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Reid Garrett Hoffman (born August 5, 1967) is an American
internet entrepreneur An Internet entrepreneur is an owner, founder or manager of an Internet-based business. This list includes Internet company founders and people brought on to companies for their general business or accounting acumen, as is the case with some CEOs ...
,
venture capitalist Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
, podcaster, and author. Hoffman was the co-founder and executive chairman of
LinkedIn LinkedIn () is an American business and employment-oriented online service that operates via websites and mobile apps. Launched on May 5, 2003, the platform is primarily used for professional networking and career development, and allows job se ...
, a business-oriented
social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods fo ...
used primarily for professional networking. He is currently a partner at the venture capital firm
Greylock Partners Greylock Partners is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965, with committed capital of over $3.5 billion under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies in the consumer, enterprise software and infrastructure as wel ...
and a co-founder of Inflection AI. On the ''
Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also r ...
'' 2021 list of the world's billionaires, Hoffman was ranked #1580 with a net worth of US$2.4 billion.


Early life and education

His paternal great-great-great-grandfather was Theophilus Adam Wylie, a Christian Presbyterian minister and
Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universi ...
president pro tempore.Louise Wylie Hoffman
Losaltosonline.com (October 15, 2013). Retrieved on 2013-10-23.
Hoffman's uncle Eric Hoffman is a writer. Hoffman described himself an avid tabletop roleplaying gamer as a child. His first paid job (at age 12) was as an editor at the game company
Chaosium Chaosium Inc. is a publisher of tabletop role-playing games established by Greg Stafford in 1975. Chaosium's major titles include '' Call of Cthulhu'', based on the horror fiction stories of H. P. Lovecraft'', RuneQuest Glorantha'', ''Pendragon ...
, then based in Oakland near his home. Although he was only 14 years old at the time, Hoffman's name was featured on the box of Chaosium's
RuneQuest ''RuneQuest'' (commonly abbreviated as RQ) is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game originally designed by Steve Perrin, Ray Turney, Steve Henderson, and Warren James, and set in Greg Stafford's mythical world of Glorantha. It was first publi ...
role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
release '' Borderlands'' (1982), receiving equal billing with game designers
Steve Perrin Stephen Herbert Perrin (January 22, 1946 – August 13, 2021) was an American game designer and technical writer/editor, best known for creating the tabletop role-playing game ''RuneQuest'' for Chaosium. Early life and education Perrin earned a ...
,
Sandy Petersen Carl Sanford Joslyn "Sandy" Petersen (born September 16, 1955) is an American game designer. He worked at Chaosium, contributing to the development of ''RuneQuest'' and later creating the acclaimed and influential horror role-playing game ''Call ...
and
Greg Stafford Francis Gregory Stafford (February 9, 1948 – October 10, 2018), usually known as Greg Stafford, was an American game designer, publisher, and practitioner of shamanism. Stafford is most famous as the creator of the fantasy world of Gloranth ...
. Hoffman attended high school at
The Putney School The Putney School is an independent high school in Putney, Vermont. The school was founded in 1935 by Carmelita Hinton on the principles of the Progressive Education movement and the teachings of its principal exponent, John Dewey. It is a co-edu ...
, where he farmed maple syrup, drove oxen and studied
epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Epi ...
. He graduated from
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
in 1990, where he won both a
Marshall Scholarship The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious sc ...
and a Dinkelspiel Award, with a B.S. in
Symbolic Systems Computational linguistics is an interdisciplinary field concerned with the computational modelling of natural language, as well as the study of appropriate computational approaches to linguistic questions. In general, computational linguistics ...
and Cognitive Science. He went on to earn an M.St. in
Philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. ...
from
Wolfson College, Oxford Wolfson College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Located in north Oxford along the River Cherwell, Wolfson is an all-graduate college with around sixty governing body fellows, in addition to both research a ...
in 1993 as a
Marshall Scholar The Marshall Scholarship is a postgraduate scholarship for "intellectually distinguished young Americans ndtheir country's future leaders" to study at any university in the United Kingdom. It is widely considered one of the most prestigious ...
.


