Reid Hoffman

Cofounder of LinkedIn

• Born: August 5, 1967
• Place of Birth: Stanford, California

Primary Company/Organization: LinkedIn

Introduction

Reid Hoffman is a risk taker whose visionary viewpoint has helped shape the way the world does business. From the start, Hoffman knew that he wanted to make a difference on a global scale. He recognized that the Internet was the best means to that end and focused his efforts on employing technology to connect and empower individuals everywhere. He cofounded LinkedIn as a forum for online networking and sharing of information among professionals and would-be entrepreneurs. Today, LinkedIn is the world's largest professional networking site. With the success of LinkedIn, Hoffman has used his influence and affluence to help other entrepreneurs realize their dreams: as a partner at venture capital firm Greylock Partners, as a board member for various technology companies, as a philanthropist supporting not-for-profit enterprises, and as a coauthor of a book on the role and realities of entrepreneurship.

Early Life

Reid Garrett Hoffman grew up in Berkeley, California, as the only child of two free-thinking lawyers, Deanna Ruth Rutter and William Parker Hoffman Jr. From a very early age, Hoffman participated in his parents' ethics discussions and activism—a foundation that shaped his goals and career.

At twelve, Hoffman got his first job as an editor for Chaosium, a local publisher of role-playing games, after hand-delivering a critique of one of the company's game guides. The publisher recognized the value in some of Hoffman's points and asked him to review another guide in exchange for payment.

By the age of fourteen, Hoffman was unchallenged at school and decided on his own to apply for a spot at the independent Putney School, a private boarding school in Vermont. He was accepted and persuaded his parents to let him attend. Hoffman graduated from the Putney School in 1985 and went on to study symbolic systems—a combination of artificial intelligence and cognitive science—at Stanford University, receiving a bachelor of science degree in 1990. Next, Hoffman traveled to England as a Marshall scholar. He studied at Oxford University and received a master of arts in philosophy in 1993. Initially, Hoffman wanted to become an academician as a means of influencing broad discussion and bringing world-changing ideas to fruition. However, by the time he left Oxford, he had concluded that intellectuals have less influence than entrepreneurs, and he shifted his focus to the business world—specifically, the online business world.

Life's Work

After completing his studies in England, Hoffman returned to California. Almost immediately he networked his way into a job with Apple Computer's user-experience group. After two years learning the ropes on the design side, he moved to Fujitsu to become more educated about the product management end of the business. By 1997, Hoffman felt ready to set out on his own. He formed a team of friends and former coworkers, raised the required start-up capital, and launched SocialNet.com. The online dating site had some growing pains due to its reliance on print publication partnerships. Hoffman's differences with the company's board of directors did not help. He decided to leave SocialNet.com in 1999, shortly before the company was purchased by match.com.

Rather than launch another company, Hoffman was persuaded to join the management team of a fledgling company named PayPal at the request of his friend and PayPal cofounder, Peter Thiel. Hoffman had held a seat on PayPal's board of directors since the company's launch a few years earlier, but it was not until January 2000 that he became a full-time employee responsible for external relations involving corporate development, payment infrastructure, and government, legal, and international affairs. Hoffman had become executive vice president of the company by the time PayPal was purchased by eBay in 2002.

During an interview appearing in Inc. in 2009, Hoffman told Mark Lacter that during his tenure at PayPal, he had become aware of how the Internet was transforming individuals into their own small businesses, creating a need for new tools to manage each person's brand, business, and career. He thought he could provide a solution. Once again, Hoffman recruited his peers and former coworkers, gathered funds, and launched a company. The new company, LinkedIn, was established in December 2002 to facilitate online professional networking and information sharing. The site went live online in May 2003. It attracted some forty-five hundred members in its first month and had grown to more than 160 million members worldwide as of March 2012. That, coupled with LinkedIn's hugely successful initial public offering on May 20, 2011, gained for Hoffman a reputation as a man with the golden touch.

