community members, investors, etc.) and making decisions based on this input, the company values, and leadership’s judgement about the best course of action. We also found examples of brand leadership at the highest levels of the organization. For example, The brand identity was developed in close partnership between Airbnb’s CEO and Design Studio (design agency), which spent three months immersing themselves in the Airbnb culture (this included traveling to 4 countries and staying in 18 different Airbnb rentals, setting up a design team within the Airbnb home office, and turning the Design Studio office into a space that felt like an Airbnb). People & Capacity Airbnb has benefited from the passion, talent, and commitment of its cofounders and expert counsel in the form of investors, advisors, and leadership team. Based on Airbnb’s ranking in the Employee Experience Index (see p 9), employee engagement is high. Organizational Structure While our information is limited to the research experience team, it demonstrates the importance Airbnb places on audience understanding, employee engagement, and knowledge sharing (researchers are embedded in product teams, researchers rotate teams every 18-24 months, and they participate in meetings to share their expertise and learn from each other). Rewards & Incentives Data not available. DRAFT 6 Marketing Best Practices Detailed Assessment DRAFT 7 Marketing Best Practices – Audience Focus

Audience Identification

Audience Understanding – unspoken as well as spoken

Insight

Audience Brand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus Strategy Strategy

Results DRAFT 8 Excellent Audience Identification

Through extensive research, including hundreds of interviews and in-home observations, Airbnb identified a specific psychographic segment, “Headfirst Explorers,” as their core audience. Airbnb also considers the hosts as part of their audience, as Airbnb needs not only guests to rent accommodations and book experiences, but also hosts to provide them. For the purpose of this case study, however, we are focusing on the guest as the target audience.

Audience Identification Headfirst Explorers

“Airbnb has always defined its core audience, ‘head-first explorers,’ as a psychographic consumer segment that drives most of our business. These travelers consider new ways to travel and local experiences as a core part of their identity. An attitude once seen mainly in younger millennials, the tendency to value experiences over things had become a global mindset that crossed geographies and demographics.”1

(1) Mildenhall, Jonathan, “How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world notDRAFT to travel,” PR Week, Sept 18, 2017 9 Excellent Audience Understanding Audience understanding is central to Airbnb’s culture. It comes from the founders, who learned the importance of empathy as undergraduate designers at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). It also came from advice received from an early mentor, who told the founders to “go to your users,” prodding them to make weekly trips from San Francisco to New York City, where they interviewed and observed hosts in their homes. In later years, they used storyboards as a way to gain empathy and think through specific details of the user experience. Rebecca Sinclair, who was then the head of user experience and research and design (and had previously worked at IDEO), described how the storyboard process enabled Airbnb to employ “design thinking” (human centered design).1

Storyboarding The Perfect Trip Storyboard “You have to understand your Over Christmas break in 2011, CEO Brian Chesky read Walt To design Airbnb experiences, the team set out to develop a customers’ experiences and ask Disney’s biography and became inspired by Disney’s use of storyboard of the perfect trip, which they would later use to identify yourself how they feel, but don’t storyboards to focus his team and create the company’s first the most important elements they could implement at scale (e.g., ask your customer to tell you the feature film, Snow White. Chesky decided to experiment with the a welcoming event, a transformational experience outside one’s solution. You are the designer. Your job is to be a deep, process at Airbnb, using the company’s data and multifunctional comfort zone, etc.). empathetic listener and to imagine teams to draft and refine the Airbnb customer journey. This ways to solve their problem. Take enabled Airbnb to understand the usage experience from the To create a compelling storyboard, however, they needed to responsibility to create something audience’s point of view, which resulted in several important develop empathy and understand the emotional moments of an better than the customer could strategic shifts: individual’s travel experience. To do so, they anonymously have imagined. They are the (1) The Airbnb product wasn’t the website, the app, or even the recruited a traveler who would allow them to photograph his visit inspiration, but you are the creator.” rental, but the entire trip; this was a fundamental shift that to San Francisco. The trip was underwhelming at best (the enabled the company to expand its offerings beyond a rental traveler stayed in a budget hotel, visited crowded tourist Rebecca Sinclair, former head of user experience research and service. destinations, and ate at low quality chain restaurants). Airbnb used design, speaking about the (2) The team learned that the trip was both on- and off-line – and the learning from this experience to storyboard the ideal storyboard process in Fast that mobile was the vehicle to connect the two worlds. This experience and contacted the traveler again, offering this time to Company2 elevated the importance of mobile as the primary vehicle to send him on a perfect trip to San Francisco. After this second visit, deliver the Airbnb experience. the traveler left the city in tears of joy, describing the trip as (3) After hiring a Pixar animator to develop three specific “magical,” and “the best trip I’ve ever had.” The knowledge and storyboards (for the guest, host, and the hiring process), empathy the team gained from that experience – and Airbnb now uses storyboards regularly. As Chesky described, accompanying storyboard – became the blueprint for creating “As opposed to working out of a spreadsheet or a Google doc, Airbnb Experiences, which are intended to create emotionally this is us creating characters and starting to understand the moving and memorable travel experiences. personality of these characters.”1 DRAFT (1 & 2) Joffrion, Emily Fields, “The Designer Who Changed Airbnb’s Entire Strategy,” Forbes, July 9, 2018. 10 Excellent Insight Airbnb’s insight was grounded in hundreds of interviews and focus groups, and meets the requirements for an excellent insight. What’s more, it is an insight that Airbnb, as a service that enables people to book unique accommodations and travel experiences, is uniquely positioned to address.