Career


Early years

While in college, according to Hoffman, he formed a conviction that he wanted to try to influence the state of the world on a large scale. He saw academia as an opportunity to make an "impact," but later realized that the business world would provide him with a larger platform. "When I graduated from Stanford my plan was to become a professor and public intellectual. That is not about quoting
Kant Immanuel Kant (, , ; 22 April 1724 – 12 February 1804) was a German philosopher and one of the central Enlightenment thinkers. Born in Königsberg, Kant's comprehensive and systematic works in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics, and aest ...
. It's about holding up a lens to society and asking 'who are we?' and 'who should we be, as individuals and a society?' But I realized academics write books that 50 or 60 people read and I wanted more impact." With that in mind, Hoffman pursued a career in business and entrepreneurship. His first job was an internship at
Inglenook An inglenook or chimney corner is a recess that adjoins a fireplace. The word comes from "ingle", an old Scots word for a domestic fire (derived from the Gaelic ''aingeal''), and "nook". The inglenook originated as a partially enclosed heart ...
, a winery in Napa Valley. He later joined Apple Computer in 1994, where he worked on eWorld, an early attempt at building an online service. AOL acquired eWorld in 1996. He later worked at Fujitsu before co-founding his first company – SocialNet.com in 1997. It focused "on online dating and matching up people with similar interests, like golfers who were looking for partners in their neighborhood."
Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...
has said SocialNet.com was "literally an idea before its time. It was a social network 7 or 8 years before that became a trend.". Philosophy still greatly influences Hoffman's worldview as he wrote the foreword to the book, ''The Entrepreneurs Weekly Nietzsche'' which came out in May 2021 and laid out why he believes that a fundamental understanding of philosophy can be a powerful tool for entrepreneurship in an episode of the Greymatter podcast called "The Philosopher Entrepreneur".


PayPal

While at SocialNet, Hoffman was a member of the board of directors during the founding of
PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...
, an electronic money transmission service. In January 2000, he left SocialNet and joined PayPal full-time as the company's COO. Allen Blue, whom Hoffman hired at PayPal, said that "PayPal had to scratch and claw for every advantage it had, and Reid became an expert at competing effectively in an extremely competitive environment." Hoffman was responsible for all external relationships for PayPal, including payments infrastructure ( Visa, Mastercard, ACH,
Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...
), business development (eBay, Intuit, and others), government (regulatory, judicial), and legal. Peter Thiel, Hoffman's boss at PayPal, has said that Hoffman "was the firefighter-in-chief at PayPal. Though that diminishes his role because there were many, many fires." At the time of PayPal's acquisition by
eBay eBay Inc. ( ) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that facilitates consumer-to-consumer and business-to-consumer sales through its website. eBay was founded by Pierre Omidyar in 1995 and became ...
for $1.5B in 2002, he was executive vice president of PayPal.


LinkedIn

Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in December 2002 with two former colleagues from SocialNet (including Allen Blue), from his time at Fujitsu. It launched on May 5, 2003, as one of the first business-oriented online social networks. Peter Thiel, a colleague of Hoffman's at PayPal, invested in LinkedIn. By November 2014, LinkedIn had over 332 million members in more than 200 countries and territories and now has nearly 800 million members. The site allows registered users to create professional profiles and connect with each other. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection. According to Forbes, "LinkedIn is, far and away, the most advantageous social networking tool available to job seekers and business professionals today." Hoffman was LinkedIn's founding CEO for the first four years before becoming chairman and president of products in February 2007. He became executive chairman in June 2009. With the IPO of LinkedIn on May 19, 2011, Hoffman owns a stake worth an estimated $2.34 billion, not including any potential benefits from
Greylock Partners Greylock Partners is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965, with committed capital of over $3.5 billion under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies in the consumer, enterprise software and infrastructure as wel ...
, where he was named a partner in 2009. Hoffman believes that many people still do not know how to use its service and it is LinkedIn's job to help them out. In an interview, Hoffman said that "you have to think proactively about how to use a tool that enables your ability to move in ways that you weren't able to move before, and most of people are not very good at that". Microsoft proposed to acquire LinkedIn on June 13, 2016 for $26.2 billion in cash. Hoffman became a Microsoft board member on March 14, 2017.


Inflection AI

In March 2022, it was announced that Hoffman was co-founding a new startup, Inflection AI, with his long-time friend and Greylock colleague,
Mustafa Suleyman Mustafa Suleyman (born August 1984) is the co-founder and former head of applied AI at DeepMind, an artificial intelligence company acquired by Google and now owned by Alphabet. His current venture is Inflection AI. Early life Suleyman's fath ...
, the co-founder of DeepMind. CNBC reported that "Headquartered in Silicon Valley, Inflection will aim to develop AI software products that make it easier for humans to communicate with computers."


