Title: The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career
Author: Reid Hoffman
First published January 1, 2012
274 pages, Kindle Edition
Rating: 3.82
Overview
In today’s rapidly evolving job market, it’s vital to stay ahead of the game. The Startup of You, co-authored by LinkedIn co-founder and chairman Reid Hoffman and author Ben Casnocha, presents a blueprint for thriving in your career by applying the lessons of Silicon Valley’s most innovative entrepreneurs.
This book is not about writing cover letters or resumes, but about managing your career like a startup business – one that is living, breathing, and growing. The authors show how to adapt your career plans, develop a competitive advantage, strengthen your professional network, and take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry changes.
The Startup of You is a revolutionary guide to thriving in today’s fractured world of work. Whether you work for a large corporation, a small business, or are launching your own venture, the strategies presented in this book will help you achieve your boldest professional ambitions and take control of your future.
About the Author
Meet Reid Hoffman, a Partner at Greylock and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at LinkedIn. Reid joined Greylock in 2009 and focuses on a variety of areas such as consumer Internet, mobile, social gaming, and online marketplaces. He enjoys working with products that have the potential to reach hundreds of millions of people and businesses that have network effects.
Reid is an accomplished entrepreneur, executive, and angel investor. He has played a pivotal role in building many of today’s leading consumer tech businesses, including PayPal and LinkedIn. His unique understanding of consumer behavior and viral businesses, paired with his experience in driving companies from early stages to explosive growth, make him a valuable asset to any team.
In 2003, Reid co-founded LinkedIn, which has since become the world’s largest professional networking service with over 63 million members across 200 countries. Under his leadership as CEO, LinkedIn became profitable.
Before LinkedIn, Reid was the executive vice president at PayPal and a founding board member. He was responsible for all external relationships, including payments infrastructure, business development, international, government, and legal.
Reid was instrumental in PayPal’s acquisition by eBay and responsible for partnerships with Intuit, Visa, MasterCard, and Wells Fargo.
Reid currently serves as a board observer at Airbnb, Gowalla, and Swipely, and is a director at Zynga, Mozilla Corp., Six Apart, Shopkick, and Kiva.org. He is also an angel investor in numerous influential internet companies, including Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart, and Zynga.
Reid holds a Master’s degree in Philosophy from Oxford University, where he was a Marshall Scholar, and a Bachelor’s degree in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University, where he graduated with distinction. In 2010, Reid received an SD Forum Visionary Award and was named a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute.
Editoral Review
The Startup of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career by Reid Hoffman is a self-help book that guides readers through the steps of building a successful career in the modern world. Published in 2012, Hoffman is the founder of LinkedIn, and brings his extensive experience in tech entrepreneurship to the advice he offers in this book.
The book is designed to provide readers with practical tips that will help them stay relevant, thrive amidst rapid technological change, and achieve career success. Hoffman argues that the traditional career path, where individuals enter a company and stay in the same role for years, is no longer the norm.
Hoffman stresses the importance of adapting to new technologies and developing a growth mindset that will allow readers to continually learn and expand their skill set. Through a series of actionable steps, Hoffman provides advice on everything from developing a personal brand to networking and building a strong LinkedIn profile.
Overall, the book is well-written, engaging, and filled with useful advice that is applicable to individuals at any stage in their career. One of the strengths of the book is its focus on entrepreneurship and the importance of taking innovative approaches to building a career.
One of the book’s limitations, however, is that it can sometimes feel overly prescriptive, offering one-size-fits-all advice that may not be relevant to every reader. Additionally, some of the advice given may feel easier said than done, particularly for individuals who lack the financial resources or social connections necessary to fully take advantage of certain opportunities.
Despite these limitations, The Startup of You is a worthwhile read for anyone looking to build a successful career in the modern world. Its emphasis on entrepreneurship and adaptability make it particularly relevant for individuals looking to build a career in the tech industry, but the advice applies more broadly as well.
Overall, I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to take control of their career and build a successful path forward. I give it a score of 4/5, taking into account its useful advice, engaging writing, and limitations in applying to readers of all backgrounds.
