How Airbnb Disrupted Hospitality Industry & Made BILLIONS ft. Amanpreet Bajaj | FO113 | Raj Shamani

you know there are a lot of U.S. influencers or Airbnb model experts who. would come on your profile and be like. hey you know what you go from I was. broke one time now I make million. dollars I have 17 properties I have 25. properties right yeah and it's a thing I. wanna know what is the business. opportunity with Airbnb to host we have. seen people build uh multi-crore. businesses in terms of you know doing. this how are Indian Travelers different. from American Travelers some of the. traits are always there the value for. Money Trade will always be there right. what are the top things which we can. learn from a us-based startup not all.

startups have to be on the headlines not. all like somebody creating a small. business of 10 people bringing impact in. a small you know city is also success. yeah so I think celebrating that success. also is very important right welcome to. figuring out before we go forward you. know the drill 85 of the people who. watches do not subscribe us so please. subscribe us because the more you. subscribe the bigger our channel gets. and the bigger our channel gets the. better the guess we will be able to get.

it for you and ask them the questions. that you want us to ask so that your. Indian dream becomes possible much. faster than you can imagine. Today's Show is with the country head of. Airbnb we've spoken about how Airbnb is. a crazy opportunity for you and me to. start caring about and start making. money a lot of money as a side income. because Airbnb is not only a startup.

that helps you stay at homes apart from. your own home but is also a startup. which is helping every individual around. the world start their rental income on. the side and become millionaires we've. talked about examples of people in India. also if you want to know the best and. the most secret places where Airbnb. operates which is really beautiful. Serene peace and unusual in its own kind.

essari places Airbnb. City Country available. and before. you could watch further please go. subscribe. channel for understanding the leaders of. today in shorter period of time because. this podcast might be really long for. you so you can understand all of these. lessons in just short amount of time.

enjoy today's show it'll be fun. let's go dive into Airbnb business. because I am I'll tell you give you two. reasons why I'm interested in it one I'm. a big fan of Airbnb every time I travel. abroad a lot and I started traveling. when I was 17. awesome and I have been. around the world in 30 40 countries and. I think in 95 of them I stay in airbnbs. awesome right we just need to get the.

next five percent but would love to know. what what attracts you to us airbn so to. me in the beginning it was fancy places. fancy unique yes unique places to me. that was like first in I think for the. first from 17 to 20 for three years it. was the price yeah okay affordability it. was affordability because I would. remember the first years you know when. you start traveling you go to major. cities like I went to New York I went to. Vienna yeah right these are cities which. are expensive as well true so in New. York I know even a decent hotel would.

cost me way more than Airbnb sure so. that's why I booked an Airbnb and in the. beginning I remember. I stayed with a family which had three. rooms and I took one room from oh I'm. like it was like a shared the core model. okay. and then and then they gave me my only. bad reviews their review. [Laughter]. I'm from India I didn't know that you're. not this is my first trip to U.S yeah I. didn't know that you're not supposed to. play music at night.

[Laughter]. I was playing and I was jet lagged I'm. playing music in the middle of the night. and trying to work yeah and I was like a. 19 I guess yeah so a 19 year old in an. apartment in New York. this is Winters okay. and then they just put it off. learned it Hardware right then so this. is the first three years sure then I got. used to it so I was like okay let me do.

this then I started finding like cuter. places better places well done more more. places. it has more fun. then then it became I can have friends. over like in hotels and like if there's. so many restrictions and things right. when you are going so I used to go every. time to some kind of conference so this. is what I do every year I go to one. conference around the world okay and I. treat that conference learning. experience as my vacation so I only take. one correct so when you are with your in. a conference whether 500 people you tend.

to meet like 10 12 people and you want. them over so I'm like okay let me take a. nap so it started like that right. and now it has become I booked those. experiences through airbn awesome so I. went to I remember the next last time I. went to New York I took a photo walk. okay so this was like okay every time I. come to New York I'm alone yeah I don't. know who to take pictures sure like. there was an option. and it was I remember it was like 60. dollars yeah it's like 40 go to the.

iconic places. and I use these pictures even today. that's awesome right yeah so these these. become like reason and right last just. this month from 4th to 14th I was in. Colombia wow and I stayed in middle of. the town in an Airbnb which had a. panoramic view in this awesome so yeah.

sound like a huge Airbnb buff awesome. stayed there like. so you know the Genesis of Airbnb how. did it start uh so because you talked. about conference and you're going on a. conference right so let me just zoom out. give you a very short version of how. Airbnb started so in 2007. um you know Joe and Brian their friends. they went to the same design school so. rich d right and. um they're staying together and they're. trying to figure out what to do with.

their lives and you know kind of figure. out the next thing that they want to. work on. um and then landlord increases the rent. right so suddenly these guys are. unemployed they cannot make the rent and. so they have to come up with an idea to. pay the rent. so Joe comes up with the idea that okay. they have Khali space in the house and. what if they bring some air beds inflate. them and start renting those out to. people coming into the city as luck. would have it there was a design. conference in San Francisco at that. point of time and the entire Hotel you. know inventory was sold out so there was.

