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LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman explains his IPO jitters
"We think we could go public on our numbers," LInkedIn founder Reid Hoffman tells Tech Ticker's Sarah Lacy in a video interview (excerpted below). But the company, which just raised $53 million, won't IPO because it would rather reinvest its profits and because the U.S. public markets are too turbulent right now. Hoffman says LinkedIn will use the money in part to buy "good, small tech teams." In the clip, Hoffman says the race with Facebook toward an IPO isn't much of a race. It's more like, "No, you go first," he explains. Hoffman and his handpicked CEO, Dan Nye, shouldn't grow too cautious. Hoffman himself helped PayPal go public during the last downturn, so he knows a strong company can thrive in a poor market. But more importantly, for a professional's social network like LinkedIn, we can't imagine much better free marketing than the nonstop coverage CNBC would give consumer tech's first major IPO in years. More »
once you're lucky, twice you're good
L is for Levchin, who never goes slow
Max Levchin, the cofounder of PayPal and the CEO of Slide, measures nearly everything, down to the optimum price to pay for an engagement ring. If he needs a metric for self-importance, Once You're Lucky, Twice You're Good, Sarah Lacy's new book about Web 2.0, provides one. He occupies 78 out of 294 pages, more than anyone else. Here are the index pages for "F" through "M": More »
barney pell
Powerset's Wikipedia search can't answer our "natural language" search
Let's ignore the fact that Powerset's core technology is only licensed from Xerox PARC. Even then, we're disappointed in today's public debut from publicity-ridden search engine Powerset. Cofounders Barney Pell and Steve Newcomb intended to create a "natural language" search engine that allowed users to phrase search queries in the way they speak. But after informing its search by trolling Wikipedia, Powerset couldn't even answer our one most important question: "Which Powerset executive slept with another's wife?" Powerset's answer: LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. No offense, Reid, but we're almost certain that's not correct.
michael arrington
Self-important blogger fails to catch ride on Google party plane
TechCrunch's Michael Arrington tried and failed to score a ride from Davos back to California on the Google plane. No surprise, since the plane — owned by Larry Page, Sergey Brin, and Eric Schmidt, not the company they run — only seats 25 people.I've heard that Tim O'Reilly, Mitch Kapor, Reid Hoffman and Mark Zuckerberg will be on that flight. Basically, every Davos attendee from the Bay Area except me managed to hitch a ride back with Google.Mike, they did you a favor: Could you ever claim to cover Google as an independent journalist if its founders put you on that flight? Have some dignity. Instead of whining about having to ride Swiss back, as you did, Jason Calacanis would have chartered his own jet. (Photo by Brian Solis)
ipo
LinkedIn chairman hints at IPO in 2009
LinkedIn is off the block, cofounder Reid Hoffman told the Sydney Morning Herald. "We have had (buyout) conversations with all the usual suspects, but I think an IPO is by far and away the most likely outcome," Hoffman said. He suggested, however, that such a public offering might not happen for at least another year or two. One ex-LinkedIn exec said that's much too long a wait.More »
zynga
VCs sink big money into spammy Facebook games
The first gold-rush miners to make any money during the 1840s were the ones who stopped digging and started selling shovels, according to Timesman Brad Stone. Today a similar operation from Mark Pincus, Tribe.net founder and early Facebook investor, announced $10 million in funding from Union Square Ventures, Peter Thiel, Reid Hoffman, and Bob Pittman.More »
nerdspotting
The Lobby's leisurely entrepreneurs
While other startup founders have to stay home and, you know, work, these guys have the time and the spare $3,000 to spend hanging out at a zero-agenda conference in Hawaii. (For the record, we're jealous.) Spotted in Yahoo executive Bradley Horowitz's Flickr stream: Benchmark entrepreneur-in-waiting Nirav Tolia; "stepped-up" LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman; FeedBurner founder Dick Costolo, who's rolling in Googlebucks; Linden Lab CEO Philip Rosedale; Evan Williams from Twitter; Mashery's Oren Michels; andKevin Rose (and his new haircut) from Digg with Joshua Schachter from the Yahoo-owned Del.icio.us. One question: Is this really Meebo CEO Seth Sternberg? I don't recognize him looking so unnerdly. (Photo by: bradley23)