Insight The Headfirst Explorer – Airbnb’s target audience – loves discovering new places, but hates being a tourist.

BAM360 team criteria for an audience insight

It has tension It is true but not It strikes an It inspires the audience obvious emotional chord to think or feel differently DRAFTYES YES YES YES 11 Marketing Best Practices – Brand Strategy

Brand Vision – Clarity & Relevance

Brand Identity – Distinctive, Reflects Brand Vision, Has a Personality, and is Executed Consistently

Audience BrandBrand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus StrategyStrategy Strategy

Results DRAFT 12 Brand Vision – Clarity & Relevance Excellent

The brand vision – to help create a world where people can belong anywhere – is clear. It is a simple message that is reinforced throughout Airbnb communications and offerings. It is also highly relevant because it meets the needs of “Headfirst Explorers,” who love to travel but hate being tourists. It is also relevant in the context of the broader global culture, where many people no longer feel a strong sense of community.

Vision Audience Insight Broader Cultural Insight

“The world is full of cities and towns constantly growing larger. But the people within them are less connected. Yet we are all The Headfirst Explorer loves yearning for a sense of place. discovering new places, but We are seeking to Belong.” hates being a tourist. Airbnb introduces the Bélo. The DRAFTstory of a symbol of belonging. Nagamine, Kenta, “Don’t Go There. Live There.” The underlying message of an Airbnb ad, Dec 30, 2017. 13 Excellent Brand Identity Everything about Airbnb, from the logo, color palette, soft shapes, warm lighting used in photography, etc., communicates a brand that is warm, welcoming, friendly, accessible, and somewhat quirky.

Distinctive: Airbnb’s welcoming, fun, quirky identity is highly distinctive from the competition, most of which focus on quality. Reflects brand vision: The designers who partnered with the senior team at Airbnb to create the logo and brand identity said it best:

“Part of our goal was to design a marque anyone could draw – something that transcended language and formed the foundation of the new brand. The marque, named Bélo, encompasses values of belonging and is imbued with four meanings of People, Places, Love and Airbnb. The Bélo is also used as a community symbol that can be expressed differently by each community member and in every listing – it is not bound by language, culture or location. The end result is a symbol people feel compelled to share – one that accepts we are all different, one to wear with pride.”1

Executed consistently: Airbnb look and feel is consistent. Whether in Has a Personality: outdoor advertising, social media, or the app, Airbnb creates a welcoming Airbnb’s personality look and feel through the consistent use soft, rounded shapes, warm color comes through in the palette, and friendly tone of voice. logo, color palette, photography style and The Shujaaz.fm radio show kicks off each program subject matter, and tone with a unique sound that suggests DJ B is of voice. It is brand that is searching for a radio frequency. welcoming, fun, warm, and a bit quirky.

(1) https://design.studio/work/airbnb DRAFT 14 Marketing Best Practices – Campaign Strategy

Benefit – Clear, Relevant, and Believable

Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind

Continuity and Marketing Vehicle Selection

Delights the Audience

Engages the Audience

Audience BrandBrand Campaign Measurement Governance Focus StrategyStrategy Strategy

DRAFTResults 15 Excellent Benefit – Clear, Relevance, and Believability First Global Campaign – Don’t Go There, Live There

Background: • Airbnb awareness was lagging competitors’ in key markets (45% vs. competitive brands at up to 85%). • As awareness grew, consideration (the # of aware individuals who would consider booking through Airbnb) did not keep up. • Many competitors were outspending Airbnb. • Airbnb had been focused on young, single travelers; yet, 50% of Airbnb’s audience had children. Campaign Objective: Increase global aided awareness AND consideration, as internal data showed a strong correlation between consideration and bookings.