Investing

After the PayPal sale to eBay, Hoffman became one of Silicon Valley's most prolific and successful
angel investors An angel investor (also known as a business angel, informal investor, angel funder, private investor, or seed investor) is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or owner ...
. According to venture capitalist David Sze, Hoffman "is arguably the most successful angel investor in the past decade."
Dave Goldberg David Bruce Goldberg (October 2, 1967 – May 1, 2015) was an American management consultant and businessman. He was the founder of LAUNCH Media and the CEO of SurveyMonkey. He was married to Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook. Early life and ed ...
, former CEO of SurveyMonkey, said that Hoffman "is the person you want to talk to when you are starting a company." In 2010 Hoffman joined
Greylock Partners Greylock Partners is one of the oldest venture capital firms, founded in 1965, with committed capital of over $3.5 billion under management. The firm focuses on early-stage companies in the consumer, enterprise software and infrastructure as wel ...
and made his first, early investment in AirBNB. His areas of focus at Greylock include consumer and services, enterprise software, consumer Internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments, and social networks. In 2020, Greylock, the venture capital firm where Hoffman is a partner, created an ongoing partnership with Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT) to get more Black, Latino and Indigenous people into tech startups. As part of this partnership. Greylock’s partners also donated $5 million to anchor MLT’s first-ever impact fund, which allows MLT to participate as a limited partner in Greylock’s latest $1 billion fund. According to David Kirkpatrick's book '' The Facebook Effect'', Hoffman arranged the first meeting between
Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), of ...
and
Peter Thiel Peter Andreas Thiel (; born 11 October 1967) is a German-American billionaire entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and political activist. A co-founder of PayPal, Palantir Technologies, and Founders Fund, he was the first outside investor in F ...
, which led to Thiel's initial $500,000 angel investment in
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
. Hoffman invested alongside Thiel in Facebook's first financing round. Hoffman's current venture capital investments include Aurora,
Blockstream Blockstream is a blockchain technology company led by co-founder Adam Back, headquartered in Victoria, Canada, with offices and staff worldwide. The company develops a range of products and services for the storage and transfer of Bitcoin and ot ...
,
Coda Coda or CODA may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * Movie coda, a post-credits scene * ''Coda'' (1987 film), an Australian horror film about a serial killer, made for television *''Coda'', a 2017 American experimental film from Na ...
, Convoy, Entrepreneur First, Joby Aviation, Nauto, Neeva, Nuro, Taptap Send and
Helion Energy Helion Energy, Inc. is an American fusion research company, located in Everett, Washington. They are developing a magneto-inertial fusion technology to produce helium-3 and fusion power via aneutronic fusion, which could produce low-cost clean ele ...
. Past investments include
3DSolve The Lockheed Martin Corporation is an American aerospace, arms, defense, information security, and technology corporation with worldwide interests. It was formed by the merger of Lockheed Corporation with Martin Marietta in March 1995. It is ...
,
Airbnb Airbnb, Inc. ( ), based in San Francisco, California, operates an online marketplace focused on short-term homestays and experiences. The company acts as a broker and charges a commission from each booking. The company was founded in 2008 b ...
, Coupons.com,
Digg Digg, stylized in lowercase as digg, is an American news aggregator with a curated front page, aiming to select stories specifically for the Internet audience such as science, trending political issues, and viral Internet issues. It was launch ...
, Edmodo,
Flickr Flickr ( ; ) is an American image hosting and video hosting service, as well as an online community, founded in Canada and headquartered in the United States. It was created by Ludicorp in 2004 and was a popular way for amateur and profession ...
, Gixo, IronPort, Knewton,
Kongregate Kongregate is an American web gaming portal and video game publisher. Its website features over 110,000 online games and 30+ mobile games available to the public. The company also publishes games for PC, mobile, and home consoles. It was purchase ...
,
Last.fm Last.fm is a music website founded in the United Kingdom in 2002. Using a music recommender system called "Audioscrobbler", Last.fm builds a detailed profile of each user's musical taste by recording details of the tracks the user listens to, e ...
, Nanosolar, One Kings Lane, Permuto,
Ping.fm Ping.fm was an advertising-supported social networking and micro-blogging web service that enabled users to post to multiple social networks simultaneously. Making an update on Ping.fm pushed the update to a number of different social websites at ...
,
Shopkick Shopkick is an American company based in Denver that created a shopping app for smartphones and tablets offering users’ rewards for shopping activities on both online and offline platforms such as walking into stores, scanning items, making in ...
, SixApart,
thesixtyone thesixtyone (t61) was a streaming media website that used collaborative filtering to organize, promote, and sell music uploaded by artists, many of whom are independent musicians. The site was founded by James Miao and Samuel Hsiung and receive ...
, Swipely,
Tagged Tagged may refer to: * Tagged (website), a social discovery website * Tagged (web series), an American teen psychological thriller web series {{disambiguation ...
, Technetto,
TrialPay TrialPay was an alternative e-commerce payment system in which a consumer gets an item for free from a participating merchant in exchange for buying or trying out another product or service from a TrialPay advertiser. The merchant is then paid f ...
, Vendio,
VigLink VigLink is a San Francisco-based, outbound-traffic monetization service for publishers, forums, and bloggers. VigLink specializes in in-text advertising and marketing. VigLink CEO Oliver Roup founded the company in March 2009. In 2012, Oliver R ...
, Viki,
Wikia Fandom (formerly known as Wikicities before 2007 and later Wikia before 2019) is a wiki hosting service that hosts wikis mainly on entertainment topics (i.e. video games, TV series, movies, entertainers, etc.). Its domain is operated by Fandom, ...
, Wrapp, and
Xapo Xapo is an international, private bank headquartered in Gibraltar and licensed by the Gibraltar Financial Services Commission. The company originally provided a bitcoin wallet combined with a cold storage vault and a bitcoin-based debit card a ...
. He served on
Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...
's board of directors from March 2008 to June 2014 and currently serves on several public boards including Aurora, Joby Aviation and Microsoft. Hoffman is arguably one of the most important investors for the future of transportation, making investments in Aurora (autonomous trucking), Convoy (trucking logistics marketplace), Nauto (AI software for driver safety), Nuro (autonomous, zero-occupant delivery vehicles for goods) and Joby Aviation (electric, aerial ride-sharing) among others.


