Reid Hoffman
reidhoffman.org · Personal blog · on HN since 2013
Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn co-founder and investor, writes about startup pitching, hiring executives, and networks.
What HN saysHN links it for the LinkedIn Series B pitch deck to Greylock; a commenter notes LinkedIn lacked market leadership, organic growth, and revenue at that point.
16HN people shared it
3linked it in comments
15stories submitted
244story points
7 years agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1LinkedIn's Series B Pitch to Greylock: Pitch Advice for Entrepreneurs9 people · 162 points · first shared 2013 · 22 comments on HN
- 2If, Why, and How Founders Should Hire a “Professional” CEO1 people · 64 points · first shared 2013 · 11 comments on HN
- 3What Reid Hoffman wish he knew before pitching LinkedIn1 people · 4 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 4What I Wish I Knew Before Pitching LinkedIn to VCs1 people · 4 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
- 5The Information Age to the Networked Age: Are You Network Literate?1 people · 3 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 6Reid Hoffman: Shape Your Identity or It Will Shape You1 people · 2 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 7If, Why, and How Founders Should Hire a “Professional” CEO1 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 8Will Software Eliminate Physical Retail? Not Quite.1 people · 1 points · first shared 2013 · discussion on HN
- 9The World’s Bank: How Crowdfunding is Disrupting Old Banking1 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 10The Alliance: A Visual Summary1 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
heshamg · 2016-10-15
Here's a link to the deck Reid talked about
http://reidhoffman.org/linkedin-pitch-to-greylock/
firloop · 2016-02-15
Better link on Reid's website: http://reidhoffman.org/linkedin-pitch-to-greylock/
w1ntermute · 2016-02-15
Well, if you look at the notes on Reid's site[0], he says
> 1. we weren’t the natural leader of a market or technology trend that everyone was paying attention to,
> 2. we didn’t have substantial organic growth, and
> 3. we had no revenue.
It sounds like LinkedIn really did need that money. Reid was still able to raise a B round from Greylock probably because he was a known quantity from his PayPal days, and because Sequoia led the A round. The bigger lesson here is that much of the advice given by prominent Silicon Valley investors and entrepreneurs often doesn't apply to the rest of us, because we're not in the positions of privilege that they are.
If I were a repeat entrepreneur with a moderately successful exit, a current exec at AmaGooFaceSoft, or participating in YC, I would devour all the advice these people are offering. Otherwise, it's useless. Forget about an actual pitch, you're probably not even going to get a 5 minute phone call with a partner at Greylock. Why would you expend any time or energy on preparing in advance for such an unlikely event? You're much better off spending your time figuring out how to generate and grow revenue and profit (what running a business is actually about).
0: http://reidhoffman.org/linkedin-pitch-to-greylock/