'Startup game is intense, if you don't...', LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman shares success mantra, warns founders against THIS

Since the pandemic, the world has been trying to maintain a balance between work and personal life, which has led many founders and top industry leaders to spark a debate around dedicating extra hours to succeed in professional life. However, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman statement’s statement aptly resonates with the current work culture that demands revolutionary visions by companies to move along the advancements in tech and AI revolution.  

In a podcast last year, Hoffman revealed that in the early days of founding LinkedIn, employees were asked to work from home after the office but only after they had dinner with their family. “When we started LinkedIn, we started with people who had families. So, we said, sure, go home have dinner with your family. Then, after dinner with your family, open up your laptop and get back in the shared work experience and keep working,” Hoffman said.  

Reid Hoffman’s startup success mantra  

Reid Hoffman’s vision regarding professionalism comes from his experience as a founder whose dedicated approach to work made it possible to build the company. He staunchly believes that a mindset of constant work is the utmost requirement for success. Talking at Stanford University during ‘How to Start a Startup’ in 2014, he said, “If I ever hear a founder talking about, 'this is how I have a balanced life'—they're not committed to winning.” 

Maintaining his views amid the growing discussion over worklife balance and wellness, the LinkedIn founder on the Diary of a CEO podcast said, “Work-life balance is not the start-up game.” Reid has a strong defence against critics as he said that people with disagreement with his point fail to understand the reality of startups. "The people that think that's toxic don't understand the start-up game, and they're just wrong," he said. “The game is intense. And by the way, if you don't do that, eventually, you're out of a job.”  

For those who continue to work relentlessly and dedicatedly, he said receives financial rewards. Giving an example for this, he said that nearly 100 LinkedIn employees, who joined the company in its early stage, “don't need to work anymore” after the success the company is witnessing.  

Tech giant Microsoft acquired the social networking platform for businesses and professionals in 2016 in a USD 26.2 billion (Rs 2,233,551,111,100) deal.