Start-Up of You

"The Start-Up of You" by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha is a career guide that urges individuals to approach their careers with an entrepreneurial mindset. It emphasizes adaptability, continuous learning, building a strong network, and taking calculated risks. The book encourages readers to take ownership of their career trajectory and create their own opportunities in a rapidly changing professional landscape.

Reid Hoffman is an American Internet entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and author. He is the cofounder of Linkedin. He is currently a partner at venture capital firm, Greylock Partners.

He is on Forbes list of world’s billionaires with a net worth of 1.8 billion. He graduated from Stanford University in 1990 with a degree in Symbolic Systems and Cognitive Science. He won the Marshall Scholarship. He earned with an M.St in Philosophy from Wolfson College, Oxford University in 1993 as a Marshall Scholar. He was a member of the board of directors during the founding of PayPal. He left SocialNet to become Paypal’s full-time COO. There, he was responsible for Paypal’s external relations, including payments infrastructure, business development, government, and legal. When EBay acquired PayPal, Reid acted as executive vice president.

During the first four years, Reid was Linkedin’s founding CEO. He then became chairman and president of products in 2007. Microsoft acquired Linkedin in 2016, and Reid because a Microsoft board member in 2017.

Reid acts as one of Silicon Valley’s most prolific angel investors. He invested in Facebook’s first round and also invested in Airbnb as well as other renowned companies.

Reid is a frequent lecturer at Stanford University, Oxford University and Harvard University.