“If you get the product and technology right, then the rest usually falls into place.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I started in investment banking at Allen & Company in 1991. It was the go-go days of media mergers, and we were incredibly busy with one deal after another. Unlike typical investment banking groups, even in the midst of merger mania, we didn’t have a formal face-time culture – and I felt empowered by that.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I remember my father taking us to meeting with lawyers, interviews with immigration officers, doing everything he could to get us that treasured Green Card – and the happiness, the sense of relief, when he finally did – we knew that we were welcome now, and we would be welcome tomorrow.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Uber is a company that is redefining the transportation industry on a global basis; to be part of that story is something that is interesting and would be a real privilege.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Anytime you introduce volatility, it is not good for business and not good for travel.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think I wanted to be a doctor. In Iran, the engineering and medical professions are worshipped. My father very much wanted me to be a doctor. I was certainly eager to please as a young man – as a kid, I should say.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“You have to empower your employees to make their own choices and trust that they will make the right choices.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“When you let travelers vote with their clicks, and you put that at the center of your decision-making, you build the product they want, and ultimately, their business will follow.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Where people work and their environment is becoming more and more important, especially for millennials.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Any time there’s significant change, there’s going to be some people who embrace the change and others who are against the change.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“If you don’t optimize for the consumer on the Internet, you’re dead.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think a lot of Americans don’t appreciate just what an incredible country this is, how lucky they are, how safe they are, how empowered they are.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Put the right people in the right places, and then you trust them to do the right stuff.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think where Trump just has it dead wrong is this is a world of us versus them.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“We found that travel, especially online travel, has been quite resistant to economic cycles.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“A CEO of a multinational global company can’t say what to do; you’ve got to plant the flag.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Failure can teach you something, and as long as you’re moving very, very quickly, you’re going to start piling up the wins. Speed gives you the luxury to be able to fail.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Having a United States passport has been an incredible asset, and I hope that will continue to be the case.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“When we grew up, our family and kind of gaggle of cousins would go to the south of France for the summers. And we just had a grand time.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“My family owned a bunch of pharmaceutical manufacturing plants and other consumer-goods manufacturing plants. We would license Western goods and manufacture them in Iran and distribute them throughout the Middle East.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“It was a choice between a paint factory in Indianapolis – a management training program to maybe run the paint factory one day – or go to New York City and become an investment banker. It wasn’t a very difficult decision.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“While Expedia is outbound-focused, Wotif is much more about domestic travel.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Traveloka is the clear online travel leader in Indonesia and is expanding aggressively throughout Southeast Asia.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“As we move over to more of a mobile device-centric world… I think the interaction model with devices is going to be much more voice-based.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“When you go to a voice-based interaction, you can’t tell people, ‘Ask me this question and structure it in this way.’ And if they ask a question, and you have a bad answer, first time, maybe they’ll be okay with it. Third time, they’re going to say, ‘This is a complete waste of time. I’m going away.’”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“We sure didn’t feel like refugees, but in hindsight, I guess we were – my father and mother left everything behind to come here – to be safe and give their boys a chance to rebuild a life.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“When I was in my 20s, I learned not only how to work hard but about the importance of focus.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“We don’t believe in a world of us versus them; we look at the world as all of us together.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“My family emigrated to the U.S. after the Iranian revolution in 1978.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“When you see the sacrifices that your parents make for you, you want to do well for them.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Chinese consumers don’t book hotel rooms that are as expensive as U.S. consumers.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I thought all those channels on cable TV were really cool.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Desperation sometimes drives innovation.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“It is important to have safe borders, but at the same time, we can’t forget what brought us here. This is an immigrant nation.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think from a personal standpoint, maybe I appreciate a little more that there are two sides to every story, and the way that the U.S. is sometimes is viewed outside of the U.S. can be pretty tough, depending on what the U.S.’s actions are.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think that, in the end, the consumer’s going to win on the Internet.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I think my background, coming from Iran, which is a great country but is going through its share of troubles, really allows me to appreciate what we have here.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Consumers may put off buying a car, but they don’t put off buying a vacation.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Rail in Europe is incredibly important as far as a transportation medium.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Alternative accommodations is a $100 billion-plus category.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“There’s simply no better company out there doing mobile travel apps with the same level of design sensibility and utility as Mobiata.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“As companies get bigger, they tend to slow down. It’s a universal law.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“One of the early lessons that I learned in leadership is that it’s the leader’s job to always go against the flow.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“There’s a lot of distrust of the United States, and I certainly see that. But at the same time, everything that I’ve seen is that the U.S. is a genuine force for good in the world.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“My family had to flee Iran… the revolution, and we were very, very lucky to come to America and have opportunities presented to us. And that’s… one of the things that makes America great.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“The power of immigration, the power of the American dream, if you think about the American dream, it is the best brand out there.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“It’s definitely a problem inside the technology industry – not just gender discrimination. Diversity is an issue within technology, within Expedia.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“I love Expedia.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Taking big risks combined with having a team you believe in and that believes just as much in you as a leader make for long-term wins, even in a game of inches.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“What some Americans don’t appreciate is how strong the brand of the American Dream is around the world. I’m an example of how powerful that product is.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“My father had to go back to Iran to take care of his father when I was 13 and was detained for six years before returning. My mom was raising three kids without a dad.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“My wife and I got married on 12/12/12 in Las Vegas, and she was wearing a Slayer T-shirt. That tells you what kind of woman I’m lucky enough to be with.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“The American dream is you come here, you believe in democracy, you believe in the Constitution, you work hard, you can make it.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“Companies don’t like uncertainty; travelers don’t like uncertainty.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
“As the perception of the United States as a welcoming place for all changes among travelers globally, the country’s tourism market, which is a huge revenue generator for the economy, could get hurt.”
― Dara Khosrowshahi
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