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Masters of Scale #1 · May 3, 2017 · 35m

Handcrafted: Do Things That Don't Scale

The very first episode of Masters of Scale. Brian Chesky explains how Airbnb grew by doing the exact opposite of what scaled — personally photographing listings, staying in hosts' homes, and designing an '11-star experience.' Hoffman's thesis: to scale, you must first do things that don't scale.

This summary was generated from show notes and public descriptions, not from a full transcript review. Details may contain inaccuracies.

Highlights

To scale, you must first do things that don't scale
Chesky flew to New York to personally photograph Airbnb listings, went door-to-door meeting hosts, and designed experiences that were absurdly unscalable. These handcrafted interactions created the quality standard that Airbnb eventually automated.
Design the 11-star experience, then scale back to 5 stars
Chesky's method: imagine what a 1-star to 11-star experience would look like, design for 11, then figure out which elements can be delivered at scale. The absurd ideal reveals what actually matters.
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