Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky was heading into an IPO that would have been filed on March 31st until his company, travel and the world were hit with a global pandemic that disrupted everything.
As of late June 2020, travel was making some recovery for local trips, but travel might never be the same, especially for business travel and high-density cities.
Instead, outdoors, national parks, small communities and experiences may increase along with a population shift where people don't just work from anywhere, but may want to experience living from anywhere.
Over the long-term, online experiences may also become bigger than travel itself.
Every startup, no matter how small or big, has been faced with how to adjust and adapt to the pandemic and whatever the new normal that emerges.
One of the difficult decisions Airbnb had to make was to reduce its workforce with lower demand, maybe the hardest decision a CEO has to make since in this case, it had nothing to do with quality of work but an unexpected change in the business.
A big lesson learned for startups shared by Brian has been about how success can sometimes veer a company into doing too many things at once.
The crisis has forced Airbnb to be focused, lean and scrappy...back to its startup roots.
This also means that when Airbnb does go public, likely later this or next year, it may be better positioned for growth and success.
Sometimes, less is more and this crisis may turn out to be a challenge that helped shape an even better future for Airbnb as it shifts from a company of homes and a marketplace to a community of connections and experiences.
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