For our last day before our presentations, we had our final guest speaker. Stephen Dillion, founder of Startups.ie. Startups.ie is a forum based website where entrepreneurs can connect with all types of experts in certain fields to help start up or grow their business. Additionally, Mr. Dillion is an organizer for the Startup Awards, where companies that have been active for up to three years can enter and gain recognition for their innovation and ingenuity. Mr. Dillion mainly creates different kinds of wines and spirits with a focus on low-alcoholic and no-alcoholic beverages. It was interesting to meet someone who developed their own website idea, and was able to pursue their passion through their “side hustle”.

After lunch, we visited Airbnb Ireland. I immediately loved the theme of the office, which was an urban and modern take on the classic office space. My favorite part of the organizational structure of Airbnb was their focus on transparency. Employees can easily learn the objectives and projects of departments outside of their main focus. I believe this focus leads to a more involved work environment, compared to other companies. Additionally, Airbnb has a no-permanent seating rule. Each employee had their own locker to store personal belongings, but outside of the lockers, workers had the freedom to sit anywhere within their department’s seating area. The mission behind this take on seating was for employees to get more involved within their sector of Airbnb, where they could meet everyone who worked in the same area as them.

Overall, Airbnb was one of my favorite companies to visit in terms of their organizational structure and building design. I felt that collaboration and cooperation were major objectives within Airbnb’s design process, and this difference has aided in the success of their company. Although I was not keen on the generalities of some aspects of the organizational structure, Airbnb was a company I could imagine myself working at.