no space for people to come and stay so. though it's a good opportunity people. still coming to the city they want a. place to stay and we should give them a. tour of the city in our way we are. locals here right and stuff like that so. they ended up putting three air beds in. the middle of their living room and they. put a small website out and said you can. come and stay with us you pay this and. we'll take you around and stuff like. that three people ended up signing for. that offer right two of them you know. were from the US and there was this one. Indian guy amol uh from Maharashtra who.

was visiting the design conference and I. decided to stay with them these first. three guests was the start of Airbnb so. India has been associated with the. Genesis of Airbnb when the design. conference was happening right and what. because the inflated air beds and they. also said you know we'll take people. around it became air bed and breakfast. and which became Airbnb right over so. what started there in 2007 is now in. over 220 plus countries and regions. right and millions of listings and and. hosts 220 countries 220 countries and.

regions yes they are in more countries. in U.N and I know you've spoken at the. UN assembly right but uh but yeah so. that's how it started right and a need. first that okay you know people would. look for spaces be a creative idea to. kind of say why can't we do this and. more importantly when I look back at. that snippet this they had put some. videos out there right at that time they. would not even know that you know what. would what are they building. the only thing that comes out of this is.

yes people had a great time staying with. them but what they remember the most is. how Brian and Joe treated them how they. took them to the city how they showed. the best places how am all an Indian gas. was able to see San Francisco from the. lens of a local which transformed his. entire travel experience and today if. you look at Airbnb it's one thing is all. about the unique places that you go and. stay like you talked about right and we. are the world's largest discoverable. engine in terms of unique places and we.

make it easier for people to kind of now. explore and discover these places. through our product inventions like. categories Etc but at the core of it is. the people-powered hospitality right the. people-to-people connection and I think. we've always seen said this and seen. this that the magic is in the people so. you will always remember your trip based. on the people you met right based on the. experiences you've had and I think that. is where Airbnb becomes a very very. important kind of a platform because it. Fosters connection yeah and especially.

in today's time when people are kind of. drifting apart you know getting people. together connection is very important. and I think that for me was a very very. powerful story to me that is I'm a big. big time customer so yeah so that was. one reason because I am a customer and I. love going to airbnbs because they have. cool places. the second reason why I want to know. more about Airbnb business because I'm. tired of seeing these reels man these. these us you know there are a lot of U.S. influencers or real estate experts or.

Airbnb model experts who would come on. your profile and be like hey you know. what become a host on Airbnb and you. will make you go from I was broke one. time now I make million dollars I have. 17 properties I have 25 properties right. yeah and it's a thing. and surprisingly the other fact I'll. tell you recently I was in Colombia I. just told you. I met random people at a mud volcano we. did we did a crazy experience right. there was a guy who was in real estate.

and there was a one other random girl um. for 30 minutes. the guy was just teaching this girl that. how she can host on Airbnb okay this is. completely random on a random Island two. people from different states different. places in New nobody knew each other. and to me that made me like that gave me. sense of realization. is 32 and in U.S now her dream is not to.

get a house her dream is to keep living. on rent but to get a house in her own. home state where she could host an. Airbnb and get that extra rent and keep. living so you know just this. conversation when it becomes random. strangers conversation and then they. want to do this there yeah the dreams. all of a sudden has shifted from how do. I have an active home to turn this home. into a passive income yeah so that was. second reason which I want to know this. and the third and the primary is.

I used to come to Bombay and live in. airbnbs. to one Airbnb and that that I don't want. to take the name of the guy but that guy. went from like having one small house. like one bhk yeah now he owns like 20. properties in Bombay and 20 properties. in Goa in Goa wow to me there's like. yeah well like like four or five years. and now yeah. and another fascinating thing is he. doesn't own anything. so he takes it from people runs the.

management and take does it on airbn. yeah so to me all of these like I want. to know what is the business opportunity. with Airbnb to host sure and how does. this work so two things are happening. and I think things vary country to. country you know different countries at. a very different level in terms of. um awareness of the platform tourism. footfalls Etc so very difficult to. generalize but I'll still explain to you. what's happening two things are. happening one. digital penetration has led to more.

people wanting to leverage technology to. earn a livelihood it's so easy today. right for example you look at d2c Brands. now if you have to look at ancillary. view distribution is easy now right so. you have to create a great product. earlier people would spend decades to. build distribution networks and that was. their mode right but today you have an. Amazon you have a mantra you have you. know other places where you can put your. and your good if that you'll be able to. get reach a very different level of. customers and so. as people have got used to using the.

phone or digital they're looking at new. ways to kind of earn money and I think. that is one so the more digital. penetration you've had it's creating. those opportunities and awareness. the other thing which I talked about. earlier is many people are now looking. beyond the traditional experience of. staying in a traditional form of. hospitality whether it's a service. apartment whether it's a hotel right. many people are looking for Unique. places like you said you're looking for. Unique spaces many people are looking. for spaces where there is more value in.

