Douglas Atkin, Ex-Airbnb Exec who wrote "Belong Anywhere," on Why Every Great Brand Is Really a Cult, Standing Up to the New York Attorney General, and How Airbnb Lost a Million Customers

On this episode of Invested, Michael Eisenberg sits down with Douglas Atkin, former Global Head of Community at Airbnb and author of The Culting of Brands, for a conversation about why people join cults, what that reveals about brands and politics, and how you build something people genuinely belong to. Douglas explains what he found when he set out to study the most extreme forms of belonging — that cult members are almost always ordinary, well-educated, socially capable people, and that they join, stay, and leave for exactly the same reasons as members of brand communities. Michael and Douglas trace that insight from a focus group of teenagers talking about sneakers, to Meetup, to Airbnb — where Douglas spent three and a half weeks interviewing hundreds of hosts and guests and came back with the purpose that still runs the company: create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. He tells the story of what it cost to live that purpose, from taking the Attorney General of New York to court over a subpoena for 15,000 hosts’ data, to giving two non-marketers veto power over a marketing hire, to Airbnb turning away over a million would-be customers who wouldn’t sign its core values. They also go deep on the darker mechanics of belonging: how demonization defines a group and manufactures solidarity, why the far right has run that playbook so effectively, what the decline of religion has to do with the rise of cultic politics, and what Douglas would actually prescribe for the loneliness epidemic. **They discuss:** - Why the people who join cults are completely normal — and why that matters - The four Ds of difference, and why a cult is a new idea while a sect is a splinter - How demonization creates belonging by defining the in-group and inventing a threat - Why brands took over religion’s role, and why politics is now taking over from brands - The first golden rule of community: rub your members together until they get sticky - Why it takes showing up four times before a community becomes hard to pull apart - How Airbnb found “Belong Anywhere” by talking to hundreds of hosts and guests - Why a purpose is only real if it costs you something in the short term - The New York subpoena fight, and organizing hosts into political activists - Core values interviews with veto power, and turning away a million customers - The community commitment curve, and how to move people from clicking to face-to-face - Why working from home was a bad idea, and what actually treats loneliness Douglas was ‘Global Head of Community’ at Airbnb, on its Leadership Team and was also ‘Architect of Purpose, Culture and Core Values’. He worked at Airbnb from 2012-2017 during its hyper-growth years. He led the development of Airbnb’s Purpose to ‘Create a world where Anyone can Belong Anywhere’. He also led all Community initiatives including grass-roots organizing and Movement-making techniques to mobilize Airbnb Hosts and Guests to take political action that changed laws to recognize home sharing. He was Co-Founder of ‘Peers’, a movement for the Peer-to-Peer economy. Douglas was the author of ‘The Culting of Brands: Turn your Customers into Believers’. He Co-Founded Purpose, an organization that creates Movements, and was on the Board of one of its creations: AllOut, the world’s first and largest LGBTQ rights Movement. He was Partner and Chief Community Officer at Meetup in 2007-8. Prior to all this Community, Purpose and Movement-making stuff he was a Branding expert and Strategic Planner at several leading London and New York firms. Chairman of the U.S. Account Planning Group for three years. If you want to understand community, cults, purpose, culture, movement-making, and why belonging is both the best and the most dangerous thing about human beings — this episode is essential listening. **Please rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts!** **KEY TOPICS**  00:00 - Intro 01:25 - “Loyalty Is Dead. Branding Is Over.” 03:49 - The People Who Join Cults Are Normal 06:20 - How Flickr’s Founders Pulled Him Into Tech 08:33 - Why Apple Fans Talk Like Missionaries 11:20 - Cults vs. Sects: The Four Ds of Difference 13:25 - How Demonization Creates Belonging 16:45 - The Far Right’s Demonization Playbook 18:50 - Cultic Politics and the Decline of Religion 24:50 - “Rub Your Members Together Until They Get Sticky” 28:56 - The Breakfast That Led to Airbnb 31:20 - How “Belong Anywhere” Was Born 32:30 - New York Subpoenaed 15,000 Hosts 35:54 - Obama’s Organizers Trained Airbnb Hosts 43:48 - The Interview That Can Veto Your Hire 45:43 - Airbnb Turned Away a Million Customers 47:08 - The “Equal Opportunity Genitalia” Logo 49:05 - Burnt Out at the Top of Hypergrowth 52:12 - Working From Home Was a Disaster 52:34 - The Community Commitment Curve 53:51 - Curing the Loneliness Epidemic 57:58 - 29 Rights, 29 Countries, One Movement 61:19 - The Dark Side of Strong Community **RESOURCES** Follow Douglas on LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/doatkin/ Follow Douglas on X - https://x.com/datkin Read The Culting of Brands - https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/292144/the-culting-of-brands-by-douglas-atkin/ Subscribe to Invested: https://content.aleph.vc/invested Learn more about Aleph: aleph.vc  Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter:http://aleph.vchttps://newsletter.aleph.vc/ Subscribe to Aleph’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/ Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenberg Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/ Follow Aleph on Twitter:https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberghttps://x.com/aleph?s=20  ‍Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/ ‍Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/ **CREDITS** Executive Producer: Erica Marom  Producer: Sofi Levak, Dalit Merenfeld Video and Editing: Nadav Elovic  Music and Creative Direction: Uri Ar  Content and Editorial: Jackie Goldberg Design: Nimrod Sapir