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This book is not just for wannabe entrepreneurs or business owners, but for anyone who aspires to leadership roles or in product development or intrapreneurs. Brilliant insights into how to take feedback for ideas, raise money and create a culture of innovation in your team (or company).
Amazing book - must read! I I had been dying to read this book since I love Reid Hoffman's strategic thinking and leadership advice and also follow his blog. Super thrilled to receive my approval from NetGalley!
This book is not just for wannabe entrepreneurs or business owners, but for anyone who aspires to leadership roles or in product development or intrapreneurs. Brilliant insights into how to take feedback for ideas, raise money and create a culture of innovation in your team (or company).
Amazing book - must read! I wish universities would make it mandatory reading material for MBA classes and entrepreneur courses! ...more
Honestly, if you know the author's podcast (Master of Scale), you know what to expect - each chapter (/story) illustrates a concept (cultural, product-related, growth-related, etc.) and it's based on some piece of individ
There are books about startups that are aimed to inspire you. There are chronicles of a particular startup story. And finally, there are practical ones, that share the 'technical' details of how to run a startup. "MoS" belongs to the 1st category and it does its job really well.Honestly, if you know the author's podcast (Master of Scale), you know what to expect - each chapter (/story) illustrates a concept (cultural, product-related, growth-related, etc.) and it's based on some piece of individual's/startup's history, peppered with fragments of interview recording (from the actual podcast episode).
It's approachable, comprehensible, and covers very different angles (that's why it sometimes feels a bit chaotic), but it's definitely fun to read (or even better - listen to, as an audiobook). It's definitely less practical than (frequently quoted) "Blitzscaling", but it's understandable.
What didn't I like? TBH none of the stories had a "wow effect" on me - maybe it's because I was already familiar with many of those anecdotes (or whole companies), maybe because I "breathe" startups on a daily basis. But even w/o that effect, it's well-deserved 4 stars.
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≥You don't need a particular degree or skills to thrive as an entrepreneur; you need the correct mentality.
≥When you cultivate loyalty among a small number of endorsers, you create a narrow but deep wedge that serves as a firm foundation for growth.
≥This poses an almost Zen-like riddle for entrepreneurs: The first step to scale is to renounce your desire to scale.
≥An idea is at its most vulnerabl
Rapid decisions are what's needs to be done if you're want to survive ever changing fast paced market≥You don't need a particular degree or skills to thrive as an entrepreneur; you need the correct mentality.
≥When you cultivate loyalty among a small number of endorsers, you create a narrow but deep wedge that serves as a firm foundation for growth.
≥This poses an almost Zen-like riddle for entrepreneurs: The first step to scale is to renounce your desire to scale.
≥An idea is at its most vulnerable in its infancy.
≥Sometimes, like a rose from concrete, a tremendous idea emerges from adversity. Simply put, resistance generates friction, which causes sparks.
≥It's better to have one hundred users who love you than a million users who just kind of like you.
≥Great entrepreneurs understand that not every idea will succeed. However, even if your initial concept doesn't take off, it can simply put you on the path to your next big idea.
≥The idea of the lone genius is one of the most pervasive and detrimental fallacies in business today. We tend to tell heroic stories about creativity, a narrative about a single inventor: the creator, the founder. A genius comes up with a brilliant idea, and everyone else is in charge of putting the plan into action. Then everyone waits for the genius to come up with another brilliant idea.
≥Big ideas are often based on formative experiences from your past. You never know exactly what parts of your past will come together to complete that puzzle and be a product that you want to build for the world.
≥When you're beginning a business, the first individuals you recruit aren't simply employees; they're also your cultural co-founders. Their abilities and competencies will decide what your firm can achieve and who it can be. Those initial workers determine the DNA of your firm, as well as its culture.
≥If you're the creator of a company, you're like a master distiller, in charge of selecting the perfect balance of ingredients to expand your business and hiring the people who make up the soul of your culture.
≥It is nice to have the right people on your bus, but it is even more critical to keep the wrong people off your bus.
≥There's also a role for active decision-making in a company's organizational culture. They educate you to make quick judgments over and over again in aviation: Decide. Decide. Decide. It's preferable to make a choice and then live with the consequences
≥To gain quick feedback, be willing to regularly share your faulty work-in-progress with the outside world from early on.
≥Many leaders have learned that the best way to get to know their customers is to listen to them: 1. Conduct a survey. 2. Hold focus groups with them. 3. Examine their online reviews, social media posts, and incoming emails.
≥It's simple to destroy a failing product; it's considerably more difficult to terminate one that has the potential to scale.
≥I believe you're not just responsible for scaling your world-changing idea. You're also responsible for stewarding its development and wider use.