Crypto

An early advocate for cryptocurrency, Hoffman led the 2014 Series A financing round in Xapo, a company that created a combination between a bitcoin vault and a bitcoin wallet and was an early supporter of Celo, an open platform that makes financial tools accessible to anyone with a mobile phone. In 2015, he was interviewed at Davos and said crypto “could open up the advantages of banking to regions of the world that do not yet benefit from the banking system” and then wrote an article in WiredUK evangelizing for why the blockchain matters. In 2019, Hoffman created a "Bitcoin Rap Battle Debate: Hamilton vs. Satoshi" and posted it on YouTube, racking up over 2 million views.


Teaching

Hoffman teaches the free Stanford University class, "Blitzscaling".


Public intellectual work


Speaking

Hoffman has spoken at the XPrize Foundation's conference, the TED conference in Long Beach in 2012, and Fast Forward's Accelerate Good Global in 2020. He is a frequent lecturer at
Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is conside ...
,
Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
,
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of highe ...
, the
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
, and others. He has appeared on
The Charlie Rose Show ''Charlie Rose'' (also known as ''The Charlie Rose Show'') is an American television interview and talk show, with Charlie Rose as executive producer, executive editor, and host. The show was syndicated on PBS from 1991 until 2017 and is owned ...
, Fareed Zakaria's Global Public Square on CNN and other current affairs television programs. In 2021, he appeared at TechCrunch Disrupt in September to talk about blitzscaling and Greylock's new $500 million seed fund among other things, at the Bloomberg Equality Summit in October to talk about the important of diversity in tech and at the Knight Foundation Symposium ''Lessons from the First Internet Ages'' in November to discuss what we've learned from web 1.0 and 2.0.


Writing

Hoffman has published a variety of posts as a "LinkedIn Influencer" on LinkedIn. He published an essay proposing a new form of credentialing for university students and professionals entitled "Disrupting the Diploma." On his personal website, he published "LinkedIn's Series B Pitch to Greylock: Pitch Advice for Entrepreneurs," in which he analyzed LinkedIn's 2004 Series B venture funding pitch deck and offered advice to prospective entrepreneurs on how to formulate a pitch deck. Hoffman has also written op-eds in the Washington Post, including one published in 2009 entitled "Let Startups Bail Us Out" encouraging funding for grassroots innovation in the wake of the financial crisis and another in June 2013 entitled "Immigration promotes entrepreneurship and prosperity" advocating for immigration reform. He has written for
Strategy+Business ''Strategy+Business'' (stylized in lowercase in its logo) is a business magazine focusing on management issues and corporate strategy. Headquartered in New York, it is published by certain member firms of the PricewaterhouseCoopers network. Pri ...
on professional networking and is an "Influencer" on LinkedIn where he posts original written content. Hoffman has a chapter giving advice in
Tim Ferriss Timothy Ferriss (born July 20, 1977) is an American entrepreneur, investor, author, podcaster, and lifestyle guru. He became well-known through his ''4-Hour'' self-help book series—including ''The 4-Hour Work Week'', ''The 4-Hour Body'', and '' ...
' book ''
Tools of Titans ''Tools of Titans: The Tactics, Routines, and Habits of Billionaires, Icons, and World-Class Performers'' (2016) is a self-help book by Timothy Ferriss, an American writer, educational activist, and entrepreneur. He interviewed more than 100 "wor ...
''.