mark zuckerberg
Facebook CEO hates face time
At 23, Mark Zuckerberg is already a conference-circuit regular — seen at last month's TechCrunch40 and again at this month's Web 2.0 Summit. But even fans ding Zuck's presence as dull, wooden and robotic. Is he shy? Nah, "He just doesn't care," says a coworker. Despite his current heavy rotation in the media, he only takes the stage when he's told it's a boost for the company. Don't believe it? Zuckerberg's not even scheduled to appear at the Facebook-themed Graphing Social Patterns conference on Sunday in San Jose. The kickoff keynote will be delivered by LinkedIn's more entertaining founder, Reid Hoffman. Aw come on, Mark. After the look-at-me antics and vain false modesty of the tech industry's quasi-celebrities, it'd be a soul-cleansing relief to come watch you stare at your
reid hoffman
Shanghaied LinkedIn founder misses a photo shoot
Valleywag hears that LinkedIn, which has largely missed out on the social-networking buzz, is getting ready for its closeup. Employees were getting lensed today at a photo shoot, which is usually a sign that a company's about to get the cover treatment, or at least a major feature story, from a big business publication. Missing at the shoot, however, was LinkedIn founder and president of products Reid Hoffman, who recently stepped out of the LinkedIn CEO chair. Hoffman, a tipster says, is away in Shanghai, with friend Joi Ito, the Six Apart backer pictured here to his right, purportedly looking for new startups to invest in.
hires
Ross Mayfield out as Socialtext CEO
What to make of Ross Mayfield's open call for an executive to replace him as CEO of Socialtext, the wiki-software startup? When a founder leaves the CEO role, venture capitalist Fred Wilson has argued, we should say that he's "stepping up," not "stepping down," citing the example of LinkedIn chairman Reid Hoffman. But Mayfield wants to stay on as the company's president, a position of lower rank. It's perhaps a sign of humility that Mayfield would step down to being president. But he'll also stay on as chairman — which would make him simultaneously the new CEO's direct report and boss. It's odd that Mayfield would search openly for a CEO, rather than just announce a replacement once he's identified one. But perhaps Mayfield's murky new role is discouraging candidates. Until he decides whether he's stepping up or stepping down, Socialtext's top spot is one no would would want to step into.
silicon valley users guide
A guide to Palo Alto hotspots
I found myself at home in Palo Alto the other day, involuntarily offline thanks to a wonky broadband connection. So I headed to Coupa Cafe to get caffeine and log onto its Wi-Fi hotspot. And, just maybe, overhear an entrepreneur and venture capitalist doing the Sand Hill Road mating dance. Greylock's David Sze likes to hold meetings there, as does LinkedIn founder and angel investor Reid Hoffman. But it's gotten so popular and so packed, that I wasn't able to find an empty outlet — let alone a seat. What to do? More »
12:38 AM on Thu Jul 19 2007
By Megan McCarthy
3,207 views,
5 comments
Latest by jdhouse4: Great bar and restaurant is Zibibbo's, right around the corner from the Apple Store. One night while eating dinner with some friends we overheard a pretty heated argument of some current/past VC's over Steve Jobs and Apple. One person was more »
business 2.0
Facebook to the rescue!
Fans of Time Inc. tech title Business 2.0 have taken the bold step of starting a Facebook group to show their support for the troubled publication. So far, the group has amassed over 50 members, including Business 2.0 editor Josh Quittner, Quittner's wife, New York Times columnist Michelle Slatalla, Gizmodo editor Brian Lam, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington, and LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman. Oh, and former Business 2.0 editor and my new boss Owen Thomas. Let's hope this roster of Valley luminaries is more effective than other futile Facebook groups, such as the 29,359 people who believe strongly in removing the "is" from the Facebook status message.
linkedin
