Attn Entrepreneurs: Mark Zuckerberg Isn’t the Role Model. Reid Hoffman Is.

I just happen to be reading the LinkedIn S1 filing[1] last night and was thinking the same thing while going through it - these guys have not been getting nearly enough credit for what they have created.<p>LinkedIn was generating revenue within a year of being founded, and its current numbers are just crazy: 1,100 employees, 102M members, 75M visitors, 7.1B pageviews last quarter, $93M in revenue last quarter and on track to do almost $400M in revenue this year. Look at the revenue growth: 2009: $120M, 2010: $243M. Over a billion invitations sent last year. 75% of the Fortune 100 using their professional services as part of recruiting, and they have already diversified to three separate and solid revenue streams.<p>They are not profitable but that is because they do not want to be - they have doubled investment in R&#38;D, development and marketing in the past 12 months. They still have plenty of room to expand, especially internationally.<p>I am not surprised that their target listing price has increased a number of times since the filing - they are on target to reach about $1B in revenue in 2012/13 and a market cap of $3B seemed low, it might still see a sharp first-week increase with the new list price.<p>Excellent return for the investors, who have only had to invest $103M[2] to date (Greylock, Sequoia, BVP and Kopelman). Not sure why they went with the NYSE over the NASDAQ, but this IPO could be a nice investment if you are looking for a tech IPO.<p>LinkedIn haven't nearly received the amount of coverage they deserve, it is a web 2.0 sleeper hit that went about building its business with little controversy, no huge news splash, no secondary market price surge, and no personality conflicts (at least not in public).<p>Edit: And not to forget, LinkedIn has made some excellent contributions to open source software, especially with Voldermont, their distributed kv store (I have used it in dev but not in production, it is pretty cool). If you are using Apache Lucene and/or Hadoop, checkout the LinkedIn projects.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1271024/000119312511131453/ds1a.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1271024/0001193125111...</a><p>[2] <a href="http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin" rel="nofollow">http://www.crunchbase.com/company/linkedin</a><p>[3] <a href="http://linkedin.github.com/" rel="nofollow">http://linkedin.github.com/</a><p>[4] <a href="http://project-voldemort.com/" rel="nofollow">http://project-voldemort.com/</a>

Usually these kinds of pieces say more about the author than they do about the people they're talking about. I mean, it's silly to think that one way to lead people is inherently better than another. Reid Hoffman simply has a different style than Mark Zuckerberg does. No more, no less.

Is it my lack of energy or the piece does not read well. I had to backtrack a few times to see what she's talking about.<p>Anyway, from the outside, it seems as both Zuck and Hoffman are both the quiet-doer personality that stays out of spotlight and would rather produce "goods". I like that. Their humility is what makes them role models.

Good on Sarah Lacy for highlighting one of the anonymous Silicon Valley soldiers like Reid Hoffman. He's been toiling away in obscurity for years now...

I'm not one for role models, but I'd pick the other "Reed" (Hastings) more as someone to emulate.

It takes years to build an overnight success.

The article uses "sexy/sexier" FIVE TIMES. I'm no mormon but what's that all about?

I must say that LinkedIn has done more good for me in the one year since I've signed up for it than Facebook has ever been.

The IPO is going to fare well. It's LinkedIn after all, most people have heard of it and many will want to get in, despite not knowing the revenues, because in this environment they are more worried about being left out.<p>Not a criticism, maybe the revenues will in fact justify the valuation, I don't know.

Interesting premise. Until I saw that it's a Sarah Lacy piece and promptly closed the tab.

The real question is, given the terrible performance of the RenRen IPO (which <i>was</i> hyped up lot), how will LinkedIn perform tomorrow? Anyone have a guess?

It's not an either/or thing.<p>Zukerberg/Hoffman, Facebook/LinkedIn.<p>Otherwise good article.

Yet neither of them have made the world a better place...

while both Zuckerberg and Hoffman should be emulated and commended for what they've done, I admire Zuckerberg more. He built his company from his own code, marketing, and hustle rather than relying on outside funding, and the echo chamber that was originally linkedin. While nothing should be taken away from companies like linkedin or quora or path, but how much of their success can be attributed to just being part of the echo chamber and knowing the right people. While it is a skill to be part of the right social circles.. Zuckerberg built success without it ( yes pre Sean Parker Facebook was quite successful). More startups today are probably in a closer to situation to Zuckerberg than Hoffman.