≥• Recognize that business conditions are constantly shifting.
• Start quickly, but don't overwork yourself.
• Rapid decision-making is essential for rapid growth.
• Allow the flames to burn. When running a fast-growing business, you must keep pushing forward.
• Ensure there is enough money left over to cover a Plan B and try new things.
• Consider an investor to be a later-stage co-founder — someone who knows you and your company's mission.
Some standouts:
- Types of no: lazy, squirmy, affirmative, honest and unhelpful
- success can come when you have nothing to lose: you're broke or lost everything - and take risks
- company cultures built on process vs. scaling (ex: Netflix prefers independent thinkers to do what's best for co.)
- cultural fit vs. cultural growth: hire for th
Some standouts:
- Types of no: lazy, squirmy, affirmative, honest and unhelpful
- success can come when you have nothing to lose: you're broke or lost everything - and take risks
- company cultures built on process vs. scaling (ex: Netflix prefers independent thinkers to do what's best for co.)
- cultural fit vs. cultural growth: hire for the latter
- Trust what users do vs. what they say they want (ex: yahoo search results 30 vs. the 10 they actually looked at)
- it's not about the latte (customer service advice from Eventbrite ceo who was a barista w angry customer)
May even want to read it again! 😅
And here's some more actionable advice:
Imagine the eleven-star experience.
To brainstorm the absolute best iteration of your product or service, think about what an eleven-star version of it might be – that is, something beyond the best. For example, a hotelier might i
Scaling up can be an exciting and adventurous time in a young company's life, but it can be challenging too. By intentionally creating a positive culture under stellar leadership, a startup can go from promising to a household name.And here's some more actionable advice:
Imagine the eleven-star experience.
To brainstorm the absolute best iteration of your product or service, think about what an eleven-star version of it might be – that is, something beyond the best. For example, a hotelier might imagine picking up guests in antique cars or meeting them with a string quartet. Now work backward from that until you find the sweet spot between impossible and better than ever previously imagined.
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Scaling up too quickly can be risky – but moving too slowly can starve your company.
Designer Tory Burch wanted to launch her retail store in New York City during Fashion Week. She had customers, friends and family, media, and a brand-new collection of exciting clothes. There was just one problem. She had no doors to open. The bright orange door that she had custom-designed hadn't arrived.
She had to make a choice. Should she hold off on the opening until everything was perfect, or should she let the hoards in through the empty doorway?
Burch picked the second option. The day was an astounding success, indicative of the accolades her brand would go on to garner.
The key message here is: Scaling up too quickly can be risky – but moving too slowly can starve your company.
Choosing when to launch might be one of the trickiest decisions an entrepreneur has to make. Jump too early, and you may lose potential customers by rolling out an unfinished, unimpressive product that didn't have time to mature into its potential. But wait too long, and momentum stalls – causing potential customers to wander elsewhere and competitors to get ahead of you.
Business does not take place in a static environment. Things change every minute. An effective leader monitors these changes to gauge when to be patient and when to strike. The true masters of this game are able to strike so fast that they achieve "escape velocity," leaving competitors in the dust.
PayPal founder Peter Thiel's rapid growth technique was to pay his initial customers $10 for referring others. Thiel's tactic worked, but that kind of rapid growth can come at a steep price and with an often messy aftermath.
In the flush of first success, you rarely think about the morning after. You may wake up to some fairly big fires – but let them burn. When you're a young and lean company, you can also be nimble. Stalling will only choke your momentum.
That being said, not all fires are equal. You'll need to prioritize which ones get your attention: any problem with the core product or company culture should come before, say, that fancy office upgrade.
If you scale up and find yourself facing a big problem right away, ask yourself whether the issue could kill your business. If there's a significant possibility that it could, stop and attend to it.
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When scaling up, respond to what your customers do rather than say.
You know how your English teacher always said to show, not tell? Well, following that well-worn piece of advice can help give you a leg up in the world of scaling a startup.
Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook exclusively for Harvard students. When he announced that he would extend it to Yale, Princeton, and other schools, the initial users expressed their dismay – but it didn't stop them from using, and growing, the service.
Though they said they wanted exclusivity, Facebook users were actually more inclined to stay on when the network expanded.
The key message here is: When scaling up, respond to what your customers do rather than say.
Fashionistas claimed they loved designer Jason Wu after Michelle Obama wore his clothes. However, Jennifer Hyman noticed that her customers weren't gravitating toward Wu's ensembles when choosing designer outfits from her site, Rent the Runway. Turns out, Wu's designs didn't match their daily needs. Hyman took this revelation to Wu, and the two of them ended up collaborating on a very profitable – and more wearable – line for Rent the Runway called "Jason Wu Grey."
