backyard-homes
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Joe Garcia
Joe Gebbia co-founded Airbnb in 2008 out of a San Francisco living room - air mattresses, breakfast included - and turned a half-crazy idea into an $85B company. His current venture, Samara, builds factory-assembled, solar-ready backyard homes (ADUs) that go from permit to move-in in under seven months. In early 2025 he became America's first Chief Design Officer, tasked with redesigning the federal government's 27,000 websites. A Rhode Island School of Design graduate with dual majors in graphic and industrial design, Gebbia approaches every problem - housing affordability, government UX, refugee shelter - through the lens of democratic, empathetic design.
Samara
Samara is a Redwood City-based prefab housing company building factory-made backyard homes (ADUs) for California homeowners. Spun out of Airbnb by co-founder Joe Gebbia, Samara handles the entire process from design and permitting to manufacturing and installation, with a stated goal of using accessory dwelling units to ease the West Coast housing crunch.