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Lenny's Podcast / episode intelligence

Airbnb’s Vlad Loktev on embracing chaos, inquiry over advocacy, poking the bear, and “impact, impact, impact” (Partner at Index Ventures, Airbnb GM/VP Product)

1 Sept 2024 36 published claims 2 attributable people
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Speakers in the public record

Vlad LoktevLenny Rachitsky

Claim mix

belief 18recommendation 6observation 3uncertainty 3commitment 2evaluation 2preference 2

Evidence policy

Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

Claim ledger

The useful parts, with receipts.

36 published records

04 / belief

Don't come in, because people usually when they prepare for a meeting, I've seen many PMs do this, and you prepare with, "Here is my view, and here are the bullets that support my view.

“Don't come in, because people usually when they prepare for a meeting, I've seen many PMs do this, and you prepare with, "Here is my view, and here are the bullets that support my view.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / observation

The key is, regardless of what the core values are, you want to make sure that those core values are prominent in just about every single thing that you do.

“The key is, regardless of what the core values are, you want to make sure that those core values are prominent in just about every single thing that you do.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / belief

Here's our big bets, here's what we're going to prioritize. And so I think to your point, a lot of people don't necessarily understand what that means and see things as bottom up versus top down.

“Here's our big bets, here's what we're going to prioritize. And so I think to your point, a lot of people don't necessarily understand what that means and see things as bottom up versus top down.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / belief

I've also told you this before, but those years were probably, not probably, definitely the most transformative years of my career, where I learned the most in the years that set me up for the success I ended up having later and also the crazy work that I do now.

“I've also told you this before, but those years were probably, not probably, definitely the most transformative years of my career, where I learned the most in the years that set me up for the success I ended up having later and also the crazy work that I do now.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

09 / belief

Everyone seems to be aligning around the point of view to be the voice that's poking. And this is like, "Nope, let me share why I think maybe we should go in a different direction.

“Everyone seems to be aligning around the point of view to be the voice that's poking. And this is like, "Nope, let me share why I think maybe we should go in a different direction.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

10 / belief

The last part I want to talk to you about, which I think a lot of people are probably wondering about as we have been chatting, which is about Airbnb's current ways of working.

“The last part I want to talk to you about, which I think a lot of people are probably wondering about as we have been chatting, which is about Airbnb's current ways of working.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

12 / uncertainty

Then just to make sure people get this point you made about this core value hiring team, which is really unique, I don't know if anyone else does this, is there's people trained to interview in core values and they were a specific volunteer team.

“Then just to make sure people get this point you made about this core value hiring team, which is really unique, I don't know if anyone else does this, is there's people trained to interview in core values and they were a specific volunteer team.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

13 / belief

The worst thing I think you can do is just sit in a job where you're not being impactful, you're not working on the top priority and you're just wasting your life.

“The worst thing I think you can do is just sit in a job where you're not being impactful, you're not working on the top priority and you're just wasting your life.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

14 / uncertainty

You haven't done any other podcasts, I don't think you've written a medium post, I don't know if you've tweeted, but you try to just get stuff done behind the scenes and not get attention from everyone.

“You haven't done any other podcasts, I don't think you've written a medium post, I don't know if you've tweeted, but you try to just get stuff done behind the scenes and not get attention from everyone.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

16 / belief

As an operator, I've loved taking bets on people who are maybe earlier in their career who have energy, who have drive, and who are deeply thoughtful and deeply resonant with the mission that we're working on. Because at the end of the day, strategy changes, orgs change, teams change, everything changes all the time, and the one constant I think is actually the mission.

“As an operator, I've loved taking bets on people who are maybe earlier in their career who have energy, who have drive, and who are deeply thoughtful and deeply resonant with the mission that we're working on. Because at the end of the day, strategy changes, orgs change, teams change, everything changes all the time, and the one constant I think is actually the mission.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

17 / belief

I think you're also a really good example of something I talk about here and there, is you can be really successful in very different ways.

“I think you're also a really good example of something I talk about here and there, is you can be really successful in very different ways.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / belief

I mean, you're going to probably hire fewer people that way, but you will hire the right people. So I think then you're going to actually have a team that you can rely on for years and years and years as things change.

“I mean, you're going to probably hire fewer people that way, but you will hire the right people. So I think then you're going to actually have a team that you can rely on for years and years and years as things change.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / belief

I think for everyone that listens to this episode and goes through it all is they will and guarantee they'll become a better leader in so many ways.

“I think for everyone that listens to this episode and goes through it all is they will and guarantee they'll become a better leader in so many ways.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / belief

The reality is I think the way we operate was actually somewhere more towards the middle on a day-to-day basis.

“The reality is I think the way we operate was actually somewhere more towards the middle on a day-to-day basis.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

22 / belief

I would argue for us at Airbnb, the quality of what we were releasing kind of suffered because we were just push, push, push, ship, ship, ship, and people were shipping across the board.

