Reid Hoffman

Well, mostly as a function, again, like the role-playing games is like strategy, right? So it's kind of, you know, how do you kind of think about, like an adventure is both a narrative experience, but it's also a strategic experience. Like, you know, how do you save the town from the bandits, you know, that kind of thing. Mm-hmm.

And so it gave me a deep sense of kind of like how does strategy and tactics and problem solving and how do you do it as a group, right? Because, you know, in fantasy role-playing games, it tends to be, you know, especially when I was doing it as a kid, a set of blokes around the table. I hear it's now a little bit more gender balanced, which is good, and especially for the blokes.

It's like, oh, we're not just geeks by ourselves here, right? And... And so and the way that I got to doing this is I was enough because this is kind of the focused, you know, kind of kid I was is what I I'd heard that the Chaosium had their offices where we're down the street from a friend of mine's. And so I literally walked in the door and started hanging out at their office.

And they're the maker of this game. They're the maker of this game. The chief editor, I think, wanted to get me out of the office. So he said he handed me the in-development draft of this and said, here, go look at this. And so I took it home as an obsessive kid. I like redlined it. I worked my way through it. And I brought it back. Like he gave me a Friday and I brought it back on Monday.

So he failed on his get this kid out of the office mission, right? But he was then – and I still remember this look of vague irritation when I handed him this because he's like, oh, this kid is handing me this thing. Oh, fuck. I don't want to be a mean guy. And then he started looking at it and went – Oh, this is actually good work. And it was like, I want to use this work.

And I was a kid, so I didn't understand. He needed to pay me to use it. That wasn't why. I was just doing it because I wanted to show that I knew how to do this stuff. And so he then wrote me a check. So it was like my very first paycheck. to be able to use the work in the publication because this is how copyright, that means he then owns all the work that I did so he could publish it.

Yes.

Oh, it's like $160 or something. It's not bad for a 12-year-old. No, no, no. My dad was originally opposed to fantasy role-playing games. It was like, what are you doing? Like, you know, be on a path to a real life. And then when I brought home the paycheck, I was like, well, maybe that works.

Frankly, I had no idea other than the following entertaining thing, which is since both my mother and father are lawyers, when I was asked when I was 12 what I wanted to be when I grew up, the answer was not a lawyer. Really? Yes. Well, because lawyers, obviously a bunch of – or a barrister on the side of the pond –

Lawyers are essentially modern gladiators who are paid to be the gladiator of whatever their paycheck is, whether it's a client or whether it's being a full-time employee and so forth. And it's quality work. It's important for society. But I was like, no, no, I want to create things. I don't want to be a belt on my sword and go to verbal battle for whatever the contract or whatever.

or litigation or any of those things. And I was like, no, no, no, I actually want to go build things. And so I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up other than, and maybe I still don't know. But what I evolved to is I normally have about a two to three year plan that's iterating. And that tends to be what I do.

Silicon Valley is a network of a generative platform. So one of the things that I have learned to think about is networks amplify productivity. That's not just as we get to why it is. I conceptualized and founded LinkedIn. But it's think in terms of networks. It's one of the reasons why cities are such – Like basically, if you really look at economies, it's city regions.

And it's because the city region creates a network, right? It's a network of – it could be suppliers and all the rest, but also talent and capital and knowledge and communication and strategic lenses onto the world. And so Silicon Valley has been – like people go, oh, I'm a genius. It's like, no, no, I'm in Silicon Valley, right? And that really helps. And so being born in Stanford –

gave me this set of different, you know, kind of perspectives. One, technology is a lens into the future. Another one is, as an individual, you can go create a technology or a technology company that can be a lever that can move the world, right? And that an individual, you know, from anywhere can kind of do that. And all of those things were part of the luck of being born at Stanford. The luck.

Yes. Well, you don't choose where you're born. But a lot of people were born there and they didn't go on to do the things that you did. People like to tell stories of manifest destinates because I am great. I would have been great anywhere that I was, right? And it's self-delusional. I mean, yes, I think I'm smart. Yes, I think I'm hardworking. Yes, I think I'm strategic.

Yes, I think I have skills that are rare in human condition. But any great achievement also has luck. Right. And I can point it in any companies. I can point it at any individuals. And for example, one of the basic luck is like I had exposure and connection to Silicon Valley.

If I didn't have that, the technology destiny or the technology achievements I've done wouldn't have been able to do those or wouldn't have been able to do those the amazing way that I did them.

But, but you have to think so. Um, and I see you have a few of my books there. Um, My very first book, The Startup Review, which came from the commencement speech I gave at my high school, the Putney School in Vermont. Because I was like, what do I say to a bunch of 17-year-olds, right? And I was like, well, be the entrepreneur of your own life.

And what that means, there's a chapter in there that says the bad advice you're usually given is just follow your passion. And the problem is your passion might be very passionate, but do you have a strategic advantage there? Is that something you can do?

And so applying the rules of entrepreneurship, yes, of course you have to be passionate about what you're doing because if you're not passionate, you can never be world class unless you're passionate about what you're doing. But that's not the only thing. And so you look at, okay, what are the market realities? What's the market? What does the competition look like?