What's happening at Airbnb?

Google
bezosball

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bezosball
Apr 13, 2018 47 Comments

Is there something going on at Airbnb? From what I heard, at least 7 engineers left the company in the past month - sounds like a pretty high turnover rate.

From the outside, we only know recent management change - CFO leaving and new COO announcement. Also heard about the controversial high level promotion at eng org last year. Company valuation has been flattish in the past 2 years. Something does not smell right here. Anyone from Airbnb willing to share?

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TOP 47 Comments
  • Airbnb
    Cheskle

    Go to company page Airbnb

    Cheskle
    Place is a wreck. Leadership is filled with hypocritical self righteous snakes who aren’t skilled enough (professionally or technically) to do their jobs, and who operate in self preservation mode to protect their best interests (ie rest and vest or slit throats to position themselves for better perf reviews and hence higher refresher amounts and promos). This place is a joke, I kick myself for leaving a great position to come here and for falling for the Airbnb propaganda bullshit. I have an end date in sight and I can’t wait to get the hell out. Airbnb has been riding a great initial idea (that was bound to happen) for years now, but isn’t taking the appropriate steps to survive long term. I don’t have faith Estaff will figure it out before it’s too late.
    Apr 14, 2018 4
    • Airbnb
      biubajd

      Go to company page Airbnb

      biubajd
      It’s just not true about us not having a competitor. Booking has 5 million alternatives accommodations already...
      Apr 15, 2018
    • Airbnb
      Readt

      Go to company page Airbnb

      Readt
      They’re playing with the numbers - they only have 5 million if you count their bed and breakfasts and boutique hotels. That’s at least 2 million of what they claim as “alternative accommodations”
      Apr 18, 2018
  • Airbnb
    biubajd

    Go to company page Airbnb

    biubajd
    I joined a couple years ago. At that time, the company was a high flying rocket ship and they said the IPO was maybe a couple of years away. I declined offers from FANG to come here...

    Two years later, our valuation has not budged. And just two months ago, our CEO lets the CFO go and publicly talks about how we are a “21st century company” with an “infinite time horizon”.

    Suffice to say, morale is lowest it has ever been and I expect a lot more employees to look to leave soon.
    Apr 15, 2018 1
  • Uber / Eng
    Conspiracy

    Go to company page Uber Eng

    Conspiracy
    Seeing a ton of Airbnb candidates in the pipeline last month or so. Candidates seem okay.

    Heard from a friend who is hiring in the DS org that he is seeing even more of an exodus. Apparently there’s a very unpopular head of DS at Airbnb that is trying to make everybody do basic analyst level work instead of building out ML and marketplace Algos/Products.
    Apr 14, 2018 7
  • Airbnb
    Dumpty

    Go to company page Airbnb

    Dumpty
    Lol we have something like 900 or 1000 engineers now, turnover is super low for a company of our size.

    There’s definitely a little pain because we’re no longer just 200 eng, so it’s not like a family like it used to be. I think that’s why some people left, they typically went to tiny startups. But the culture is still the best and most supportive that I’ve seen anywhere.
    Apr 14, 2018 4
    • PayPal / Eng
      Prodo

      Go to company page PayPal Eng

      Prodo
      Airbnb has lot of potential to grow.. for eg expanding into more countries, organizing destination weddings/parties, buying properties in prime touristy areas etc. Acquire smaller companies. I'm sure there are ton of ideas that would grow the company.
      Apr 14, 2018
    • Apple
      a1z2x3c4

      Go to company page Apple

      a1z2x3c4
      It is already present in many countries now. I think bigger growth potential is organizing various tours (like toursbylocals, showmearound, etc), various parties (as mentioned above), etc. Another area I think Airbnb can target is a bit longer term housing (in the order of 1-6 months). I feel most of the listings in Airbnb is still geared towards short term housing.
      Apr 14, 2018
  • It'll probably be fine. I mean everyone was hating on dropbox and snap pre ipo and they've been fine since.
    Apr 13, 2018 7