''The Start-Up of You''

Hoffman is co-author, with Ben Casnocha, of the career book ''The Start-Up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform your Career''. The book was released in the United States on February 14, 2012. It argues that individuals should think of themselves as businesses-of-one – the "CEO of their own career" – and draws many parallels between lessons learned from the stories of successful Silicon Valley technology companies and an individual's career. ''
Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...
'' reviewed the book positively, saying, "with plenty of valuable guidance relevant to any career stage, this book will help readers not only survive professionally in times of uncertainty but stand out from the pack and flourish." The Economist said that "Hoffman and Casnocha make a number of astute observations about shifts in the world of work." As of September 2012 it had sold more than 100,000 copies. It became both a ''
New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' and ''
Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...
'' bestseller. ''Business Insider'' republished visual summaries of ''The Start-Up of You'', which have received over 13 million views.


''The Alliance''

Hoffman is co-author, with Ben Casnocha and Chris Yeh, of the management book ''The Alliance: Managing Talent in the Networked Age''. The book was released in the United States on July 8, 2014. It argues that previous career models of lifetime employment and free agency no longer work in a business world defined by continuous change. Instead, it proposes that employers and employees should think of each other as "allies" and move from a transactional approach to employment to a "relational" one. It proposes a new framework for managers and employers to organize their work, described as "tours of duty." Further, it argues why managers should encourage their employees to gather "network intelligence" and why companies and managers should maintain a lifelong relationship with former employees via a corporate alumni network. The book became a ''New York Times'' bestseller.
Arianna Huffington Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington (née Ariadnē-Anna Stasinopoúlou, el, Αριάδνη-Άννα Στασινοπούλου ; born July 15, 1950) is a Greek-American author, syndicated columnist and businesswoman. She is a co-founder of '' Th ...
named ''The Alliance'' "the must-read book of the summer" in 2014.


''Masters of Scale''

On April 25, 2017, Reid Hoffman announced the launch of a new podcast called "
Masters of Scale ''Masters of Scale'' is a business and finance podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn. The show is produced and owned by WaitWhat. In each episode, Hoffman introduces a theory on how successful businesses scale, and tests i ...
." In each episode, Reid acts as the host, introducing a counterintuitive business theory and proving it out through the episode through a series of conversations with successful entrepreneurs. ''Masters of Scale'' is committed to a 50-50 gender balance. The official podcast launched on May 5, 2017, on the
Entrepreneur Magazine ''Entrepreneur'' is an American magazine and website that carries news stories about entrepreneurship, small business management, and business. The magazine was first published in 1977. It is published by ''Entrepreneur Media Inc''., headquart ...
website but is now hosted at mastersofscale.com. Masters of Scale Episodes so far feature guests such as
Mark Cuban Mark Cuban (born July 31, 1958) is an American billionaire entrepreneur, television personality, and media proprietor whose net worth is an estimated $4.8 billion, according to ''Forbes'', and ranked No. 177 on the 2020 ''Forbes'' 400 list ...
,
Sir Richard Branson Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born 18 July 1950) is a British billionaire, entrepreneur, and business magnate. In the 1970s he founded the Virgin Group, which today controls more than 400 companies in various fields. Branson expressed ...
, Beth Ford (CEO of Land O'Lakes),
Jessica Alba Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in '' Camp Nowhere'' and '' The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 ...
, Sheila Lirio Marcelo (Care.com), Ray Dalio, Brian Chesky (AirBNB),
Tory Burch Tory Burch (née Robinson; born June 17, 1966) is an American fashion designer, businesswoman, and philanthropist. She is the Executive Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of her own brand, Tory Burch LLC. She was listed as the 88th most powerf ...
,
John Elkann John Philip Jacob Elkann (born 1 April 1976) is an Italian industrialist. In 1997, he became the chosen heir of his grandfather Gianni Agnelli, following the death of Gianni's nephew Giovanni Alberto Agnelli and since 2004 has been leading the A ...
,
Tyra Banks Tyra Lynne Banks (born December 4, 1973), also known as BanX, is an American television personality, model, producer, writer, and actress. Born in Inglewood, California, she began her career as a model at the age of 15, and was the first Africa ...
,
Daymond John Daymond Garfield John (born February 23, 1969) is an American businessman, investor, and television personality. He is best known as the founder, president, and chief executive officer of FUBU, and appears as an investor on the ABC reality te ...
(FUBU, Shark Tank), Stacy Brown-Philpot,
Sheryl Sandberg Sheryl Kara Sandberg (born August 28, 1969) is an American business executive, billionaire, and philanthropist. Sandberg served as chief operating officer (COO) of Meta Platforms, a position from which she stepped down in August 2022. She is al ...
,
Stewart Butterfield Daniel Stewart Butterfield (born Dharma Jeremy Butterfield; March 21, 1973) is a Canadian billionaire businessman, best known for co-founding the photo-sharing website Flickr and the team-messaging application Slack. Early life and education In ...
(Slack),
Mark Zuckerberg Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (; born ) is an American business magnate, internet entrepreneur, and philanthropist. He is known for co-founding the social media website Facebook and its parent company Meta Platforms (formerly Facebook, Inc.), of ...
,
Shellye Archambeau Shellye Archambeau is an American businesswoman and former CEO of MetricStream, a GRC company based in Palo Alto, California. She has held executive positions for numerous companies, including a 15-year career at IBM where she became the fir ...
,
Diane Greene Diane B. Greene (born June 9, 1955) is an American technology entrepreneur and executive. Greene started her career as a naval architect before transitioning to the tech industry, where she was a founder and CEO of VMware from 1998 until 2008. ...
, Indra Nooyi (former CEO Pepsi), Sara Blakely (Spanx), Robert Reffkin (Compass),
Robert F. Smith (investor) Robert Frederick Smith (born December 1, 1962) is an American billionaire businessman and philanthropist. He is the founder, chairman, and CEO of private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Early life Smith was born to Dr. William Robert Smith ...
and
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
.


