Founder of LinkedIn: entrepreneurs both insist and be flexible, both are indispensable

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LinkedIn is the world's largest professional social network, and its founder, Reid Hoffman, is a famous serial entrepreneur and angel investor. In his exchange with the economic Observer, Hoffman talked about the prospects of Web3.0, social networking, and his investment philosophy. The summary of the interview is as follows:

Q: What are your expectations for LinkedIn in the Web3.0 era?

A: If Web1.0 is based on search, Web2.0 is the real user identity and social relationship, and Web3.0 is the real identity and the huge data generated by the relationship. Data is the key and challenge for the next round of Internet industry opportunities. I think LinkedIn has an important role to play. Of course, some people think that Web3.0 is based on video, some people think based on mobile phones. I think it makes sense.

Q: As a senior investor, how do you judge the value of an entrepreneurial team and its products?

A: The judgment on investment is more art than science. First of all you have to see whether this matter can have a great impact on the world, if you are, you have to see whether these people can do this thing. People often use no more than 7 mobile phones, if your product can become one of them, it is worth investing.

Q: The product is too avantgarde will give users a sense of distance, too old-fashioned and annoying. How do you manage the relationship between product upgrades and user needs?

A: Creative people tend to become artists, trapped in their own world, which is very dangerous. If you have a clear goal in mind, you will not be disturbed by the needs of the users. In the early days of LinkedIn, for example, Facebook and Friendster were opening up features such as photo-sharing and online gaming to lure users, but we refused to be tempted to do so. When you do not know whether your ideas can ultimately achieve the desired effect, you must maintain an open vision, and to continue to learn, timely adjustment.

Q: How do entrepreneurs judge whether adjustments need to be made?

A: Entrepreneurs need to be confident, but never conceited. Keep using your data to verify your assumptions. In other words, be both insistent and flexible. In fact, the two are indispensable. Hold on, ask you to see the road ahead; be flexible and decide that you can learn from others and know how the market works. The final decision is still in your hands and needs to be judged and measured by yourself. As far as LinkedIn is concerned, I have never doubted its pattern, but I have made adjustments.

In addition, in order to grasp the general direction correctly, you'd better base yourself on the frontier of a great change rather than the rear, which is the experience of the technology industry. But when it's time to make changes it's a matter of art and science that requires us to combine our intuition with the feedback or data that we can collect.

Q: What do you think about the future development of SNS? For example, Facebook.

A: People tend to come to the conclusion that the old will decay and the new things will flourish, but this conclusion is often incorrect. I believe that social networking is an integral part of people's lives, so I've been investing in social networks, including Facebook and LinkedIn. I don't agree with the idea of a Facebook failure. In fact, I'm a long-term holder of Facebook stock.