# Divisional org with ten GMs versus functional org with one engineering, one design.

**Practitioner:** Brian Chesky
**Source:** Lenny's Podcast — Brian Chesky episode
**Timestamp:** 25:54
**Move:** 2 of 8

## The tension

Divisional org with ten GMs versus functional org with one engineering, one design.

## Where they landed

Extreme functional — no GMs, no divisions.

## What they accepted to lose

Per-business-unit P&L accountability lost. Ten division leaders displaced. Business-unit teams disbanded or merged into functional teams.

## Verbatim

> we said, we're not going to have divisional leaders. We're going to have design, engineering, product which turned to product marketing and marketing and communications and sales and operations, all the functions of a startup.

— Brian Chesky, Lenny's Podcast, 25:54

## Load-bearing phrase

*we're not going to have divisional leaders*

## What it pushes back against

The scaling-company default of dividing into business units.

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**Source attribution:** This call is drawn from Lenny Rachitsky's public podcast archive at [LennysData.com](https://lennysdata.com), released April 2026 with an explicit invitation to builders.

**Verify on votu.app:** [https://votu.app/move/chesky-2](https://votu.app/move/chesky-2)

**License:** Verbatim quotes are © the original speaker; attribution and timestamp guaranteed accurate to the source transcript.