terms of bigger space more control over. that space you want to bring friends. over you want to spend time with family. you know so the travel behavior is. changing and the third piece is a lot of. people are valuing the experience more. than the product right and so the. experiential stay where you stay in a. farmhouse or you stay with a pool Villa. you're able to spend some time with your. family in the pool then you go cook you. know together in a kitchen and then. bring friends over and have a great. dinner over the weekend right so all of. this is leading to more Demand right so.

on one hand you have Demand on other. hand your awareness and digital. penetration so it's creating a lot more. curiosity for people to understand okay. how to how does this work the other. thing that is happening is a lot of. people have traveled in you know from. India overseas and stayed in Airbnb. maybe you also had a great experience. staying in an Airbnb globally they go. there they have a great experience they. see okay this is easy to do they come. back and they say I also can do it. India also has a and there are all kinds.

of people rights people find this as an. opportunity for the primary space. and there are features there are you. know things that whatever they need to. know about uh in terms of responsible. hosting and protections Etc so they'll. do that right some people also have so. India is also big on investment homes. right so people after a certain stage of. Life buy another home yeah as an. investment so a lot of people have. started seeing that okay maybe this is a. better way. um if I don't want to host in my primary. home I can do this in my secondary home.

right. um and maybe it's better than a. long-term lease right so maybe for. whatever reason they may value this more. yield better. questions don't want to give for. long-term days and they want to kind of. do this. um a lot of people have vacation homes. you know so people may in Bombay have a. home in alibag people may have a home in. Goa so suddenly now there is an. opportunity for people to monetize their. underutilized assets this is what. sharing economy has done so one piece is. the whole transaction bit of it that. there is an opportunity to earn money.

out of this the other is a lot of people. don't do this for money. a lot of people do this for the. connection right so a lot of people for. example one of the fastest growing. categories of our hosts in India and. abroad is empty nesters so people who. are like senior citizens 50s 60s their. kids may have moved to a different city. right maybe they're staying abroad or. they went on to study abroad and they're. settled there you have these big homes. the parents are alone right they're. missing the connection and they have.

these two three rooms they don't need. the money they do not depend on this. income to kind of run their home or. anything right they just do it to meet. new people to be busy and kind of bring. people into their communities and share. their life's experiences all of this. coming together basically means more. people are wanting to stay in these. places and other people are using this. as an opportunity to fulfill any of. these criteria on their primary income. earn secondary income that kind of pays. for their Hobbies I know so many hosts.

in India who started hosting so that. they could earn money to pursue a. photography course to pursue a music. course right the fact is this is added. income using an underutilized asset. right and it's finding favor in terms of. people because they're getting a lot of. benefits because they want to move. towards a more authentic kind of an. experience right and so these two things. coming together are creating that way. where more people want to do this and I. think it's good news because at the end. of the day the more livelihood. opportunities you create or the more.

social opportunities you create the. impact is very good right so that has. happened now as I said India is also. very entrepreneurial right so a lot of. people have figured out that this is a. great business idea also right because. many people in India have these. secondary homes but they don't want to. get into the hassle of Hosting yeah. right they they don't have the time. because that's you know they might be. busy with their businesses or anything. else so they don't want to do the. check-in checkout they don't want to. manage the place on Portals like Airbnb. they don't want to do customer service. but they like it as a concept because. they have seen it when they travel. abroad and so people have become very.

creative to create these companies which. we call as property managers now some of. them are bigger brands also right they. have their own presence a lot of them. list on Airbnb as well and so smart. young entrepreneurs found this as an. opportunity and said if I can do this. for my primary home or my friends Prime. video one or secondary home let me scale. this right and now that's the reason. somebody could have started with one or. two homes is now managing 10 20 right. and maybe be more right and in places. like Goa and others they are bringing.

what do you call as more structure to. that right but still if you look at. Airbnb today globally or even in India. the core of the business is people like. you and me sharing their primary homes. or secondary homes and doing this right. I want to go deeper in the in the. business side of it because I'm super. interested so give me let's let's break. down numbers if on a hypothetical. hypothetical right let's say this is a. place this is the location it's a prime. location in Bombay as a 5 bhk yeah right. so how much an average person can make.

out of that so again it depends on how. many days how many days you open it for. right so a lot of people for 30 days. yeah this is my extra home yeah and in a. secondary home for 30 days yeah uh to. open out of 30 days on an average how. many days is booked throughout it would. vary again location by location type of. form and the pricing of it so what we do. at Airbnb we let the host decide the. price we'll give you all the indications. and the tools for you to price it in the. most optimal manner can we pick up like.

uh so I would not get into specifics but. I'll give you a hypothetical figure. right so typically for example somebody. has a villa in Goa right okay. um which is a vacation rental market do. you know so in North Goa for example. right uh we have seen people price at a. three bedroom Villa at anywhere between. 15 to 18 000 in a normal off-season. period okay right and they would provide. anything like uh on-call Chef. um so that you know if you want to get. something good you can get it done and.