“I would argue for us at Airbnb, the quality of what we were releasing kind of suffered because we were just push, push, push, ship, ship, ship, and people were shipping across the board.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

25 / belief

" Here, people were like, it was a sense of this emotional proud moment when you were basically given the keys and somebody said, "Hey, we actually think you would be fantastic at helping us think about how to make sure every single new hire embodies these core values." I think that was so powerful.

“" Here, people were like, it was a sense of this emotional proud moment when you were basically given the keys and somebody said, "Hey, we actually think you would be fantastic at helping us think about how to make sure every single new hire embodies these core values." I think that was so powerful.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

26 / belief

Interestingly with the human tunnel, it started I think with the founders, but it ended up being they had no involvement in these tunnels.

“Interestingly with the human tunnel, it started I think with the founders, but it ended up being they had no involvement in these tunnels.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

27 / evaluation

For example, what I've seen as the organization scales, people transition from saying, "I can do X," and they transition to saying, "Can the other team do Y so that I can do X?" And I think that's a very dangerous place to be, because at the end of the day, you just need to let go of some of these dependencies.

“For example, what I've seen as the organization scales, people transition from saying, "I can do X," and they transition to saying, "Can the other team do Y so that I can do X?" And I think that's a very dangerous place to be, because at the end of the day, you just need to let go of some of these dependencies.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

28 / evaluation

I've gone to many different debates and conversations, but ultimately I think maybe it doesn't win you many friends in the short term, but in the long term, people realize that when you say no to something, there's probably a really good reason behind why that thing may not be as impactful today, and maybe we shouldn't even do it in the first place.

“I've gone to many different debates and conversations, but ultimately I think maybe it doesn't win you many friends in the short term, but in the long term, people realize that when you say no to something, there's probably a really good reason behind why that thing may not be as impactful today, and maybe we shouldn't even do it in the first place.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

29 / recommendation

When you disagree with something or when you want to say no, start with understanding, asking questions, dialing up inquiry versus advocacy, versus, "Here's what I think.

“When you disagree with something or when you want to say no, start with understanding, asking questions, dialing up inquiry versus advocacy, versus, "Here's what I think.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

30 / commitment

I didn't spend as much time as I wanted to with my family and my parents. And at some point I was just like, I think in order for me to be a better leader, I just need to be a much more balanced human being.

“I didn't spend as much time as I wanted to with my family and my parents. And at some point I was just like, I think in order for me to be a better leader, I just need to be a much more balanced human being.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

31 / recommendation

If you have a strong view after you've really grounded yourself in the truth and you feel like you've done your homework and you've asked all the questions, if you still disagree, if you still feel like we're going in the wrong direction, don't be afraid to poke the bear no matter how hard things get. It's interesting because I think a lot of, especially as an organization matures, you find yourself in meetings with many execs, founders, et cetera, it's often hard to voice your real opinion.

“If you have a strong view after you've really grounded yourself in the truth and you feel like you've done your homework and you've asked all the questions, if you still disagree, if you still feel like we're going in the wrong direction, don't be afraid to poke the bear no matter how hard things get. It's interesting because I think a lot of, especially as an organization matures, you find yourself in meetings with many execs, founders, et cetera, it's often hard to voice your real opinion.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

32 / observation

I think some leaders do this, it's the anti-sell sell, where I will share the worst day, or what I think you will think as a candidate what the worst day would be at Airbnb, and then still ask you if you want to join the team.

“I think some leaders do this, it's the anti-sell sell, where I will share the worst day, or what I think you will think as a candidate what the worst day would be at Airbnb, and then still ask you if you want to join the team.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

33 / preference

I'm going to ask a ton of questions because I fundamentally believe maybe there's something I don't know and there's information that I need to understand to make a better decision.

“I'm going to ask a ton of questions because I fundamentally believe maybe there's something I don't know and there's information that I need to understand to make a better decision.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

34 / observation

I think a lot of people, when they see really big goals, they get immediately afraid of the goals, because they think, "Oh my God, I don't know how to hit this.

“I think a lot of people, when they see really big goals, they get immediately afraid of the goals, because they think, "Oh my God, I don't know how to hit this.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

35 / preference

It's so interesting when I think back to my 10 years, things that I actually remember the most are these moments with other people and not some project or some product launch that's going super well or us doing really well with metrics.

“It's so interesting when I think back to my 10 years, things that I actually remember the most are these moments with other people and not some project or some product launch that's going super well or us doing really well with metrics.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

36 / recommendation

It's tough emotionally. It was one of the hardest things for me as a leader, and I would say the way to break out of that is to ask for help and to try to learn as much as you can about what the next role for you is going to look like.

“It's tough emotionally. It was one of the hardest things for me as a leader, and I would say the way to break out of that is to ask for help and to try to learn as much as you can about what the next role for you is going to look like.”
Speaker
Vlad Loktev
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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