Digital communication is completely different from in-person, face-to-face conversations. One will give you surface insights, and the other really gives you depth.

Staying at Airbnb listings gives me the opportunity to truly understand and experience the local culture of the countries I visit.

Scheduled shipping is one of many inventions that has made New York a global capital of innovation and creativity - from Willis Carrier's invention of air conditioning in Buffalo and George Eastman's breakthrough film technology in Rochester to the rise of hip-hop in the South Bronx and the world's first cell phone call in Midtown Manhattan.

Technology moves so quickly; you can't get comfortable with the business you have today because technology will progress.

People assume that the smarter your home, the better your life, but in reality, technology so often gets in the way of leading a good life.

Dog-fooding is using your own products so that you understand from inside out what it is you're providing the customers. It's another way to gain insights and to gain intelligence. You use it yourself; you eat your own dog food. Every time we do that, we discover something that we can improve.

When the car was introduced in 1908, people could experience a brand new way to travel that was more efficient than a horse and buggy. Can you believe that cities tried to outlaw cars in the United States? Can you imagine driving a car for a year then having to go back to a horse and buggy?

Airbnb has proven that hospitality, generosity, and the simple act of trust between strangers can go a long way.

From natural disasters to the refugee crises, the impact we can have as individuals might seem limited. But as many of our hosts know, sharing your home for even a few nights can make a tremendous difference in someone's life.

Sympathy relies on a common experience. If you're clumsy, you might have sympathy for others who tend to bump into things. Empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to understand another person's feelings even if you've never experienced them yourself.

I have the privilege of working with our in-house design studio, called Samara, and our humanitarian team, called Human. Samara is thinking about the future of Airbnb, and Human is working on ways to leverage our platform outside the cause of day-to-day business.

How do you convince somebody to host a stranger for the weekend? That's not a trivial thing. It's not something I think you can throw technology at, marketing at, or sales at. We threw design at it because that's all we knew, and in doing so, I feel like we brought a human touch to it, which is so needed.

Design has always been a driving force in my life: it's the lens through which I experience the world.

As our company has grown, how we configure and design our offices has been a crucial part of how we foster connection and collaboration throughout our teams.

Design is an expression of one's most deeply rooted internal values.

Design can overcome our most deeply rooted stranger-danger bias.

In art school, you learn that design is much more than the look and feel of something - it's the whole experience.

You must have the ability to recognize good design and good user experience. These are core things at Airbnb. It doesn't matter which department you're in.

To me, 'design thinking' is another way of saying empathize with the customer. It's consideration for the person you're designing for.

We started Airbnb because, like many across the U.S. and in New York, we were struggling to pay our rent and decided to open up our living room to fellow artists coming to town for a design conference. Sharing our apartment allowed us to stay in our home and start our company.

Design helps shape our everyday interactions through products, furniture, objects, or experiences.