In the past, a person might be confined to only a few connections within their local network, but with the advent of the internet, things are drastically different. The book is focused on the importance of networking and how important accessible contacts are.

Hoffman’s book, The Start-Up of You, suggests that people should treat themselves as individual businesses. Beyond those legendary decisions, Hoffman has invested in Airbnb,, Xapo, Flickr, Digg,, and numerous other major online companies. For example, Hoffman was one of the first investors in Facebook when the company was going through its first rounds of financing. Since that time he has gone on to be one of the most prolific venture capitalists in California. Hoffman got his start as the COO of Paypal in 2000. His current net worth is nearly three billion dollars, and he has started and grown numerous successful businesses. Hoffman is a famous Silicon Valley billionaire who co-founded LinkedIn.

In this week’s episode, Preston and Stig discuss what they learned from reading Reid Hoffman’s book, The Start-up of You.

Reid hoffman book