In a viral 2023 interview, Airbnb founder Brian Chesky explained the differences between company founders and everybody else in business.

He discussed how founders are often given bad advice by consultants and others who try to help build out startups, and made a big deal about something he called ‘Founder Mode.’

But what is ‘Founder Mode?’ And why is it nonsense?

Founder Mode

Chesky differentiates between what he calls ‘Founder Mode’ and ‘Manager Mode,’ explaining that “a founder brings three things that a professional manager doesn’t have.”

“First,” he says, “they’re the biological parent. So you can love something but when you’re the biological parent of something, like, it came from you, it is you.

“Second, the founder has permission. I could rebrand the company and a professional manager would probably come and say ‘I can’t do that,’ but I know how we named it, I know how we branded it.

“The third thing that a founder brings is you built it so you can rebuild it.”

Outside of this, a large portion of the podcast is Chesky suggesting that far too much time is spent by companies analyzing as opposed to innovating.

Of course, all of this sounds great until you dig in.

Read more: Scoop: California law allows scammer to add six Tether execs to startup

No distance

The reason that startup culture is so different from larger corporations is that new companies need to be scrappy to survive. They can’t simply focus on building a product and distributing it.

Large corporations shift their focus once they’ve established themselves to ensure that employees are taken care of and the longevity of the company is ensured.

What Chesky wants is for founders to retain the ability to morph — and possibly destroy — the company they create, regardless of how large it has become.

What he doesn’t realize, however, is that giving a founder carte blanche to make all decisions isn’t necessarily a good thing and often leads to disastrous results (see Elizabeth Holmes, Sam Bankman-Fried, or Do Kwon).

His failure to grasp this makes sense, given he’s been steering the ship at Airbnb since day one.

Company Cult(ure) of Brian Chesky

Chesky also claims he wants to build in the same vein as Walt Disney and Steve Jobs and repeatedly states that their leadership skills and innovative thinking processes have kept their companies relevant to this day.

This may be true, but it’s also forced Disney to reckon with a history of mistreating employees and hurting animators, and it (briefly) got Steve Jobs fired. Being an authoritarian CEO and founder has its benefits and pitfalls, even for the best, and it should be understood that there are consequences for having the final say and making controversial decisions.

Unfortunately, Chesky doesn’t want founders to face those consequences because he believes they’re owed the ability to steer the company they founded. ‘Founder Mode’ is ‘Dictator Mode,’ as becomes clear later in the interview.

According to Chesky, “Eventually I can not join the meeting but people know what I would say.

“The moment I can not be in the room and the same action happens as if I was in the room, that’s the moment that goes from management to culture.”

What he’s describing isn’t company culture at all, it’s something far more sinister: a cult of personality. Chesky wants to live forever, and not in a heavily metaphorical way. He wants anyone working for Airbnb in the future to imagine that he’s there, giving direction from above.

It’s his vision, his company, his ideas, and his dream — every employee, from now until forever, will need to understand that.

Laughably, after making it clear that the majority of his concerns appear to revolve around his legacy and having complete freedom to do what he wants with his company, Chesky has the nerve to state that “most companies need more creativity and a little more heart and soul.”

It doesn’t seem particularly creative or soulful to dictate orders to the point that every employee imagines you’re omnipresent.

Is Chesky out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong

Thinking that I’d missed some context and hopeful that someone better informed than myself could expand on the ideas put out there by Chesky, I read a blog post by famed venture capitalist (VC) and technologist Paul Graham. I was… disappointed.

While Graham doesn’t bother to expand on the Founder Mode concept any further than ‘if you aren’t a VC in Silicon Valley, you wouldn’t get it,’ he does say something else that’s quite telling.

“Usually when everyone around you disagrees with you, your default assumption should be that you’re mistaken. But this is one of the rare exceptions.”

It is jarring to see a wildly successful, prominent name in finance and tech quite literally do the Principal Skinner meme, in writing, publicly, confidently. “Am I out of touch? No, it’s the children who are wrong.”

Ultimately, founders are human and fallible and it turns out that even those of us outside of venture capital and Silicon Valley understand that. But it seems like maybe the founders in Founder Mode aren’t listening and don’t care to hear when they’re wrong.

Read more: Airbnb host adds ‘no crypto mining’ rule after tenant installs 10 rigs

One last note: Airbnb is down almost 50% from its all-time highs. How’s that for ‘Founder Mode’?

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The post Founder Mode is everything wrong with venture capital appeared first on Protos.

Doxxed crypto hackers are resorting to ‘Airbnb hopping’ — using fake identities to rent out Airbnb properties — as they look to stay one step ahead of kidnappers and rival criminals, reports 404 Media.

Criminals have reportedly thrown bricks, shot up homes, and attempted to kidnap the unmasked cybercriminals, while some have been hunted by rivals looking to rob them. 

Messages seen by 404 Media appear to show hackers trying to purchase existing Airbnb accounts with positive reviews that will allow them to carry out the scheme. Other messages show threatening messages from rival criminals, with one reading, “Keep Airbnb hopping before I get to u.”

404 Media reports that at least one member of a SIM-swapping group that allegedly stole bitcoin also relies on Airbnb hopping. 

Read more: Ireland grows its crypto stash with seized dark web bitcoin

Airbnb is currently a popular target for crypto criminals. Last week, Protos reported how crypto miners were exploiting properties for their electricity, forcing multiple hosts to implement a ‘no crypto mining’ rule to deter such activity and prevent sky-high energy bills.  

In a statement to 404 Media, Airbnb detailed how it requires guests, primary hosts, and co-hosts to be verified. It said, “Anyone who violates our policies, including by attempting to use fraudulent identity documents, may be removed from the platform.

“While no identification process is foolproof, identity verification is an important step in helping users to feel confident that guests and hosts on Airbnb are genuine.”

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An Airbnb owner has been forced to implement a new ‘no crypto mining policy’ after a tenant installed 10 mining rigs that racked up a $1,500 electricity bill in just three weeks.

Ashley, who runs a TikTok channel about her Airbnb experience, said her guest brought the computers to mine crypto at her property and also installed an electric vehicle charging point. 

“It was cheaper for them to rent a house to pay for that electricity,” she said.

The guest was apparently honest about his crypto mining and told Ashley that he made over $100,000 during his stay.

She’s not the only Airbnb host with a crypto mining problem

Other Airbnb hosts have also complained about crypto miners running up their electricity bills. One user replying to Ashley said, “I also have in my rules no crypto mining. It’s ridiculous we have to do this.” 

Another user in the UK revealed on an Airbnb forum that they believed their guests were mining bitcoin and that it caused their bill to increase by thousands of pounds. One user took to another forum to warn hosts that crypto mining doubled the electricity bill of her apartment. 

One host also described how they kicked their guests out after their electricity firm noticed a dramatic increase in their power usage. The host estimated the crypto miners would’ve made a $6,000 dent in electricity costs had they not been removed. 

Protos has contacted Airbnb for comment. 

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The post Airbnb host adds ‘no crypto mining’ rule after tenant installs 10 rigs appeared first on Protos.