It was my third day on the job at a hot Silicon Valley start-up in early 2013.I was twice the age of the dozen engineers in the room.I'd been brought in to the company because I was a seasoned expert in my field,but in this particular room, I felt like a newbie amongst the tech geniuses.I was listening to them talk and thinking that the best thing I could do was be invisible.And then suddenly, the 25-year-old wizard leading the meeting stared at me and asked,"If you shipped a feature and no one used it, did it really ship?""Ship a feature"? In that moment, Chip knew he was in deep ship.I had no idea what he was talking about.I just sat there awkwardly, and mercifully, he moved on to someone else.I slid down in my chair, and I couldn't wait for that meeting to end.That was my introduction to Airbnb.I was asked and invited by the three millennial cofounders to join their companyto help them take their fast-growing tech start-up and turn it into a global hospitality brand,as well as to be the in-house mentor for CEO Brian Chesky.Now, I'd spent from age 26 to 52 being a boutique hotel entrepreneur,and so I guess I'd learned a few things along the way and accumulated some hospitality knowledge.