''Blitzscaling''

Hoffman is co-author, with Chris Yeh, of the book ''Blitzscaling: The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies''. The book was released in the United States on October 9, 2018. It argues that the secret to starting and scaling massively valuable companies is “blitzscaling”, a set of techniques for “scaling up at a dizzying pace that blows competitors out of the water.”


Honors and awards

* In 2022, Reid delivered the commencement address at Vanderbilt University and received Vanderbilt's Nichols-Chancellor's Medal. * In 2017 he was appointed an Honorary
Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...
(CBE), "For services to promoting UK business and social networking and the Marshall Scholarship scheme". * In September 2014, the
American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a non-profit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest achieving individuals in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet ...
awarded Hoffman with the annual Golden Plate award, which honors accomplished individuals "for significant achievement in their fields." * In April 2014,
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...
named Hoffman as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship "to help develop the next generation of entrepreneurs." * In April 2014, Hoffman received the Distinguished Citizen Award from the Commonwealth Club. * In May 2012, Hoffman was ranked third on the ''Forbes''
Midas List The ''Forbes'' Midas list is the annual ranking by ''Forbes'' magazine of the most influential and best-performing venture capital investors. Described by Kara Swisher as the "Oscars for venture capitalists in tech," the Midas List uses parameters ...
of the top tech investors. ''Forbes'' described Hoffman as "Silicon Valley's uber-investor" and said Hoffman "has had a hand in creating nearly every lucrative social media startup." * In 2012, The Martin Luther King Jr. Center honored Hoffman with their "Salute to Greatness" award which "recognizes individuals and corporations or organizations that exemplify excellence in leadership and a commitment to social responsibility in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr." * In 2012, ''
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'' and ''
The Daily Beast ''The Daily Beast'' is an American news website focused on politics, media, and pop culture. It was founded in 2008. It has been characterized as a "high-end tabloid" by Noah Shachtman, the site's editor-in-chief from 2018 to 2021. In a 20 ...
'' released their first "Digital Power Index," a list of the 100 most significant people in the digital world that year (plus 10 additional "Lifetime Achievement" winners), and Hoffman was ranked No. 3 in the "Angels" category. * In 2012, Hoffman, along with Salman Khan of Khan Academy, was honored by the World Affairs Council and
Global Philanthropy Forum The Global Philanthropy Forum (GPF) is an initiative of the World Affairs Council which acts as a peer-learning network of philanthropists — grant-makers and social investors — committed to advancing equity and opportunity in the d ...
in 2012. The council recognizes and honors remarkable leaders who have effected and will continue to effect social change through their private enterprise and social action. The awards in 2012 were dedicated to celebrating Technology for Social Impact. * Hoffman was awarded the 2012 David Packard Medal of Achievement Award by TechAmerica for his contributions and advances within the high-tech industry, his community, and humankind. * Hoffman received an Honorary Doctor of Laws from Babson in 2012. * In 2011, Hoffman and Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn shared the EY U.S. Entrepreneur of the Year Award. * In 2010, Hoffman was named No. 17 on ''
Fast Company ''Fast Company'' is a monthly American business magazine published in print and online that focuses on technology, business, and design. It publishes six print issues per year. History ''Fast Company'' was launched in November 1995 by Alan Web ...
''s list of the 100 Most Creative People in Business.


Personal life

In 2004, Hoffman married Michelle Yee. The couple resides in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
.