The benefit that Airbnb offers in the campaign “Don’t Go There, Live There” – the ability to experience a different city as a local would – is clear, relevant, and also believable. For example, whether or not the viewer has participated in a Segway tour of Paris, they can easily understand it as a typical tourist activity. It’s not something a local would ever do and is clearly for tourists. This is juxtaposed against scenes of people experiencing everyday moments that one could do anywhere (a young child building a tent in the middle of the living room), as well as everyday moments that are familiar to the host culture, but likely not to the traveler (going to a public bath in Japan). These are experiences the viewer can relate to and imagine enjoying while visiting a travel destination through Airbnb. DRAFT Images clipped from campaign video: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=airbnb+don%27t+go+there+live+there 16 Excellent Touches the Heart and / or Opens the Mind

“Don’t Go There, Live There” is heart and mind opening because it makes the viewer think differently about travel. Travel is one of the most desired experiences, yet it is often a let down when one spends time in long, crowded lines to check off the “must do” activities in a given destination. How much more enjoyable and meaningful would it be to truly experience what it is like to live in a travel destination? The video features crowded, uncomfortable tourist activities, juxtaposed with the unique moments and small joys of daily living in a new city: cuddling on a sofa, cooking, and shopping in an open air market.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=airbnb+don%27t+go+there+live+thereDRAFT 17 Insufficient Data Continuity and Marketing Vehicle Selection

We did not score this best practice because we do not have data on the duration of the “Don’t Go There, Live There” campaign. However, the vehicles chosen make sense for the objective, the communication idea, and the audience. For example, the launch video, intended to drive awareness, aired during major events with high viewership. Print ads were ideal for showcasing the types of unique homes and everyday experiences guests would be able to enjoy in them. Social media included Facebook Live videos, titled “We are Here,” that showcase real guest experiences using Airbnb.

DRAFT Mildenhall, Jonathan, How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel, Campaign US, Sept 18, 2017 18 Excellent Delights the Audience Delight can come in small details: new features, customization to better match each user’s experience, and a more user-friendly usage experience.

The “Live There” campaign included not only video, print, outdoor, and social media, but also new product innovation that strengthens the brand’s ability to help guests “live there.” These include (1) new guidebooks based on host recommendations, (2) a new algorithm that matches guests with neighborhoods, hosts, and homes they are most likely to enjoy, and (3) an overall update to the app to make it a more user-friendly and enjoyable experience.

New algorithm built into the Airbnb app shows homes that DRAFTare most likely to meet guests’ needs and interests. 19 Audience Engagement Excellent

The nature of using Airbnb – exploring photographs online of potential homes to rent or hosting someone in your own home – is highly engaging. And yet, Airbnb’s brand engagement goes above and beyond the basics of using the brand. For example, upon rolling out the new brand logo, the Bélo, in 2014, Airbnb encouraged their community to contribute their own designs. Over 80,000 people participated, designing and uploading their own versions of the Bélo.1

To drive engagement, brands must respond to their audience. Airbnb’s program, Share Your Space for Good (which enables hosts to open their homes to those in need), was developed in response to an Airbnb host request, proving that Airbnb listens and responds to their community.2

Finally, what better way to engage their audience – and showcase real life experiences of using Airbnb – than to enable hosts and guests to take the reins of the brand’s social media channel. Starting in 2017, each week Airbnb turned its snapchat channel over to a different host or guest.3

20 (1) Gallagher, Leigh, “How Airbnb found a mission – and a brand,” Fortune,DRAFT December 2016, (2) Reader, Ruth, “This is how Airbnb will house 100,000 refugees in the next five years,” Fast Company, June 7, 2017; (3)“Airbnb Snapchat Takeover” All About Airbnb Fan website Marketing Best Practices – Measurement

Message Effectiveness

Program Results

Brand Performance

Marketing Vehicle Effectiveness

AudienceAudience Brand Campaign Measurement Governance FocusFocus Strategy Strategy

DRAFTResults 21 Excellent Measurement – Brand Performance

Airbnb conducted a brand tracker at baseline (April 2016) and after program launch (July 2016); awareness grew between 5 - 15% among the target audience, accompanied by shifts in desired brand attributes, such as “makes me feel like I am part of a community.”

