--- title: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help | TIME description: “Somebody described Airbnb as the worst idea that ever worked,” says Chesky, the founder and CEO of Airbnb. canonical: https://time.com/video/fy92SP8r/ og:title: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help og:description: “Somebody described Airbnb as the worst idea that ever worked,” says Chesky, the founder and CEO of Airbnb. og:url: https://time.com/video/fy92SP8r/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fy92SP8r/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help twitter:description: “Somebody described Airbnb as the worst idea that ever worked,” says Chesky, the founder and CEO of Airbnb. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/fy92SP8r/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help [Watch (HLS stream): Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky on the Power of Asking for Help](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/fy92SP8r.m3u8) (3:06)  _Published 2015-04-16. “Somebody described Airbnb as the worst idea that ever worked,” says Chesky, the founder and CEO of Airbnb._ --- Jul 27, 2023 6:10 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Qualcomm CEO on the company’s pivot to data centers](/video/pVNMIydF/) ### Qualcomm CEO on the company’s pivot to data centers [Qualcomm CEO on how agentic AI will change the future of apps](/video/Xg8HnKGM/) ### Qualcomm CEO on how agentic AI will change the future of apps [Brian Chesky & Stephanie Ruhle | TIME100 Talks](/video/efuatOm2/) ### Brian Chesky & Stephanie Ruhle | TIME100 Talks --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] Some people describe this as the worst idea that ever worked. A lot of people built something, because they had a great idea. We built something to solve a problem. And our problem was very simply, we couldn't afford to pay rent. And I think this is something that millions of people can relate to. They have space. They can't afford to completely pay for it. They'd like some extra income, they wanna meet people. That's what we thought. What if there's a way to book a home anywhere in the world? And that's basically what's happening. One of the most common things people say when they hear about the idea of [ UNKNOWN ], when they see people all over the world doing it, is why didn't I think of that? It's such a simple idea. Why didn't I think of that? You might not have thought of that. It's because when we thought of that, years ago ,. The most common thing people said is, Are you nuts? [ MUSIC ] When I came to the Valley, I did not know much about Silicon Valley. In fact, somebody told me, There are these people called Angels. And I had no idea that they meant angel investors. I think the key to, thing to learning is having mentors. And a key thing to having mentors is being shameless. And the shameless people learn really quickly and are successful. Most people are just afraid to ask people for help. And so we, Joe, Nate and I, were shameless about asking people for feedback. Whether it was just our investors or meeting famous entrepreneurs like Mark Zuckerberg or Jeff Bezos, who end up becoming an investor. Or Warren Buffet. You know, you seek out people. And most people are really nice and they will help you. Be if they can. One of the first mentors he met was Michael Seibel Michael Seibel the founder of a startup that became Twitch which sold to Amazon. But he'd meet with us every Friday and he had the successful startup so I said what can I do in return for you he said what I want you do is when there's another startup I want you do what I've done for you which is to help them just out of kindness and generosity. And I think that spirit, if I'm gonna help you and I'm gonna pay it forward if, if you're successful. Is a really, really important idea. What Airbnb is apart of is a, a wave of the internet. It was like Amazon was books on the internet, you know. Ebay was like your collectibles, your garage on the internet. There's another wave. The internet going into the real world. And so I think this is the beginning. So many people in 60 seconds can become entrepreneurs they can start a business they can build a reputation and airbnb I think is just the beginning now you see so many companies in what people call the sharing economy its just like the first chapter of it. You could literally see tens of millions of entrepreneurs emerging over the next 10, 20 years that are incremental from anything that's happening today. If you have an idea, if you have something you wanna do. If you wanna, like, you know? On Airbnb, you can be a host. There's ridesharing, you drive cars. Like, you can host dinner parties, you can make things, sell them on Etsy. I think all this is gonna expand so much. But you make things for yourself. You, and what that does is it creates. Empathy. If I've gone through the experience you as a customer have, then I, I care and I know what you feel like. And then, nothing's a transaction. Everything is a transformation. 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