Founder Mode Lessons from Instagram, Airbnb, and Coinbase

Saxena joined Instagram when it had roughly 70 to 80 employees and no revenue, and helped build its ads business. He describes Kevin Systrom as a systems thinker who distilled complex problems, and Mike Krieger as focused on execution. Instagram’s principles included doing fewer things exceptionally well and starting with the simple solution.

Saxena says data and A/B tests can inform decisions, but should serve a product vision. He uses Instagram Stories as an example: initially, users could only post photos or videos recorded live, supporting the goal of making Stories a place to see what was happening now. He says founders sometimes need to hold to a clear vision even when research points elsewhere.

At Airbnb, Saxena helped lead product management as the team grew from about 40 to more than 200 PMs. He describes Brian Chesky’s unconstrained approach: first imagine an ideal customer experience, such as a well-designed lounge for guests arriving before check-in, then learn what to preserve when scaling. Airbnb also worked backward from customer narratives and journey maps, coordinating teams around end-to-end promises rather than disconnected MVPs.

Saxena describes Brian Armstrong as hands-on, detail-oriented, and trusting of leaders he hires. At Coinbase, each decision had one accountable decision maker who gathered input from different functions, while pocket vetoes were treated as unacceptable. Saxena also cautions against incentives that focus only on growth metrics or engineering quality, arguing that teams should prioritize customer problems and evaluate the whole experience.

Saxena advises people to assess whether their company’s culture supports the work they value, and to develop trust-building and manager-management skills as they move into senior roles. He says strong leaders balance strategy with execution, confidence with humility, and adapt communication to their audience. He closes by rejecting universal playbooks and describing how moving to Silicon Valley put him closer to opportunities and increased his chances of benefiting from luck.