Brian Joseph Chesky is an American internet billionaire entrepreneur who co-founded the peer-to-peer accommodation company Airbnb. Chesky is the company’s CEO, and has been called one of Time’s “2015’s 100 most influential people.”
Caption: Brian Chesky
Source: Airbnb
Brian Chesky: Early Life, Education, and Family
Brian Chesky was born in Niskayuna, New York, on 29 August 1981. He is Deborah’s son and Robert H. Similarly, Chesky’s father is of Polish descent and his mother is of Italian descent. The parents of Chesky’s were both social workers. And he’s got a younger sister, Allison. Besides, Chesky’s interest as a child was in art, drawing replicas of paintings, and designing, redesigning shoes and toys. Later he became interested in the architecture and design of landscapes.
Chesky began attending the Rhode Island School of Design in 1999. In 2004 he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. Chesky met Joe Gebbia, who would later become one of Airbnb’s co-founders, during his time at RISD.
Brian Chesky: Career and Achievements
Chesky had been working as an industrial designer and strategist at 3DID, Inc. in Los Angeles after attending college. He later moved to San Francisco, where he and Gebbia shared a flat. The Industrial Designers Society of America hosted a conference in San Francisco in October 2007 and booked all hotel rooms. The couple couldn’t afford the month’s rent, so they decided to rent their apartment for money. They purchased three air mattresses and marketed this idea as “Airbed and Breakfast”, with three guests staying the first night.
Likewise, in February 2008 the third co-founder of Airbnb was Harvard graduate and technical architect Nathan Blecharczyk. With Chesky becoming the leader and chief executive officer, each co-founder assumed a role within the new company. To receive funding, Chesky and his co-founders created special-edition cereals called “Obama O’s” and “Cap’n McCains,” based on presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain. Y Combinator, intrigued by the cereal boxes, welcomed Airbnb into its seed funding program.
Besides, the company started internationalizing in its first year and has opened several offices in Europe. In 2011, Chesky wrote a letter on behalf of the company announcing a 24-hour hotline, additional staff support and a guarantee of theft or vandalism to handle a resident complaint about tenant vandalism. Similarly, Chesky announced in 2015 that Airbnb was an official sponsor of the Summer Olympics 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. During the 2014 FIFA World Cup, he said more than 120,000 people had stayed at Airbnb homes. As of March 2015, Airbnb has a valuation of $20 billion.
In April 2017 he featured among other successful business members such as Mark Zuckerberg, John Elkann and Diane Green as first protagonists of the podcast series by Reid Hoffman Masters of Scale. Here, he talked about Airbnb’s strategy to scale.
Brian Chesky: Personal Life and Girlfriend
Chesky is currently dating ‘Elissa Patel’. The pair met on Tinder. As an artist, she works at her Eastdarjeeling company, where she designs floral headpieces. Previously, Elissa worked at various technology firms including Frontback, Wepay, Intel Corporation, United Nations, etc. She currently founded a new startup in New York City, USA called EastDarjeeling.
Likewise, on 1 June 2016, Chesky joined ‘ The Giving Pledge ‘ by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, a select group of billionaires committed to giving away most of their wealth.
Brian Chesky: Net Worth and Social media
According to Forbes, the 37-year-old Airbnb cofounder and CEO, is worth an estimated $4.2 billion. The tech enthusiast lives a relatively modest lifestyle despite his wealth. Similarly, in previous interviews Chesky said he rented out his own San Francisco apartment on Airbnb, doing weekly yoga with his girlfriend.
The entrepreneur is accessible on Twitter by the name ‘bchesky‘ with 312.2 k followers. Similarly, he is also available on Instagram by the name, ‘bchesky’ with 45.2 k followers.
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