Philanthropy

Jeff Weiner Jeffrey Weiner (born February 21, 1970 in New York City, New York) is an American businessman. He was the chief executive officer (CEO) of LinkedIn, a business-related social networking website. He started with LinkedIn on December 15, 2008, as ...
, LinkedIn's CEO, has said that "Reid's true north is making a positive and lasting impact on the world, in a very profound way." Hoffman currently serves on the boards of
Kiva.org Kiva (commonly known by its domain name, Kiva.org) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization headquartered in San Francisco, California, that claims to allow people to lend money via the Internet to low-income entrepreneurs and students in 77 c ...
(peer-peer microlending pioneer that allows people to lend money via the internet to low-income/underserved entrepreneurs and students), Endeavor Global (an organization that finds and supports high-impact entrepreneurs in emerging markets), and New America (a think tank that focuses on a range of
public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public ...
issues, including national security, technology, health, gender, education, and the economy). Hoffman also serves on the advisory council of the
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
and is a supporter and chair of the advisory board for QuestBridge (a provider of talented low-income students to top colleges/universities). Hoffman was also the first major funder of Crisis Text Line, a free, 24/7 crisis service via SMS in the US. In 2013, Hoffman provided a $250,000 matching grant to
Code for America Code for America is a non-partisan, non-political 501(c)(3) organization founded in 2009 to address the widening gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design. According to its website, the organizat ...
. In July 2016, Hoffman funded the $250,000 cash-prize
MIT Media Lab The MIT Media Lab is a research laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, growing out of MIT's Architecture Machine Group in the School of Architecture. Its research does not restrict to fixed academic disciplines, but draws from ...
MIT Disobedience Award, an award created by Hoffman and
Joi Ito is a Japanese entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is a former director of the MIT Media Lab, former professor of the practice of media arts and sciences at MIT, and a former visiting professor of practice at the Harvard Law School. Ito has ...
to honor and recognize acts of disobedience resulting in positive social impact. In November 2016, Hoffman and his wife, Michelle Yee, donated $20 million to the
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) is an organization established and owned by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan with an investment of 99 percent of the couple's wealth from their Facebook shares over their lifet ...
, a charity dedicated to eradicating disease by 2100. Hoffman and Yee's donation was for the
Biohub Chan Zuckerberg Biohub (CZ Biohub), or simply Biohub, is a nonprofit research organization. In addition to supporting and conducting original research, CZ Biohub acts as a hub and fosters science collaboration between UC Berkeley, UC San Francis ...
, the Initiative's San Francisco laboratory. Hoffman also joined the board of the Biohub project. In May 2018, Hoffman and Yee joined
the Giving Pledge The Giving Pledge is a campaign to encourage extremely wealthy people to contribute a majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes. , the pledge has 236 signatories from 28 countries. Most of the signatories of the pledge are billionaires, a ...
, "a global effort to help address society’s most pressing problems by encouraging the wealthiest individuals and families to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes." Hoffman is also a long-time supporter of Second Harvest of Silicon Valley and in 2021, in response to the massive increased need due to the pandemic, offered to match any donations to the food bank, up to $2million


AI and AI Ethics

Hoffman is included in many efforts around the future AI and is one of the financial backers of
OpenAI OpenAI is an artificial intelligence (AI) research laboratory consisting of the for-profit corporation OpenAI LP and its parent company, the non-profit OpenAI Inc. The company conducts research in the field of AI with the stated goal of promo ...
, a non-profit company aimed at the safe development of
artificial general intelligence Artificial general intelligence (AGI) is the ability of an intelligent agent to understand or learn any intellectual task that a human being can. It is a primary goal of some artificial intelligence research and a common topic in science fictio ...
as well as the Ethics and Governance of Artificial Intelligence Fund, a joint venture between the MIT Media Lab and the Berkman Klein Centre for Internet and Society at Harvard University . He is also on the Board of HAI (Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence) at Stanford University whose mission is to "advance AI research, education, policy and practice to improve the human condition" and launched the Hoffman-Yee Research Grants to "fund interdisciplinary teams with research spanning HAI’s key areas of focus: understanding the human and societal impact of AI, augmenting human capabilities, and developing AI technologies inspired by human intelligence". In 2018 made a gift of to the University of Toronto's iSchool to endow a chair "to study how the new era of artificial intelligence (AI) will affect our lives.". Hoffman has also mentioned many times that when one must have Spiderman ethics as a tech leader - "With great power, comes great responsibility."


Diversity and Inclusion

To increase diversity and inclusion in the start-up ecosystem Hoffman is a donor and advocate for HimforHer, which aims to accelerate diversity on corporate boards and All Raise, whose goal is to create a tech culture where women are leading, shaping, and funding the future. He’s also the founding donor and long-time board member at Opportunity@Work, an organization that seeks to eliminate the opportunity gap and provide millions of highly skilled but under-credentialed Americans (often from marginalized, rural and racially diverse backgrounds) better pathways to higher-paying jobs and careers. On the hot button issue of the death penalty, Hoffman has also argued for its abolishment on moral grounds and because of racial biases and other instances of unequally applied justice. Hoffman is also a strong supporter of Shaka Senghor, the writer, mentor, and motivational speaker whose story of redemption after he was sent to jail for murder has inspired many to become more involved with criminal justice reform.


