Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn and helped build a generation of technology companies, from PayPal and Airbnb to OpenAI. Today, he is applying that experience to artificial intelligence as an entrepreneur, investor and co-founder of Manas AI.
Reid Hoffman explores how technology can change the way people connect, work and build. LinkedIn was his biggest bet on that idea.
When Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in 2003, professional networking online was still in its early days. He knew LinkedIn would become more useful as its network grew. It eventually reached more than one billion members before Microsoft acquired it for $26.2 billion in 2016.
The road to LinkedIn was not straightforward. Hoffman had already founded SocialNet, an early social networking company that failed. He then joined PayPal, becoming an early executive and helping the company scale before its acquisition by eBay. Those experiences gave him a close view of both the risks of building a startup and what it takes to find a model that can grow.
That experience followed him into venture capital. Reid Hoffman joined Greylock in 2009 and went on to back companies including Airbnb, Facebook, Aurora and OpenAI. He became particularly interested in businesses that could grow rapidly as their networks expanded. He later gave that approach a name, “blitzscaling”, which became the subject of his 2018 book with Chris Yeh.
Today, artificial intelligence is the main focus of his work. Hoffman co-founded Inflection AI in 2022, which built Pi around the idea of more personal, human-centred AI. In 2025, he co-founded Manas AI with cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee. The company uses AI, computational science and biology to discover and develop new medicines.
Reid Hoffman’s interest in AI extends beyond the technology itself. In Superagency, he explores how AI could give people greater ability to create, make decisions and solve problems. His focus is not simply on what AI can automate, but on what people might be able to do with it.
Hoffman has built one of the internet’s most defining companies, backed many of its biggest successes and is now applying that experience to AI.
Reid Hoffman
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Reid Hoffman explores how technology can change the way people connect, work and build. LinkedIn was his biggest bet on that idea.
When Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in 2003, professional networking online was still in its early days. He knew LinkedIn would become more useful as its network grew. It eventually reached more than one billion members before Microsoft acquired it for $26.2 billion in 2016.
The road to LinkedIn was not straightforward. Hoffman had already founded SocialNet, an early social networking company that failed. He then joined PayPal, becoming an early executive and helping the company scale before its acquisition by eBay. Those experiences gave him a close view of both the risks of building a startup and what it takes to find a model that can grow.
That experience followed him into venture capital. Reid Hoffman joined Greylock in 2009 and went on to back companies including Airbnb, Facebook, Aurora and OpenAI. He became particularly interested in businesses that could grow rapidly as their networks expanded. He later gave that approach a name, “blitzscaling”, which became the subject of his 2018 book with Chris Yeh.
Today, artificial intelligence is the main focus of his work. Hoffman co-founded Inflection AI in 2022, which built Pi around the idea of more personal, human-centred AI. In 2025, he co-founded Manas AI with cancer researcher Siddhartha Mukherjee. The company uses AI, computational science and biology to discover and develop new medicines.
Reid Hoffman’s interest in AI extends beyond the technology itself. In Superagency, he explores how AI could give people greater ability to create, make decisions and solve problems. His focus is not simply on what AI can automate, but on what people might be able to do with it.
Hoffman has built one of the internet’s most defining companies, backed many of its biggest successes and is now applying that experience to AI.
Books
Superagency
What Could Possibly Go Right with Our AI Future
Masters of Scale
Surprising Truths From the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs
The Startup of You
Adapt, Take Risks, Grow Your Network, and Transform Your Career
Articles & Videos
The Diary of CEO Podcast
Reid Hoffman on AI and entrepreneurship
Double Your Income With AI
Reid Hoffman's 3-level framework for using AI
AI, Trump and the Future of Technology
Technology as a tool, Trump's America and his rift with Tesla founder Elon Musk
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