Airbnb and Google: Study of innovative companies in San Francisco 

In the last article, I covered how Salesforce excel in their field and how culture is one of the key drivers of a company. In this article, I am going to talk more on many other companies I have had a chance to visit during our dtac accelerate batch 4 winner, Freshket, Google Launchpad trip.
There are plenty of articles on the culture of Google, reciting them again would only be a waste of words. Let me share my perspective and what impressed me on our Google trip this year. We were there with Freshket, 
our winner for dtac Accelerate batch 4, for their specially catered Google Launchpad workshop. They were able to meet over 15 top mentors who, with each person’s input, helped design this tailor-made programme for Freshket. More on this in Fresket’s article coming soon. The first thing that I noticed at Google was how multi-cultured and multinational, 
this company is. We see no boundaries in each race and every-one respected each other, discussing ideas both professional and personal. Everyone supports an innovative mindset where you can do things 
differently; every employee has a “licence to fail” and to embrace the power of failing and how we can learn from that.
One of the most successful start-ups in the world is definitely Airbnb, with a $31-billion company valuation, there is no need to explain what Airbnb is. Every employee adopted six very interesting core values. Firstly, “Be a Host” – serve others so they feel they belong. Stretching their empathy until their guests feel 100 per cent welcomed. “Champion the Mission” 
– create a global experience of 
belonging for anyone, anywhere. Those who work for, in, or around Airbnb agrees to champion the 
mission by living it. “Every Frame Matters” – think holistically. Execute with obsession to detail, success is measured by pride, not credit. This simply shows how much heart they have put in to even the smallest things, their office portrays this 
exceptionally well. “Be a ‘Cereal’ Entrepreneur” – everyone is 
creative. Think scary big. Volunteer 
for impossible situations and get things done. This core value originated from their ‘Politician cereal box story’, one I would recommend to 
find and read. “Simplify” – in every complex or impossible situation, 
they would define the outcomes that all distractions are eliminated. 
And lastly, “Embrace the Adventure” 
– have fun welcoming uncertainty, master chaos through flexibility 
and youthful curiosity. All of 
these are apparent through their employees, their office, and their product.
In the next article, we will discuss on more tech companies such as Facebook, Techcrunch, 500 start-ups, and my personal favourite, Apple. Also don’t miss Freshket’s article on their exclusive mentorship experience with Google Launchpad.

Sompoat is director of dtac Accelerate division for DTAC, with 21 companies under dtac Accelerate management.