Shift in Aided Awareness Shift in brand attributes

Helps inspire my travel plan

Provides access China to experiences I wouldn't normally have US Helps me feel like a local when I South Korea travel

France Gives me a fresh perspective on travel 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% Makes me feel like I am part of a community

0% 5% 10% 15% Mildenhall, Jonathan, How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not toDRAFT travel, Campaign US, Sept 18, 2017 22 Marketing Best Practices – Externalities & Governance

Organizational Structure

Processes & Decision making

People & Capacity

Rewards and Incentives

Governance AudienceAudience Brand Campaign Measurement FocusFocus Strategy Strategy

DRAFTResults 23 Externalities & Governance – Organizational Structure

Experience Research Team – structure and culture While we do not have information on the entire organizational structure, as our analysis is limited to publicly available resources, we did find some learning on the structure and culture of the experience research team. Judd Antin, the team’s director, described the culture of the 17-person experience research team (formerly called “insights” team), in the Dollars to Donuts Podcast 1 (interviewees are the leaders of user research within their organizations). Given the importance of audience understanding in developing best-in-class marketing and branding, we noted four features that stand out:

1) Audience understanding is embedded in project teams throughout the project lifecycle. Unlike many research teams that act as a centralized service function that provides research support to the broader organization, the experience research team at Airbnb is embedded in the product teams: the researcher, engineer, data scientist, and product manager all sit and work together. This ensures that the voice of the consumer is always present in the decision-making process, not only during the initial product development phase, but throughout the product lifecycle. 2) Knowledge creation and pollination across teams happens through meetings and rotations. To facilitate idea sharing and aid skill / career development, individuals on the experience research team rotate amongst the various product teams every 18-24 months. To create a community of practice amongst the researchers, the team meets every Monday to share the top 2 things each individual is working on, and every Friday for “shop talk” – a brownbag-like meeting where individual researchers share their projects. They also have “skill share” meetings, during which time individual researchers share and train others in their specific functional area of expertise or interest (survey best practices, rigorous evaluative research, moderating the observer room, etc.). 3) Research and audience understanding is a leadership function, not a support function. While the research team reports into the design organization, Antin describes the role of research at Airbnb not as research in service of design, but as partnership with design, where the voice of the customer is represented at all levels of the organization. Antin also mentions that the guidance the founders received from Paul Graham, Y Combinator Founder, to “go to your DRAFTusers” is an often repeated part of the corporate culture at Airbnb. (1) Judd Antin of Airbnb, Donuts to Dollars Podcast, Jan 19, 2016 24 Externalities & Governance – Processes and decision-making

As a privately held company, Airbnb has relative ease of decision-making. Nonetheless, there are important stakeholders, including company advisors and investors, who wield considerable influence. Airbnb’s first major crisis, described below, demonstrates the challenge of balancing input from multiple stakeholders, and the importance of a single, accountable decision-maker.

The crisis: In June 2011, an Airbnb host posted a blog explaining how Airbnb renters stole personal information and valuables, and destroyed her apartment in the process. Initially Airbnb’s customer service was empathetic and responsive, but the company didn’t have a system in place to manage the crisis. They were paralyzed; they didn’t compensate the host, they didn’t provide information about the criminal investigation, and they didn’t take responsibility for the incident. The post went viral, creating a crisis involving the media, police, and outraged Airbnb users. Following the guidance of investors and advisors, CEO Brian Chesky wrote a public statement, explaining that the company was doing all it could to address the crisis. At the same time, a different executive reached out to the unhappy host, explaining that her post was affecting Airbnb’s business, and asked her to remove it, which she wrote about in a subsequent post, exacerbating the situation. Board members and legal counsel advised the executive team to be careful about what they said and to refrain from contacting the host again.

The solution: Chesky felt that the company was not behaving consistently with its values. Although stakeholders advised him to remain quiet on the subject, lest he implicate the company and bring further damage, Chesky posted a public apology. He acknowledged that the company should have acted faster and offered a $50,000 guarantee to cover property damage, available retroactively. As Chesky explained, “people were like, ‘we have to discuss this, we need to do testing,’ and I was like, ‘No, we’re doing this.’” In the end, it was Chesky’s public apology and the company’s actions to protect hosts (the $50,000 guarantee was later raised to $1M) that restored public confidence.