three good bedrooms with like a pool. access within the village apartment or. within the community there is a shared. pool also or you might have a small. plunge pool in them that goes for. anywhere between 18 to 20 000 per night. right depending on the location and. depending on that there could be a three. bedroom villa which is fifty thousand. also so there is an Airbnb at every. price point but that is what is a sweet. spot. during a very strong season like New. Year's this could be as high as 40 50. 000. and think of this as you know a 60.

occupancy 60 65 occupancy at any point. of time in a month you know uh because. what happened is a lot of times the host. wants to come and stay themselves there. so they don't make the Villa available. or they are giving it to a friend of. them a relative of them because they are. all still a social Community right so. maybe for whatever reason the Villa is. not available to be rented out for those. days but we have seen in certain markets. the occupancy level is going very high. in seasonal periods and that is what is. attracting a lot of people right so you. can a lot of people earn much more than.

what they would earn in a year-long. rental exactly right even 60 if you're. saying like at a 15 20 15 20 000 let's. say pick up 20 000 give like 15 days off. when you look at Bombay Bangalore or. Delhi it's like like a prime Market uh. on an average like eight crore nine.

crore property would get like a two two. lakh 2.5 exactly is like super low so I. think it depends on location it depends. on what you're bringing in terms of an. offer in terms of experiences. um and we've seen people build uh. multi-crore businesses in terms of you. know doing this and we've seen casual. host people like you and me earning. primary income through this and making. ends meet we have seen people who do. this like five days in a month you know. using the money for secondary income. right so again the objective may vary.

but I think we are making it easy for. all kinds of hosts to come under the. platform and kind of list nice and then. okay what are the top locations in India. which are actually making good. from an Airbnb business perspective. right um some of the best hot spots for. us have been Goa no surprise the. periphery around Mumbai alibag you know. and other places. and all of those. um Northern Hills.

they've kind of found favor but we've. started seeing some Trends in the last. you know one year or so right um. places that are off the beaten path. right so people want to explore those. more so people is like GB and Himachal. Pradesh varkala right and because these. places don't have you know traditional. forms of hotels or Hospital you know. kind of those options a lot of people. want to experience this by staying with. communities in fact we did a survey.

um. that. about 79 of the people today when they. make a travel decision they want to keep. that in mind that this decision of. theirs how would it impact the community. what kind of a positive impact can they. bring in the place that they visit and. the people that they would go and you. know experience time with and that has. led to a new Revolution which is more. like Community Based travel coming onto. the Forefront more responsible so the. rise of a responsible traveler is.

something that we're seeing people are. now choosing places to stay based on the. sustainable practices that the hosts are. saying they're saying this place this. host uses renewable energy this place. uses the local produce this place. employs the local people I want to go. stay there right and I think that is. something that is a trend that you've. seen grow in the past few years and it. will continue to grow and so as people. start making responsible choices newer. places are seeing first bookings so. there were hundreds many you know maybe.

50 60 new cities that's how their first. ever booking on Airbnb during the. pandemic you know and so as people get. access to the smartphone it makes it. easy for them tell me one interesting. fact which I keep asking everybody and I. am very curious to know this like we. love learning from America China UK from. like the best of the world right what. have you seen how are Indian Travelers. different from American Travelers. good question great question I think. couple of things one and the behavior.

differs right so Indians are also very. curious now to explore the world so if. you look at it over the last decade or. so. the Indian traveler or the consumer is. far more confident right today they want. to be this they want to experience the. same things that their Global. counterparts have been doing obviously. internet penetration has created more. awareness so today a millennial Indian. from an urban city wants to do the same. thing in terms of what an American. Millennial would want to do and go and.

see in Paris for example right okay so I. think that one thing the global exposure. has done that that Curiosity has. increased so a lot of people want to. travel a lot of people want to kind of. experience new things so that is clearly. one trait which is similar right I think. what a lot of Indians now I see is that. some of the traits are always there the. value for Money Trade will always be. there right so even the most affluent. Indian Travelers will also look for the. most efficient you know kind of value.

from a money perspective deal so a lot. of people want to see what do they get. for what the money that they're trying. to spend right so we see for sure a lot. of people asking more questions. questions right from an India. perspective what do I get this and. everything else so I think that is. something which is very India Centric. right the other thing that I've seen is. earlier a lot of Indians would travel in. groups right so two three friends coming. together but that is changing now you. know solo travel as I said Is On The. Rise so a lot of people are far more.

conscious to kind of you know go out. there do not even plan the lead time. between earlier you know you used to. have a longer lead time between when. people book and when they stay so that. tells you a lot of planning has gone in. ETC these days it's like tonight we book. and day after tomorrow we are traveling. right so spontaneity is also something. that we have seen that has come in and I. think a lot of people see these unique. places. whether it's in India whether it's. outside India as well so so that's there. but I think overall the whole focus on.

