Brian Chesky on why more designers should be founders

May 08, 2025

In light of Y Combinator’s request for More Design Founders - we’re sharing this clip of Brian Chesky (Airbnb CEO) talking about why more designers should start companies.

Chesky — an Industrial Designer turned Tech Founder — argues that designers are uniquely positioned to build great companies:

  • They understand what people want.

  • They bring a unique level of creativity to problem solving.

  • They aren’t afraid to reimagine broken systems.

He reflects on his time at Airbnb:

“I designed our business model. I designed our expense base. I helped design our org chart… Design is not just how something looks — it’s how it fundamentally works.”

”I think that a lot of business needs more heart and more imagination, and that is what everyone in this room can provide. And so I would just encourage designers to have a nerve. I would encourage them to know that you can design the world that you wanna live in,”

  “Just know that designers can run companies, they can build things, they can ship things.”

If you breakdown the YC ethos of “Make Something People Want,” successful products tend to need three elements: (1) Desirability (2) Viability (3) Feasibility. Designers are uniquely positioned to deliver all three, which is why Chesky believes it is “one of the most important roles of the 21st century”