Politics

Since 2011 Hoffman is a member of the
Bilderberg Group The Bilderberg meeting (also known as the Bilderberg Group) is an annual off-the-record conference established in 1954 to foster dialogue between Europe and North America. The group's agenda, originally to prevent another world war, is now defi ...
, which gathers 120-150 North American and European "political leaders and experts from industry, finance, academia and the media" for an annual invitation-only closed-door conference. Since then he has attended every year with the exception of 2013. Hoffman is also listed as a member of the
Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...
, to which he was elected in 2015. In April 2013, a pro-immigration lobbying group called
FWD.us FWD.us is a 501(c)(4) pro-immigration lobbying group based in the United States that advocates for prison reform, status for undocumented immigrants, particularly for DACA recipients, and higher levels of immigration visas, particularly for H ...
was launched, with Reid Hoffman listed as one of the founders. In 2014, Hoffman donated $150,000 to the
Mayday PAC Mayday PAC is an American crowd-funded non-partisan Super PAC created by Harvard Law School professor and activist Lawrence Lessig. Its purpose is to help elect candidates to the Congress to pass campaign finance reform. It is notable for rai ...
. Also in 2014, Hoffman contributed $500,000 toward David Chiu's State Assembly campaign by funding an independent expenditure committee devoted to negative campaigning against his opponent: San Franciscans to Hold Campos Accountable — Vote No for Campos for State Assembly 2014. In 2016, Hoffman contributed $220,000 in support of Democratic candidate for Vermont governor
Matt Dunne Matt Dunne (born November 20, 1969) is an American politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Vermont. He served four terms in the Vermont House of Representatives, two terms in the Vermont State Senate, was the Democratic candidate in ...
, according to a mass-media disclosure filed at the Vermont Secretary of State's Office. In 2016, Hoffman created a card game modeled after
Cards Against Humanity ''Cards Against Humanity'' is an adult party game in which players complete fill-in-the-blank statements, using words or phrases typically deemed offensive, risqué, or politically incorrect, printed on playing cards. It has been compared to th ...
intended to poke fun at US presidential candidate
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of P ...
. In December 2018, the ''New York Times'' broke a story alleging that Hoffman had "put $100,000 into an experiment that adopted Russia-inspired political
disinformation Disinformation is false information deliberately spread to deceive people. It is sometimes confused with misinformation, which is false information but is not deliberate. The English word ''disinformation'' comes from the application of the ...
tactics on
Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dust ...
" during the 2017 special Senate race in Alabama, which allegedly targeted
Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as the 27th and 31st chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed fr ...
voters. Hoffman did not immediately respond. He apologized later that month, also stating he was unaware what the non-profit—Washington, D.C., based American Engagement Technologies, or AET—had been doing. In 2018, Hoffman helped fund Alloy, a company founded to legally exchange data with affiliated Democrat groups like super PACs. Hoffman supplied half of the 35 million dollars to start it. The company shut down in 2021 after failing to live up to its promise. Hoffman has been an outspoken proponent of democratic institutions and voting rights and in 2021 published a piece on LinkedIn entitled ''Protecting Voting Rights: Good for America, Good for American Business''. In this piece he discusses how "former American Express CEO Kenneth Chenault and Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier led corporate America to take an active role in this situation, by explicitly advocating for the rights of all American citizens to make their voices heard through the core democratic act of voting.". In 2020, Hoffman also penned a piece that argued for making Voting Day a holiday. Hoffman gave at least $500,000 to the Mainstream Democrats super PAC, which was founded in February 2022 and has since spent more than $1 million supporting the campaigns of moderate Democrats Henry Cuellar and
Kurt Schrader Walter Kurt Schrader (born October 19, 1951) is an American politician and veterinarian serving as the U.S. representative for since 2009. His district covered most of Oregon's central coast, plus Salem, and many of Portland's southern suburb ...
.


References


External links

* * * *
The Start-Up of You
book website
The Alliance
book website
Blitzscaling
book website
Hoffman’s Personal Web Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffman, Reid 1967 births Living people Alumni of Wolfson College, Oxford American billionaires American chairpersons of corporations American computer businesspeople American technology company founders American technology chief executives American technology writers American venture capitalists Apple Inc. employees Businesspeople from Berkeley, California Fujitsu people Honorary Commanders of the Order of the British Empire IronPort people PayPal people Writers from Berkeley, California People from Palo Alto, California Stanford University alumni Marshall Scholars 21st-century American businesspeople The Putney School alumni LinkedIn people Henry Crown Fellows Giving Pledgers 21st-century philanthropists New America (organization) Midas List