you know sustainable travel that's. something that I've seen rise multi-fold. in India so the choices people making in. terms of you know reading what kind of. where is the electricity coming from. what kind of you know products are being. used are sustainable practices being. employed what is the impact on community. that for me is a very different trade. that I've seen from an Indian user. perspective interesting what are your. top three places in India on Airbnb in. terms of number of listings or for. booking places which you feel are really.

good everybody should check out like. from a property of a property point of. view so in India and three abroad three. in India so that's like very difficult. like this whole content going on in. Google so a lot of people create content. questions but I'll tell you where I am. going to right so I am going for a. summer holiday with my family and uh. it's the first time we're going to UK. place called Isle of Sky you know so I. have an interest in single mod so I just. want to go visit a few distilleries. there right and so making a road trip. literally staying in a cabin which is on.

the lake you know and. um literally though kilometers there is. no house so it's in the middle of. nowhere great views of the lake gives. you the isolation but you're still. somewhere you know where you can kind of. connect go get food energy so I'm just. going there to kind of you know. disconnect and kind of experience I love. Skye in the most natural way so I'm. really looking forward to that cabin's. day of mine. um the other places I think in India. which are two which are on my kind of.

wish list one is a tree house in a place. called GB all right now this is a. beautiful tree house in literally a. Village area the host is a farmer it's. literally sold at 6000 rupees a night. right the problem with that place is. it's always booked right so to get. calendar open for it is is very. difficult so I'm just waiting for the. right opportunity to kind of book that. but it's I mean so just imagine tree. house. surrounded by beautiful views the Mist.

coming in in the evening or you know. early morning and literally you are in. the middle of nature this kind of an. experience you cannot get in like a. traditional Hospitality or a hotel at. all so I have this tendency to kind of. go towards these unique stays the other. one that you know one that I've put on. my wish list is a mud house in munnar. again Mud House so it's primarily made. from ecological things and again in the. middle of nature experience slow living. kind of you know see the beautiful.

sayadaris around you and it's close to a. wildlife sanctuary also so very close to. Nature again a place which would be. difficult to find in a traditional way. right so those have been something that. I really want to go and visit in India. abroad I've had so many beautiful. experiences right. um I still remember the entire family. went to Santorini right and our Villa. had a private beach right so Pebble. Street beach again full access I still.

remember it was a very hot day when we. were just coming in from the ferry. um you know kind of dock to the place. and the host was literally standing with. a tray of freshly squeezed cold orange. juice to welcome the entire family and I. think that kind of sets the tone in. terms of you know Hospitality plus. breathtaking views and and great places. too it was literally a cave house but. amazing so that has been one of the you. know beautiful experience I've had in. fact so many things on the wish list so. one thing that Airbnb did was again. revolutionize the way people search for.

places so typically if you look at Otis. you know they would say where do you. want to go so you put in the city name. and then they will say how many people. if you fire up the Airbnb app today and. I'm sure you're a user you would have. seen. we literally asked what kind of a stay. you want right so there are categories. now built in so if you are a nature. lover you want to stay in a cabin or you. want to stay in an A-frame right or a. Mud House those are categories available. so you collect on click on cabin it will. show you cabins across multiple. locations.

people choose where they want to go. based on the stay that they see now. right and I think that's a very powerful. way to move people away from maybe the. top 10 cities that come to mind when. everyone wants to travel so today if. somebody's going to Paris but they are. interested in wines and Vineyards they. can literally go stay in the middle of. one and that is possible because the. discovery is easily happening on the. categories part right and so there are. golf Retreats there are cabins there are. you know boats and then pool Villas. Heritage cities So based on your.

interests choose the category see the. beautiful places that are very unique in. fact one of the category categories is. called OMG which basically means you. know very unique kind of stays that are. on the platform so there are homes in. the shape of a guitar homes in the shape. of you know fruits. um there are bamboo Hearts which are one. of the most wishlisted places in Bali so. I also manage southeast Asia Hong Kong. and Taiwan and if you look at southeast. Asia Market is one of the biggest. tourism markets like you know countries. like Thailand Philippines Malaysia.

Singapore and Indonesia and some of the. best Villas are there on the platform. right so one of the homes is like a. bamboo home with like you know beautiful. plunge pools Etc which is one of the. most wishlisted properties globally on. Airbnb so a lot of people want to go. there obviously you know they're only. 365 days a year so they have to find the. right opportunity but I think what makes. our platform unique is the fact that. there are a lot of these Unique Kind of. States coupled with experiences but then.

you you will find a home to stay in for. as little as 1000 rupees also so there. is an Airbnb at every price point for. every need which kind of makes it very. very appealing but now that I'm your. friend how how easily can I get to them. on the wait list right we are an open. platform so oh it's out there come on I. need some perks come on we need some. works. for some Advanced nudge what what I will. do is I'll start by sharing the wish. list with you beautiful places that are.

being wish listed most of the time and. then you know I'm sure you can pick. something. you know so one of the. really cool things which. caught my eye recently that the Palace. of King in Jaipur yes was listed on. Airbnb or is still listed. um it was it was yesterday for almost a. year and a half so you could stay a. night in a palace of a king like what. was it tell me how did that happen and.

