About
Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn (sold to Microsoft for $26.2B in 2016) and a partner at Greylock Partners, one of Silicon Valley’s top venture capital firms. He’s known for his thinking on network effects, scaling, and the future of work.
Before LinkedIn, he was an executive VP at PayPal (part of the “PayPal Mafia” alongside Peter Thiel, Elon Musk, and others).
Key Themes
- Blitzscaling — Prioritize speed over efficiency when scaling; first-mover advantage in winner-take-most markets
- Network effects — Products that get better as more people use them create defensibility
- Permanent beta — Treat yourself like a startup; always be learning and adapting
- The alliance — Modern employer-employee relationships should be mutual investments, not lifetime commitments
Notable Works
- Blitzscaling — Framework for rapid startup scaling (2018, with Chris Yeh)
- The Startup of You — Career advice using startup principles (2012)
- The Alliance — New employer-employee framework (2014)
- Masters of Scale — Podcast interviewing founders on scaling
Connections
- Co-founder of LinkedIn
- Partner at Greylock Partners
- Board member at Microsoft, Airbnb (formerly)
- Part of the PayPal Mafia