Any time there is a new idea, it can take some time for policy to catch up to it.

There's no reason any company should be limited by its physical environment.

I've experienced firsthand the disconnect between furniture, their environments, and the way people work.

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

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.

By helping New Yorkers turn their greatest expense - their home - into an asset, Airbnb is a vehicle that artists, entrepreneurs, and innovators can use to earn extra money to pursue their passion.

In New York, ingenuity goes hand-in-hand with the hustle to survive.

Given Miami's unique role in Airbnb's roots, I'm particularly proud of how South Floridians have embraced home sharing as an opportunity to earn supplemental income and catalyze economic development in their communities.

I'll never forget my first Art Basel.

After World War II, communities and the trust they fostered began to erode in the United States. We moved away from dense city centers to fenced in suburban lots separated by broad highways.

Starting a company in San Francisco when we did usually meant it was destined to be a data-driven tech company. But that didn't seem to fully encompass what we wanted with Airbnb. When we tried looking through a tech lens, it didn't work. The humanity was missing.

We hire people who are smarter than us.

To be truly empathetic, we have to acknowledge that we're all human, we're all flawed, and that life can be difficult.

While the Cold War had us questioning our next-door neighbors, big brands emerged to capture our trust. We became consumers.

Bringing words to life, storyboards show you things that words can't.

Airbnb has grown thanks to our hosts creating memorable experiences and inspiring their guests to be hosts in their hometowns.

We built a basic website, and Air Bed and Breakfast was born. Three lucky guests got to stay on a $20 airbed on the hardwood floor. But they loved it. And so did we. We took them on adventures around the city.

We do believe in an inside-out culture. If we hold our hosts and guests to an expectation of acceptance and belonging, it has to start within our company. Otherwise, how on earth do we have the credibility to hold them accountable if we're not doing it to ourselves?

You have to know what your users are experiencing.

What we're doing with Airbnb feels like the nexus of everything that is right. We're helping people be more resourceful with the space they already have, and we're connecting people around the world.

Ultimately, the power of the Airbnb platform is that it motivates guests to blend into communities, belong anywhere, and live like locals.

The sharing economy is out of the bag - and it's not going to go back in.

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.

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