Reid’s Rituals of Great Boards: The 8 strategic tools used by top companies
11-Star Experience
11-Star Experience
Inspired by Airbnb: Design mind-blowing experience for your customers.
Stars
Airbnb Example
1
1
You get to your Airbnb and no one’s there. You knock on the door. They don’t open.
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They don’t open at first, you have to wait 20 minutes, they finally let you in.
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You knock on the door, they open the door, they let you in. Great. That’s not a big deal. You’re not going to tell every friend about it. You might say, “I used Airbnb. It worked.”
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You knock on the door, the host opens. “Hey, I’m Reid. Welcome to my house.”
You would show them around. On the table would be a welcome gift. It would be a bottle of wine, maybe some candy. You’d open the fridge. There’s water. You go to the bathroom, there’s toiletries. The whole thing is great. That’s a six-star experience.
You’d say, “Wow, I love this more than a hotel. I’m definitely going to use Airbnb again. It worked. Better than I expected.”
7
7
You knock on the door. Reid Hoffman opens. Get in. “Welcome. Here’s my full kitchen. I know you like surfing. There’s a surfboard waiting for you. I’ve booked lessons for you. It’s going to be an amazing experience. By the way, here’s my car. You can use my car. And I also want to surprise you. There’s this best restaurant in the city of San Francisco. I got you a table there.”
And you’re like, “Whoa. This is way beyond.”
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10
10
A ten-star check-in would be the Beatles check-in in 1964. I’d get off the plane and there’d be 5,000 high-school kids cheering my name with cards welcoming me to the country. I’d get to the front yard of your house and there’d be a press conference for me, and it would be just a mindf**k experience.
11
11
I would show up at the airport and you’d be there with Elon Musk and you’re saying, “You’re going to space.”
There are no rows in this table
“The point of the the process is that maybe nine, 10, 11 are not feasible. But if you go through the crazy exercise, there’s some sweet spot between “they showed up and they opened the door” and “I went to space.” That’s the sweet spot. You have to almost design the extreme to come backwards. Suddenly, doesn’t knowing my preferences and having a surfboard in the house seem not crazy but reasonable? It’s actually kind of crazy logistically, but this is the kind of stuff that creates a great experience.”
The best boards are cheerleaders
A ritual for crafting an 11-star experience
Join the game
Clear board
Prompt: Checking in to an Airbnb (example)
Who
Stars
Describe the experience
Sweet spot
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Description of a 1-star experience...
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Description of a 2-star experience...
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Description of a 3-star experience...
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11
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