Reid Hoffman

Much better to start the conversation when you're not saying, give me money. So as much as you can in all of these things, start the conversation well before you're getting to a potential contract. of any sort, a partnership or an investment or even an employment contract. Like, so for example, always be recruiting doesn't mean, oh, I want to hire you right now. It's like, okay, find great talent.

Much better to start the conversation when you're not saying, give me money. So as much as you can in all of these things, start the conversation well before you're getting to a potential contract. of any sort, a partnership or an investment or even an employment contract. Like, so for example, always be recruiting doesn't mean, oh, I want to hire you right now. It's like, okay, find great talent.

This is one of the things I learned from SocialNet and brought into PayPal. Find great talent and start talking to them, right? Even if today you don't have the right position to hire them, right? Now, obviously, there's a whole bunch of great talent. You could waste a whole bunch of time. You want to be talking to people that

This is one of the things I learned from SocialNet and brought into PayPal. Find great talent and start talking to them, right? Even if today you don't have the right position to hire them, right? Now, obviously, there's a whole bunch of great talent. You could waste a whole bunch of time. You want to be talking to people that

You either really would love them to join at some point, not too distant future, or they know other people who would be like that. Because, by the way, part of when you meet great talent, you realize how to – because you're always adding new great talent. You're like, oh, my God, we need people like this. How do we bring them in? So, for example –

You either really would love them to join at some point, not too distant future, or they know other people who would be like that. Because, by the way, part of when you meet great talent, you realize how to – because you're always adding new great talent. You're like, oh, my God, we need people like this. How do we bring them in? So, for example –

one of the things I learned that was, you know, from SocialNet that I brought to PayPal was that SocialNet, I was trying to hire people who had 10 plus years experience doing the thing that we were hiring them to do before. Because the classic kind of wisdom that you get from business schools is make sure they have experience on their CV. Look, they have to be able to do the job, right?

one of the things I learned that was, you know, from SocialNet that I brought to PayPal was that SocialNet, I was trying to hire people who had 10 plus years experience doing the thing that we were hiring them to do before. Because the classic kind of wisdom that you get from business schools is make sure they have experience on their CV. Look, they have to be able to do the job, right?

No question. But if you said two years of experience and an insane learning curve, That's much better.

No question. But if you said two years of experience and an insane learning curve, That's much better.

Yes.

Yes.

And learning on the job and going and figuring it out. And so when I went to PayPal, and when the company was founded, I was on the board of directors. I was like, this is what you're looking for, not this.

And learning on the job and going and figuring it out. And so when I went to PayPal, and when the company was founded, I was on the board of directors. I was like, this is what you're looking for, not this.

Right? And so back to your PayPal mafia question, that's because we hired those kind of people.

Right? And so back to your PayPal mafia question, that's because we hired those kind of people.

There was a very limited set of people in the company who had had more than a couple years' experience working within payments, within banking, within, you know, because it was the, I don't know, learning curve.

There was a very limited set of people in the company who had had more than a couple years' experience working within payments, within banking, within, you know, because it was the, I don't know, learning curve.

Yes. A proxy for a founder, if you're not spending a third of your time hiring, you're very much under delivering. This is the thing. It's like, look, life is a team sport. Companies are team sports, right? If you could just do it yourself, you wouldn't hire anybody. No, you're hiring people. So like you say, well, I've got a really good, let's use a European football analogy.

Yes. A proxy for a founder, if you're not spending a third of your time hiring, you're very much under delivering. This is the thing. It's like, look, life is a team sport. Companies are team sports, right? If you could just do it yourself, you wouldn't hire anybody. No, you're hiring people. So like you say, well, I've got a really good, let's use a European football analogy.