Start With One Person
Chesky: How do you know how to make something for a million people? I don't know where to start. But if I pick one person and study them — take their journey and say how do we improve this part, how do we improve that part — you can do something really personal.
Design something and keep iterating until they love it. Don't stop improving until that one person loves it. You're not allowed to get the second person until the first person loves it. Then get the second, then the third.
When people love your service, they become your marketing department. They tell other people.
You're not allowed to get the second person until the first person loves it.
The Snow White Process
Chesky: I learned that Walt Disney in 1937 created Snow White — one of the first uses of the storyboard. I thought, what if we storyboard the perfect experience for Airbnb? We actually hired Pixar storyboard artists to do this.
We pick one frame of the experience. The moment of truth in Airbnb is when you check in. There's a really bad version — the host didn't show up. There's a good version — they showed up. But we wanted to think what would make people love it.
Six Stars to Ten Stars
Chesky: A five-star mostly means nothing bad happened. What if there was a six-star? You check in and there's a bottle of wine, some fruit, a handwritten note. That's really nice.
Seven-star? They pick you up at the airport in a limo. They know you like surfing and there's a surfboard waiting. Eight-star? There's a giant elephant at the airport and a parade in your honor. Nine-star? The Beatles check you in. There are 5,000 teenagers cheering your name. Ten-star? Elon Musk says we're going to space.
You maybe can't make an eight, nine, or ten-star experience. But most people try to design something that's just good enough. If you can add that six or seven-star — that handcrafted, perfect experience — then you can reverse-engineer how to industrialize it millions of times over.
Most people try to design something that's just good enough. If you can add that six or seven-star, people love your product and tell everyone.
Hilton in 10 Years
Chesky: Hilton was started in 1919, over a hundred years ago. We were able to have the entire growth of Hilton in 10 years. This is how you do it. When people love your product, they tell everyone else.
Hilton took a hundred years. We matched their growth in 10.