what was the thing so this was one of. the most unique uh you know campaigns. that we did. um and again in the spirit of creating. once in a lifetime experiences you know. so we have a franchise what we call as. only on Airbnb so this is basically an. experience that money cannot buy. otherwise right or something that you've. not seen anywhere before and we like to. bring these unique places on the. platform and when we thought about India. we thought one of the the rich legacies. of India is our heritage right and we.

have so many palaces Heritage homes and. many of them have been converted into. hotels if you see so today you can go. into an Australia Palace and which is. now a property managed by one of the. biggies but again it's not the most. authentic experience so we said what if. we were to go to an actual you know. place of stay for the royal family the. way it is and convince them to kind of. put it on Airbnb so that people could. have a very authentic experience we zero. down on the city Palace again something. people could go see but never stay.

because it's the official residence of. Princess Diya Kumari and the prince of. Jaipur right and so we just discuss with. them and we discussed the idea of what. would it be like for someone to. experience this royalty you know and the. way you live and this experience and. kind of learn about the Legacy the. history the cultural diversity that. Jaipur has to offer and you know we were. able to kind of get to uh a place where. they got super interested because they. also want to share the story right in.

terms of and again a very. welcoming family in terms of you know. wanting to share this with the rest of. the world and we zero down on their main. residence which is the city Palace and. we figured out a room which they put it. on the Airbnb it's called the good Leah. suite and it was available as an. experience on the platform and I think. people from all across the world have. come and stayed there written about it. and I think it is one of the most. charismatic and Majestic experiences but. I think what makes it unique is the fact.

that you just don't stay in the palace. you know from the time you enter the. palace to the evening tea that you have. in one of the places which is called. Hawa Mahal there right and then learn. more about the place there and the. history around that all of this comes. together to make it to the most magical. experience right so you know. they were the first Royal hosts on the. platform in India and it was one of the. most booked wishlisted experiences that. we have had on Airbnb in the recent past. I want to know how was your interview.

with the founder of Airbnb and like how. did it go like what was the one question. you felt like oh yeah like tell me tell. me the whole process so how did you get. hired like what so what did they ask you. in an interview I ended up speaking to. almost 20 people you know um in India in. Singapore which was the regional office. and then in San Francisco where Airbnb. is based out of when I went through the. process in India it was good okay. Singapore was also great I met some very. intelligent folks you know amazing. people that were managing the business. there stalwarts in their industry.

um and I thought okay this is good let's. finally I went to San Francisco and I. think. that is where it really hit me like the. importance of culture so when I entered. the office that place had a very. different vibe to what I had seen in. anywhere in the world I've been to. traditional companies in my Consulting. days had built a startup in India you. know I'd seen other startups in India. growing but this is where I saw one. thing which was that everybody was. coming to work with full enthusiasm.

working towards a single mission that we. have to make this work and they all. believed that connection belonging is. their play and this can only be achieved. through a platform like Airbnb so that. collected Collective energy that was. there in every nook and corner of the. office was infectious it was contagious. it just attracted you and I think that's. I would say that that is one of the key. things that attract a lot of people at. that point of time also and even now to.

come and work for companies like Airbnb. Purpose Driven Brands where everyone is. aligned towards that one single purpose. and I think it's very difficult to. achieve that at scale and I think that. was there I still remember I met with. people from across different domains. obviously functional experts you know. Regional players but then obviously I. had an interview with Joe who was the. one of the co-founders. um and Brian and I think with Brian the. interview was very clear right he wanted. to know more about my entrepreneurial. Journey because that's the one area we.

could connect yeah and the other thing. that he wanted to know was what you know. India is such a community oriented play. what can we do to bring a difference. right and so we exchange a lot of ideas. around how could Airbnb add value and. Ryan is also very focused on you know. the purpose of the brand the mission of. the brand and I think so that was one. key engagement or key interaction that I. had with Joe again on similar lines. there was a lot of focus on people. culture importance of kind of nurturing. you know trust and I think trust is a.

very key aspect when it comes to a. business like Airbnb because the. whatever we do at the core of it is how. do we build trust right and we'll talk. and so we talked about okay how do you. build trust in an environment like India. like or you know what are some of the. cultural nuances that are important but. I think the the thing that kind of. stands out for me in that interview was. his last question right so everything. was done it was late evening in San. Francisco I remember so he said okay I. have only one more last question and I. said okay yeah he said on a scale of 0. to 10 how lucky do you feel today.

and you know if you've been talking. about the business you've been talking. about Community we've been talking about. people and suddenly this question comes. in and you're like okay you know. everything's like what is this and I. think the best answers are that come. spontaneously to you and and my answer. that was like I feel very lucky I would. not even put it on a scale because he. said why and I said you know what a I'm. sitting in I've had a great day I've met. some of the most amazing folks. um you know I've spoken about one thing. that is very. close to my heart and that is India. right the passion to kind of be part of.

