Success takes time: the Reid Hoffman story

Who do you think of when you hear the term “social media guru”?

Probably individuals like Mark Zuckerburg, Jack Dorsey and Sean Parker, right?

Don’t forget to add LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman to the list. He might not be a millennial, but he’s found a way to make social media relevant for business professionals and in turn, has built one of the most successful B2B marketing and thought sharing platforms of the 21st Century. Hoffman’s journey to social media stardom wasn’t as obvious as some of those who we’ve already mentioned.

Reid Hoffman graduated from Stanford in 1990 at the age of 23. There, he decided that one day he would like to do something that would make an impact on the world.

However, that was easier said than done. For the next 15 years, Hoffman tried his hand at a variety of different professions. During the mid-90s, Hoffman worked for eWorld and Fujitsu before founding his first company, SocialNet.com in 1997. SocialNet was one of the very first social networks, and while it was groundbreaking didn’t receive much traction.

Hoffman moved onto assisting with a burgeoning tech company called PayPal. There, he moved his way up the ranks, becoming Vice President by the time PayPal was bought by eBay in 2002. Three years later, at the age of 35 he decided to co-found LinkedIn. By 2016, just 11 years after its launch, LinkedIn was purchased by Microsoft for $26.2 billion.

Not bad for a wanderer who was determined to make a lasting impact.