VC Fund Wants to Create an ‘Airbnb Mafia,’ With a Little Help From Airbnb
Wave Capital, started by veterans of the home-rental company, is looking to invest in their former colleagues.
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There were some obvious risks to the announcement from Airbnb Inc. CEO Brian Chesky, back in February, that his company won’t go public in 2018. Tech workers are a notoriously restless bunch, and by further postponing an initial public offering, Chesky took a chance that his most talented employees could defect during Airbnb’s home stretch as a private company.
Riley Newman is one executive who got away. One of the first 10 employees at the company rose to run its data science unit and then left last summer to start a San Francisco venture capital firm called Wave Capital. This month, another well-regarded executive, Sara Adler, Airbnb’s head of corporate development, quietly left the company and joined Newman as a general partner.