While providing strategic leadership to LinkedIn as the company's executive chairman, Hoffman joined Greylock Partners in 2009. The company works with small businesses that need support to bring their big ideas to the marketplace. Hoffman's focus is on helping high-potential companies in the segments he knows best: consumer Internet enterprises, Web 2.0, mobile, social gaming, e-commerce, online payments, on-demand software, and social networks. Several such companies in Greylock's portfolio are Facebook, Pandora, DropBox, Groupon, and, of course, LinkedIn. As a representative of Greylock, Hoffman sits on the boards of directors for several companies, including Airbnb, Edmodo, shopkick, and Wrapp. In addition, he serves independently on the boards of directors at Mozilla, Kiva.org, Zynga, and QuestBridge. After LinkedIn was sold to Microsoft in 2016, Hoffman became a member of Microsoft's board.

Hoffman cofounded a new startup in 2022, Inflection AI, with Mustafa Suleyman, the co-founder of DeepMind. Hoffman is a proponent of AI and does not believe that its development should be halted until it is better understood by human beings. Hoffman has written extensively about AI and in 2023 published the book Impromptu: Amplifying Our Humanity Through AI.

Hoffman contributes financially to budding start-ups and nonprofits and speaks publicly about entrepreneurship. He does more than offer insightful advice, however. He puts his money where his mouth is, having invested funds in more than eighty burgeoning technology companies that he believes have great potential to influence business and communication. Among the enterprises that have benefited from Hoffman's backing are Facebook, Flickr, and Digg. He has also put his financial support behind many nonprofit organizations, including Donors Choose, Endeavor Foundation, and Kiva.org. He is passionate about the mission of Kiva.org, a not-for-profit that connects impoverished peoples with philanthropists willing to provide microloans as start-up money to create self-reliant, socially responsible businesses. For Hoffman, Kiva.org embodies his belief in the power of social media as a tool to link people willing to invest in themselves with resources that empower them to do so.

Personal Life

Hoffman is married to his college sweetheart, Michelle Yee. The couple met during Hoffman's Stanford University days and were eventually wed in a quiet ceremony before a justice of the peace and three witnesses.

Hoffman and Yee have made a point to reserve Saturday nights for themselves and, if time permits, Sunday afternoons as well. Hoffman also tries to squeeze in an hour of down time for himself each night to unwind before he goes to bed. He likes reading, watching movies, and playing the strategic board game Settlers of Catan.

Hoffman has the respect and admiration of virtually everyone in the technology industry. He is considered to be a fearless visionary, a staunch supporter of entrepreneurial practices and principles, and a generous philanthropist dedicated to driving positive societal change. He has also garnered a reputation as an approachable, open, and honest individual.

Bibliography

Breitbarth, Wayne. The Power Formula for LinkedIn Success: Kick-Start Your Business, Brand, and Job Search. Austin: Greenleaf, 2011. Print.

Casnocha, Ben, and Reid Hoffman. The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career. New York: Crown, 2012. Print.

Hoffman, Reid. “How I Did It.” Inc. 1 May 2009: n. pag. Print.

Hoffman, Reid. “Interview with Reid Hoffman.” Venture Capital 50.1 (2010): 2. Print.

Hoffman, Reid. "We Must Shape AI Tools That Will in Turn Shape Us." Financial Times, 8 Sept. 2023, www.ft.com/content/02302d04-846e-4d8a-a868-de895dde5a01. Accessed 7 Mar. 2024.

“Reid Hoffman: Mr. LinkedIn.” Financial Times. Financial Times, 17 Mar. 2002. Web. 28 Sept. 2015.

“Reid Hoffman: The Network Philosopher.” Wired Apr. 2012: n. pag. Print.

Rosoff, Matt. "Microsoft Adds 4 New Board Members, As Nadella Continues to Shape Company's Leadership." CNBC, 30 Nov. 2017, www.cnbc.com/2017/11/30/microsoft-adds-4-new-board-members-including-reid-hoffman.html. Accessed 6 Mar. 2024.