Vlad Loktev, a former Airbnb executive, and his family emigrated from Lithuania. He was nine years old when they settled in Brooklyn, and he recalls needing to adapt and figuring out how to survive after having to abandon everything he knew. Loktev has always been curious and juggled multiple interests—he says his previous career aspirations included actor, singer, and professional gamer (which is how he learned the English language). More recently, Loktev told me, he bought a piano and started teaching himself how to play, beginning with reading sheet music.
But, it was professional curiosity that led him to his latest chapter: joining Index Ventures as its newest partner, where his primary investing focus will be on the consumer side. And, it seems that lessons he’s learned at Airbnb over his 10-year stint, working alongside the company’s cofounder and chief executive, Brian Chesky, will be a push in the right direction as Loktev searches for promising founders.
I sat down with Loktev over Zoom to discuss the 38-year-old’s new role, why he’s taking the leap into the world of venture capital, what he admires about Brian Chesky, and when he’ll be leading his first deal at Index. Portions of this Q&A have been edited and shortened for clarity and/or brevity.
Term Sheet: Congratulations on your new role. Why are you making a transition into the world of venture capital? And, of all the VC firms out there, why Index?
Loktev: So for me, I just naturally gravitated towards venture. I’m super curious about many different things, I’ve wanted to be many things, I’ve wanted to try many different things—and it became very clear to me that venture in general, is an amazing place for somebody who’s curious about the world. I also think venture is about people, it’s about connection, and that’s something that I realized I crave; it’s just something that I want every single day of my life, especially coming out of the pandemic.
It’s such a gift, to be able to spend time with some of the most creative minds in the world, talking about some of their wildest dreams, and being in a position to help them make those dreams reality. I think that’ll be incredibly fulfilling for me. As for Index specifically, I just fell in love with the people—I had this natural, instant connection. I felt like every person I met was so thoughtful, had so much energy, and was also really curious about the world.
What were the main initiatives you worked on during your time at Airbnb?
In the beginning, my job was to help the hosting side of the marketplace grow. We weren’t that big at the time, and I needed to find a way to help people list their places on Airbnb and be open to letting a stranger into probably the most private part of their lives. I had this moment where I was just meeting hosts, and I realized how much the hosting community depended on Airbnb and on what you did every single day. Then eventually, I started helping out on other parts of the marketplace as well, and we transitioned the entire booking model of Airbnb from a request-to-book model to a predominantly instant model. Before, if you wanted to book an Airbnb, you’d message a bunch of hosts, and sometimes availability (among other things) wouldn’t work, and as a guest, you’d feel rejected. As we started moving towards the instant model, with the right controls for hosts, we realized that it was a win-win for everybody.
For a few years, we worked on bringing this new instant model to Airbnb, then at some point, Brian rocked my world, reorganized into business units, and asked me if I could help him lead the entire core business. That’s when I got exposure to many things outside of product, outside of engineering, outside of design, outside of data science. I had to reinvent myself every six to nine months, I had to learn so much so quickly just to keep up with the pace of growth.
What’s something you learned from working so closely with Brian?
I can go on and on about Brian, I deeply respect him, and I admire him. I think one thing that really stands out to me is, he’s self aware of the things that he doesn’t know. He’s really amazing at spotting those things, and then dedicating so much of his energy to becoming an expert in them. We went through so much change over the years, and the amount of growth that you saw from him every single year, just as a leader, was insane because he’s someone who is committed to learning; he was never afraid to say, ‘I don’t know.’
Brian is insanely proactive; he will make a list, his dream list of world experts in the thing he’s trying to learn, and he reaches out to them (literally cold-calls), and asks if they can help him learn something. That really helped him grow, I think faster than any other leader that I’ve seen.
A lot of investors are pivoting away from consumer right now because it’s harder to turn a profit. How are you thinking about consumer-facing startups right now?
I am insanely excited about consumer. I actually think the building of really great products does not stop in economic downturns. You basically have scrappy, creative founders, and you have a new technology. Guess what happens—some of the most curious and talented people in the world are going to try to tinker with new things. The second factor, which I’m not going to talk about too much because everyone’s talking about it, is artificial intelligence. AI is going to be huge, it’s here to stay, and it’s going to redefine many different industries.
It took years for Airbnb to turn a profit. Do you think investors have that kind of patience in today’s market? And, how should investors be thinking about the current fundraising market?
For me, I love people who have unparalleled drive, who almost have this kind of pain with a specific problem, and they feel deeply passionate about tackling a specific challenge. The other thing, which I said about Brian, I love people who are self aware that they need to learn all the time. So, it starts with people and that has not changed in my opinion. Then, you can think about product. We talked about this at Airbnb a lot—you want to build something that 100 people love, versus building something that 1,000 people just kind of like. This is where that speaks to patience; I think growth, scale, and profits will come if you’re truly building something that people love.
Then, market is important to think about when investing, but I discount it a bit. You can get really cute with market sizing, but I think market sizing often depends on many different assumptions, and if you tweak those assumptions slightly, you’ll get wildly different results. Don’t get me wrong, you have to do your homework, but new markets are created, and entrepreneurs pivot and shift between markets too.
What are you looking for in a founder?
I love people who are very passionate about what they’re doing because I’ve seen what it takes to build Airbnb—you have to wake up every single day, and go to bat. You have to commit your life to a specific cause that you feel really deeply passionate about, and it’s going to be a roller coaster. Having a deep connection to the mission, that’s what helps you get through some of the hard times. And, like I said earlier, Brian had to reinvent himself all the time, I had to reinvent myself all the time—just about anyone working at a hyper-growth company will have to. You experience so much so quickly that you have to evolve and have to commit to learning.
The other thing I’ll say is more recently, I’ve seen some founders who feel like they have to be polished and super buttoned up to talk to investors, and I just don’t believe that. I want to hear the raw thoughts, I want to see the challenges, I want to hear the fears, I want to know the things that keep founders up at night. If you can tell me 10 things that you’re afraid of in terms of your business, that makes me really excited because I feel like we’re having a real conversation about how to build something great.
When do you expect to lead your first deal?
When I find the founder, who I just described, I will absolutely lead my first deal.
What’s your favorite Airbnb you’ve ever stayed in?
There was a host in Paris, who runs an art gallery, and she has this one bedroom place right across the street from her art gallery. She was one of the most fantastic hosts I have ever met. She invited me over to her home for dinner, and then she invited her friends and family for this huge dinner just for me (where she cooked an incredible duck). She didn’t even know I was working at Airbnb. And, she had a lot of the things from her art gallery and an antique store inside the Airbnb, so it was really cool.
See you tomorrow,
Alena Botros
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