Reid Hoffman

An accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and investor, Reid has played an integral role in building many of today’s leading consumer technology businesses, including LinkedIn and PayPal. He possesses as unique understanding of consumer behavior and the dynamics of viral businesses as well as deep experience in driving companies from the earliest stages through periods of explosive, “blitzscale” growth.

Reid co-founded LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional networking service, in 2003. LinkedIn is thriving with more than 400 million members around the world and a diversified revenue model that includes subscriptions, advertising, and software licensing. He led LinkedIn through its first four years and to profitability at Chief Executive Officer.

Prior to LinkedIn, Reid served as executive vice president at PayPal, where he was also a founding board member.

Reid joined Greylock Partners in 2009. He focuses on building products that can reach hundreds of millions of participants and businesses that have network effects. He currently serves on the boards of Airbnb, Edmodo, Xapo, LinkedIn, and a few early stage companies still in stealth. In addition, he serves on a number of not-for-profit boards, including Kiva, Mozilla Corporation, Endeavor, and Do Something. Prior to joining Greylock, he angel invested in many influential internet companies, including Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, and Zynga.

Reid is the co-author of two New York Times best-selling books: The Start-up of You and The Alliance. His next book is focused on “blitzscaling”, based on his Stanford course of the same name.

Reid earned a master’s degree in philosophy from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor’s degree with distinction in symbolic systems from Stanford University. In 2010, he was a recipient of an SD Forum Visionary Award and named a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute. In 2012, he was honored by the Martin Luther King Center’s Salute to Greatness Award. Also in 2012, he received the David Packard Medal of Achievement from TechAmerica and an honorary doctor of law from Babson University.