the India Story the passion to bring. change to India and we've done it with. e-commerce in the past the passion to do. something you know where in the next 20. 30 years the things that we do today we. Define the growth and the trajectory of. the country and I've been able to. discuss and share that story out with. such a large audience right that for me. is a great opportunity and I think that. question is something now that I used to. ask a lot of people who come for. interviews you know at Airbnb India and. even when I'm talking to other invest. you know I also Angel invest in some.

capacity so I want to be associated with. the entrepreneurial ecosystem in India. as well I like to ask that because it. tells you a lot about the mindset of the. person that is there like how lucky does. that person feel to be there right there. at that moment just experiencing what. they've just experienced and I think. that I thought was a great great. question for someone to ask all right. just ask two questions I want to ask you. is both on the one on the job side of. the Airbnb and stuff tell me what are. the three qualities you look in when you. hire a new person or like what do you.

look at somebody who is in the. organization for a young person what do. you feel are the three qualities which. makes them stand out and you feel okay. this person can be a leader tomorrow. like what. there's so many people who start as. management trainees Who start as interns. yeah what gives you like I'm sure you're. always thinking about oh I want to. develop this person as a leader I want. to do this thing for this one what do. you look at in people so I think you. know one is. um. the way I look at it is so this is a.

very important topic for me you know. from because I'm a strong believer that. you have to back people right even when. they fail. it's just that they may have failed at a. particular instance but in the end. everyone wants to bring their best you. know in the Forefront and they want it. to be nurtured so I'm a firm believer of. backing people giving them opportunity. helping them kind of you know get to the. next level uh but I think a great. question is like what do you look for. the top three traits for me.

um and again depending on what role. you're hiring for number one is the. Curiosity to learn right A lot of people. come with a lot of baggage saying that. I've done this and I've done that right. but the fact that say in an interview I. always the last 15 minutes I give to the. person to ask me questions and I think. for me that's a great test because then. that is the time when I get to. understand what makes this person. curious what do they want to learn they. have an opportunity to understand the. business from a different angle so what.

is their question and I think people who. exhibit curiosity to learn some they. also do a lot of homework before they. even ask these questions is something. that goes very well for me you know. because our business is so dynamic or. any business is so Dynamic that it will. change and if a person exhibits the. style in terms of you know always a. ability to adapt and B to learn more is. something that will always be one who. will be successful in my opinion right. so so that that is important the other.

is the association in terms of the. purpose of the company a lot of people. may get attracted to working for. companies like Airbnb and others for the. dollar signs around the company or just. the fact that they'll be able to work on. the next biggest Tech disruption or. anything right but after a while they. will lose the steam right if it was only. in it for that so do they align with the. company's Mission do they really believe. in what we want to create you know from. a overall purpose perspective so I think.

that for me is also something that is. important and I think the third piece is. what have they done in the past that. makes them unique right so a lot of. people I love to kind of hear stories in. terms of what obviously they all talk in. their resumes about what they achieve. this program these many cost savings or. you know this kind of a revenue club. like but one of the key questions I ask. is what makes you unique to you know in. your own way and what is the unique. thing that you bring on the table for us. right and I think those answers tells a.

lot about people's correct character as. well as you know the fact in terms of. The Hunger that they have to kind of. make a difference I think a combination. of these three you will never get it. light all the time but I think you. always learn um. okay the last question I have it in my. mind since the time you walked you know. since the time we thought of actually. getting you on okay on board is like. you have built a startup here and you. worked at a startup which originally. started from Silicon Valley so you have. right to balance between both the ethos.

right. what are the top things which we can. learn from a us-based startup and you. can give that as an advice to Indian. startup owners right now because. if you look at. the percentage of startups yeah which. start scale fail or succeed yeah are. much faster at a much faster rate in US. versus India yeah even though there are. so many successful startups here yeah. but it took them time yeah yeah right in. U.S it's much faster the curve is much.

faster I mean now India is seeing the. stories of zepto and yeah right yeah. which is like on a blitz scale model. yeah but everything else it takes time. so what would be your advice because. you've been there from 10 to 300 yes. like in just one year so I think couple. of things one is the advice to Founders. or you know operators here that I would. give is that you know. pay importance to culture from very. early days of the startup right because. as I said it is something that is very. difficult to kind of change pivot or.

kind of build at a later stage of the. company do you feel us. see again if you're building a company. when you know that you have to sell it. after one year don't bother right then. talk about growth revenue and then kind. of sell but I'm sure many Founders don't. build companies for only one year or two. years or with the aim of selling they. want to build a legacy they want to. create a mark right and so people is. what will enable it so putting more. focus on culture from day one is very. important and I think this is where the.

core values of the company the shared. Vision the founders mentality not only. being restricted to like five ten people. but then you know kind of percolating. down to the way things are done on a. daily basis across is very important the. the issue with culture is that it is not. something that you can easily report on. right it's not a metrics in terms of. your scene 2x growth 3x growth right and. so at times it kind of loses steam but. I've seen the companies that stand out. is because of the people and the way. things have taken place and Airbnb is a. great example of that and so I would say.