Gallagher, Leigh, The Airbnb Story: How three ordinary guys disrupted anDRAFT industry, made billions… and created plenty of controversy, 2017. 25 Externalities & Governance – People and Capacity

Expert-level advisors and leadership team While the founders themselves did not have significant business or marketing expertise, their design background (two co-founders graduated from RISD in 2004) shaped the user experience and guided the company’s approach to problem solving. A third co-founder, a software engineer, was brought on in 2008 as the technical leader. While relatively inexperienced, they benefited from expert counsel in the form of advisors, mentors, and the world-class leadership team they created. A few examples:

• Early on, airbedandbreakfast.com was accepted into Y Combinator, the start-up accelerator, which offered the founders connections, resources, and expert guidance. • Reid Hoffman, co-founder and former Executive Chairman of LinkedIn, was an early investor and advisor. • Doug Atkins served as Global Head of Community from 2012-2017. Atkins is the best-selling author of The Culting of Brands. • Chip Conley served as Chief Hospitality Officer from 2013-2017, during which time he acted as mentor to the CEO and helped establish Airbnb as a hospitality company. Prior to Airbnb, Conley founded and led Joie de Vivre Hospitality (the second largest boutique hotel company in the US) for 24 years. Conley also published four books on the intersection of psychology and business, including NYT best-seller, Emotional Equations. • Chris LeHane is Head of Global Policy and Public Affairs. Lehane’s prior experience includes serving as Press Secretary to Vice President Al Gore, Special Assistant Counsel to President Bill Clinton, and Counselor to Housing and Urban Development Secretary Andrew Cuomo. • Jonathan Mildenhall served as Chief Marketing Officer from 2014-2017. His team led the development of “Belong Anywhere” as a strategic platform, the new identity and Bélo logo, and multiple brand campaigns, including “Live There.” Prior to Airbnb, Mildenhall was Vice President, Global Advertising and Creative, at Coca-Cola. DRAFT 26 References

“Airbnb’s Brian Chesky in Handcrafted,” Masters of Scale Podcast with Reid Hoffman “Airbnb - Don’t Go There, Live There,” You Tube “Airbnb Launches New Products to Inspire People to ‘Live There,’” Business Wire, April 19, 2016 “Airbnb Snapchat Takeover” All About Airbnb Fan website Carson, Biz, “How 3 guys turned renting an air mattress in their apartment into a $25 billion company,” Feb 23, 2016 The Employee Experience Index Gallagher, Leigh, The Airbnb Story: How three ordinary guys disrupted an industry, made billions… and created plenty of controversy, 2017. Gallagher, Leigh, “How Airbnb Found a Mission – and a Brand,” Fortune, Dec 22, 2016. Gurchiek, Kathy, “Patagonia, Airbnb create compelling to meet workforce expectations,” SHRM Executive Network, HR People and Strategy Blog, May 5, 2017 Joffrion, Emily Fields, “The Designer Who Changed Airbnb’s Entire Strategy,” Forbes, July 9, 2018. “Judd Antin of Airbnb,” Dollars to Donuts Podcast, Steve Portigal Mildenhall, Jonathan, How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel, Campaign US, Sept 18, 2017 Mildenhall, Jonathan, “How Airbnb built its brand by telling the world not to travel,” PR Week, Sept 18, 2017 Morgan, Jacob, “3 lessons from Airbnb on Creating an Amazing Employee Experience,” Medium, Sept 18, 2017 Nagamine, Kenta, “Don’t Go There. Live There.” The underlying message of an Airbnb ad, Dec 30, 2017 Parr, Ben, Airbnb: “We Screwed Up and We’re Sorry,” Mashable, Aug 01, 2011. Reader, Ruth, “This is How Airbnb Will House 100,000 refugees in the Next Five Years,” Fast Company, June 6, 2017. Richards, Katie, “Put Away the Selfie Stick and Live Like a Local, Urges Airbnb’s New Campaign,” April 19, 2016. Solomon, Dan, “Airbnb Gives A Glimpse Of Its “Trips” and “Experiences” on Facebook Live,” Fast Company, Nov, 18, 2016. Team, Trefis, “As A Rare Profitable Unicorn, Airbnb Appears to be Worth At Least $38 Billion, Forbes, May 11, 2018. “What We Learned From The Airbnb LiveDRAFT There Campaign,” Derse, Jan 5, 2017 27