Tim Ferriss speaks to Joe Gebbia, designer, entrepreneur, and global explorer. Joe is the co-founder and CPO of Airbnb which has changed the way the world travels and how people connect in more than 190 countries.

In this wide-ranging and hilarious interview, Joe shares the decisions, hardship, failures, and successes that prepared him for Airbnb.

Connect with Joe Gebbia:
Like Joe Gebbia on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joegebbia
Follow Joe Gebbia on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jgebbia
Follow Joe Gebbia on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joegebs

Show Notes: https://tim.blog/2018/03/08/joe-gebbia-co-founder-of-airbnb/

Start [00:00]
How did Joe’s first business venture get him into trouble? [00:12]
How did Joe wind up being raised in the rural deep south? [02:38]
What sparked Joe’s entrepreneurial curiosity? [03:21]
What did Joe’s parents teach him about connecting with others and going above and beyond to be of service? [05:09]
How Joe’s parents learned to support his interests the hard way. [09:52]
Joe talks about some of his other early entrepreneurial exploits. [11:56]
From a high school perspective, what did Joe want to be when he grew up? [14:35]
On getting into the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). Was it the environment or the medium that helped him excel? [15:56]
How Joe rose to the challenge of outdoing a legendary senior prank at his high school. [18:22]
Why has Joe seen Michael Jordan naked? [42:57]
What source does Joe credit for his intuition to go beyond expectations? [1:06:19]
How founding a basketball team at RISD was like running a startup. [1:13:20]
We’ve talked about balls. Let’s talk about buns — CritBuns. [1:20:40]
A rejection equation: SW2 + WC = MO (Some will love it, some won’t + who cares? = move on) [AKA “Keep going until you find the people who do love your idea.” [1:31:22]
The goal Joe set for CritBuns that would represent the pinnacle of achievement — and how he reached it. [1:36:42]
What happened when Joe took CritBuns to Japan? [1:44:54]
On pitching to Billy Mays. [1:48:52]
What was the turning point that made Joe pivot away from building a CritBuns empire? [1:51:23]
On starting a digital service during the revenue-light Web 2.0 years. [01:59:52]
How a rent crisis prompted the birth of Airbnb. [2:03:39]
Mixed reactions to the initial Airbnb concept, an unsuccessful SXSW launch, and the company’s evolution into something bigger. [2:15:50]
A more successful relaunch during the Obama vs. McCain campaign. [2:21:30]
Closing thoughts on reframing rejection into an invitation, and the small adjustments that can turn a failing idea into a successful one. [2:28:08]

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About Tim Ferriss:
Tim Ferriss is one of Fast Company’s “Most Innovative Business People” and an early-stage tech investor/advisor in Uber, Facebook, Twitter, Shopify, Duolingo, Alibaba, and 50+ other companies. He is also the author of five #1 New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestsellers: The 4-Hour Workweek, The 4-Hour Body, The 4-Hour Chef, Tools of Titans and Tribe of Mentors. The Observer and other media have named him “the Oprah of audio” due to the influence of his podcast, The Tim Ferriss Show, which has exceeded 200 million downloads and been selected for “Best of iTunes” three years running.

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