pay attention to that find your unique. what you call differentiator what does. the company stand for and how can people. kind of come together to make that. happen is going to be very important see. people obviously join Brands and and. products but I think a lot of. Millennials today and in the the. workforce of the future is. millennial-led right the workforce of. the future is very different from the. workforce of the past. um they would value purpose-driven. Brands more so have purpose in terms of. the why matters the most in terms of.

what you're doing right and I think that. is one key advice the other thing I. think is more from an ecosystem. perspective what I've seen in the US is. you know because maybe the system has. evolved and matured there but there is a. lot of help or mutual help available for. everyone yeah right so people can easily. get access to anybody whether it's a VC. whether it is a you know a seasoned. product manager a season founder a. failed founder whatever in that part of.

the world if you go and reach out to. people they come they will spend time. with you whether it's 10 minutes whether. one hour or not I think that is. something that India could really. benefit from so creating an ecos and I. think it's already happening. um the good thing is you know the first. time Founders have been successful now. are giving back to the community uh. whether it's through content whether. it's through you know mentorship but I. think if we do more of that a lot of. people will benefit it's also difficult. to do that in India because from a point. of view we already have a lot of.

community responsibilities which invest. in counterparts they are the people. don't have that's why they have like a. lot of time to spend to give it to. people let's say you and me right when. we make money now we want to give back. to our own above parents are involved in. some Society sure you are involved we. all are very religious we're spiritual. we have our zones of already spending. time with right in Western World they're. not that's why they kind of spend time. with their younger folks and be like Oh. my. um.

yeah but I think what what has done is. that it's evolved the ecosystem much. faster than right so maybe a conscious. effort by a few more people in our. system would help I'm already seeing. that right. um a lot of Founders reach out uh to. kind of understand they want to learn. from the Airbnb experience I've had but. I think we can do more as a community. there I think that would be very helpful. the other thing is just the you know. celebrating failure uh what I've seen is. at times there's a stigma attached to it. in India right unless you achieve the.

next fundraise unless you are seen as a. sunicon or a unicorn right I think we. have to a celebrate failure it's okay. people try and move on right and so. that will create a much more sense of. security within this ecosystem which is. there there right and I think the other. thing is that not all startups have to. be on the headlines not all like. somebody creating a small business of 10. people bringing impact in a small you. know city is also success yeah so I. think celebrating that success also is.

very important right at times we get. only attracted by headlines somebody's. range a 200 million dollar round it's. now valued at x billion dollars and this. is the next big thing right but the fact. that people picking up problems solving. for that is very important right one. more thing which is not very founder. thing but I think kind of touches the. the whole piece that I'll add here is. what I've seen back in in you know. working with the Silicon Valley firm is. that you may not be a Founder yourself. but you bring the fundamentality or the.

entrepreneurial mindset to what you do. at work right so you might have a. product manager or you might have an. operations manager or you might have. even a customer support you know. executive. but in their mind they are the. entrepreneurs and they are like owners. of their own play and I think that. ownership mindset if you start bringing. in in our world as well you know we will. not everyone can start a company by. themselves right and and sometimes. they're not built for it right or they.

don't want to take the risk but what. they can bring is their entrepreneurial. mindset into play which is basically if. you were to just say it's a function of. curiosity being creative being Scrappy. and finding Solutions you know being. ready for change a lot of times a lot of. people kind of break down because. something just changed but an. entrepreneurial mindset will prepare. them for embracing changes so even as. employees today you know you're seeing. layoffs happening you're saying. companies changing business models. you're saying companies changing Focus. right based on so many things that are.

dynamic in nature I I think the way. India is going a lot of people may not. be able to open their own companies or. startups or anything but if they bring. this entrepreneurial mindset you know on. the table it will benefit in their. corporate careers as well yeah and I. think I've seen that play out very well. in the in in us and in other countries. but I do believe that you know we need. to make more more of those cases public. people should be able to learn even that. skill so it's not just how to start a. company but it's also how to operate as.

an entrepreneur even when you're working. for in a very different Zone very. interesting thank you so much thank you. for giving all these. tits and bits about so many different. things now I have to recollect so many. things because you literally spoke about. so many stuff thank you so much for. watching Today's Show I'm really. grateful that you're watching this. episode till now because every view. every second that you watch and you. invest in US it makes us better and to. help us get even better I would request.

you to please comment and let us know. whether you want to see the kind of cast. that you saw today and if not let us. know in the comments who's the next. guest that you want to watch what are. the questions that you want us to ask so. that we can serve you better and help. you become a better leader for tomorrow. and before you leave you know like. subscribe comment and share it with at. least one person. who can learn from this conversation. because one conversation can get you so.

many ideas and even out of hundreds of. ideas that you get from one conversation. if you stand on just one. that one idea if you can implement it. will help you become a better leader and. help you achieve your Indian dream much. faster thank you so much until the next. episode keep figuring out. [Music]. foreign.

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