Nathan Blecharczyk is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist. Blecharczyk is one of the co-founders of the short-term rental service Airbnb. Among the roles Blecharczyk has filled at Airbnb include serving as the company’s chief strategy officer and as chairman of Airbnb China.

Blecharcyzk is a donor to many philanthropic causes that are of interest to him and his wife. He is also a signer of the Giving Pledge, a promise by extremely wealthy people to give the majority of their wealth to charitable causes. ¹

In the 2020 presidential election, Blecharcyzk gave a donation to the Biden Victory Fund and was a supporter of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. He is also a supporter of Airbnb’s political action committee. ²

Early Life

Nathan Blecharczyk was born in 1983 and raised in Boston, Massachusetts. Blecharczyk graduated in 2001 from the Boston Latin Academy, a public high school in Boston. ³

While Blecharczyk was in high school, he created his own software company. He then attended Harvard University, where he graduated with a bachelor of science degree in computer science. ⁴

After university, Blecharczyk went to work for Microsoft as a program manager. Later, he went to work as an engineer for OPNET Technologies, a software business that used to provide performance management for computer networks as well as applications. In 2007, he went to work for Batiq and became a lead developer. ⁵

Founding Airbnb

In 2008, Blecharczyk, along with Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia, founded the company that eventually became Airbnb. The website was originally called Airbedandbreakfast.com and the website offered short-term living quarters along with breakfast and a business networking opportunity, for people unable to book a hotel room in saturated markets. The site officially launched on August 11, 2008. ⁶

The website’s first customers were attendees of the Industrial Design Conference that was held by the Industrial Designers of America. Travelers at the conference had a difficult time securing lodging. Blecharczyk became Airbnb’s first chief technology officer. ⁷

The new company had a difficult time raising money so the founders bought cereal in bulk, repackaged them, and rebranded them “Obama O’s” and “Cap’N McCain’s,” and sold them at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. They raised $30,000 from the cereal sales for their company. More importantly, they attracted the attention of Paul Graham, the founder of business incubator Y Combinator. He gave the group $20,000 and accepted them into his company’s seed funding program. ⁸

While at Airbnb, Blecharczyk oversaw the company’s expansion into Cuba in 2015. In 2017, he became the company’s chief strategy officer and was also named chairman of Airbnb China. ⁹

The company went public in December 2020. As of September 2022, Blecharczyk was estimated to have a net worth of $8.1 billion by Forbes. ¹⁰

Charitable Giving

In June 2016, Blecharczyk and his wife Elizabeth signed the Giving Pledge, which is a pledge by very wealthy people to give the majority of their wealth away in charitable contributions. In their letter, they described their giving interests as “quite broad and include education, scientific research, medicine, space exploration, conservation of the planet and more effective governance.” ¹¹

In 2019, he announced a $1 million donation to the Boston Latin Academy, his high school alma mater. In addition, he pledged another $1 million in matching gifts to encourage contributions. ¹²

In addition, Blecharczyk and his wife also supported their college alma maters and St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children. The couple also support College Track, a California-based nonprofit that helps children from underserved communities go to college. ¹³

In 2022 during the Russo-Ukrainian War, Blecharczyk and his fellow Airbnb co-founders matched any donations up to $10 million for Ukrainians in need as a result of the war. ¹⁴

Political Activity

In 2019, he made a $5,000 donation to Airbnb’s political action committee. ¹⁵ In 2020, he made a $5,000 donation to the Biden Victory Fund in support of Joe Biden’s presidential campaign. ¹⁶

1. “Nathan And Elizabeth Blecharczyk.” Giving Pledge. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=171.
2. “Browse Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Nathan%20Blecharczyk.
3. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
4. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
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6. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
7. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
8. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
9. “Who Is Nathan Blecharczyk? Everything You Need To Know.” The Famous People. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/nathan-blecharczyk-52019.php.
10. “Nathan Blecharczyk.” Forbes. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.forbes.com/profile/nathan-blecharczyk/?sh=2a51c3d44949.
11. “Nathan And Elizabeth Blecharczyk.” Giving Pledge. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://givingpledge.org/pledger?pledgerId=171.
12. “Airbnb Co-Founder Donates $1 Million To Boston Latin Academy In STEM Week Event.” Boston Public Schools. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.bostonpublicschools.org/site/default.aspx?DomainID=4&FlexDataID=24514&ModuleInstanceID=14&PageID=1&PageType=3&RenderLoc=0&ViewID=6446EE88-D30C-497E-9316-3F8874B3E108.
13. “Nathan And Elizabeth Blecharczyk.” Glasspockets. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://glasspockets.org/philanthropy-in-focus/eye-on-the-giving-pledge/profiles/nathan-and-elizabeth-blecharczyk.
14. “Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky Announces Major Donation Match Plan To Help Ukraine.” Ellen Tube. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.ellentube.com/article/airbnb-ceo-brian-chesky-announces-major-donation-match-plan-to-help-ukraine.html.
15. [1] “Browse Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Nathan%20Blecharczyk.
16. “Browse Individual Contributions.” Federal Election Commission. Accessed September 19, 2022. https://www.fec.gov/data/receipts/individual-contributions/?contributor_name=Nathan%20Blecharczyk.