Hyman didn't stop there. She noticed that her customers would rent an outfit for a cocktail party on Saturday night but hold on to it until Monday morning; they'd wear it again with a blazer to work. This was costing Hyman quite a bit in repair and cleaning costs – but it was also an opportunity. Hyman switched to a subscription service that allowed her customers to rent several outfits at a time and rotate them – and voilà , business grew even more.
How can you find out what your customers are doing? Many founders conduct their own focus groups, which lead them to interesting and profitable observations. When Mariam Naficy of bespoke stationery company Minted learned that men today are more involved in the wedding-planning process, she began to incorporate less overtly feminine designs into her offerings.
Watching how your customers behave, and reacting to their behaviors, can yield exciting results. But what if you come across a hurdle that seems insurmountable? We'll get into that now.
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You need good leadership to successfully scale a company.
When Angela Ahrendts went to work for Apple after a stratospheric career as CEO of Burberry, it was a tough transition. Everything was different. She had gone from fashion to technology, England to America – and, suddenly, she was the boss of 70,000 people.
Ahrendts knew she needed to communicate her vision to all her new employees. But, as a parent of three teens, she knew that young Apple employees were unlikely to read long emails. So she made a three-minute iPhone video that was natural and real; she didn't even edit out a phone call from her daughter.
It was an excellent start. The video was such a hit that she made one every week for four years, regardless of where in the world she happened to be.
The key message here is: You need good leadership to successfully scale a company.
When your company suddenly scales up, it's almost like you're now at a new, larger company – much like Ahrendts's shift to Apple. Everything changes. To keep employees inspired, it's important to sustain a steady drumbeat of purpose and motivation.
To do this well, you need compassion, wisdom, and clarity of vision. This means being willing to listen, learn, and take advice – even from those in positions below you. It also means being able to accept constructive criticism. Sometimes, this can mean encouraging opposing viewpoints. Mailchimp founder Ben Chestnut notes that startups are like pirate ships – but when they scale big, the culture makes a necessary adjustment. It goes from piracy to the Navy, with an influx of rules, accountability, and good behavior.
When hiring new staff, Marissa Mayer – Google employee number 20 – didn't hire MBAs with lots of experience. Instead, she'd hire a smart 23-year-old and give them a huge portfolio – like all of Gmail. Just as they were getting comfortable with their division, she'd have them switch into another division and challenge them to learn something new. This bold leadership move didn't just give Mayer a nimble, cross-trained managerial team; it also resulted in a tsunami of new ideas that emerged from the synergy of a bunch of smart people being exposed to multiple ways of doing things.
Mayer's leadership yielded tremendous good for Google – and for the world, as many of these employees went forth and started their own companies. In the best of situations, great leadership naturally flows into the final aspect of scaling big: doing good.
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Being an active venture investor and a podcast host, Hoffman was able to interview some of the famous entrepren
Books of investing, finance and entrepreneurship alike, are split into two camps. There are those that empower you with technical knowledge. And there are those that inspire you to reflect on your actions and thinking. 'Masters of Scale' belongs to the latter. Borrowing experiences from dozens of founders, Reid Hoffman, founder of LinkedIn, put together ten wisdoms of entrepreneurship.Being an active venture investor and a podcast host, Hoffman was able to interview some of the famous entrepreneurs. Reid seems to have handpicked well-known B2C companies which is much more appealing and tangible than discussing Salesforce or Twilio. Many of the case studies cited involved those I know from work (e.g. Burberry, Shopify), prior readings (e.g. Walker & Co., Nike), or from having been an avid customer (AirBnB, both as a guest and a host). The challenges they have gone through were detailed and palpable. The vividness and recency of this book, which was published in September 2021, helped me not only keep engaged in the story but develop my own thoughts about the specific cases cited in the book
My #1 standout was the last chapter 'Trojan Horse': how to make an impact. In order to scale and sustain, a company needs to have a greater goal that extends beyond money or legacy creation. Hoffman rightly points out that most of us have a desire to do good for the society, and you can do it either explicitly (e.g. Starbucks) or inexplicitly and silently in a Trojan Horse (The Black List). From the Starbucks example, I could clearly see that doing good can go beyond simply coexisting with making money. Starbucks started as a hip Milan-style espresso bar in Seattle, but it changed our perception around coffee (from a cheap dose of caffeine to a daily essential and a treat for yourself) and coffee shop (third space). In order to revolutionize a culture, you need buy-in from the entire stakeholders (employees, customers, community, etc.). Without Howard Schultz putting employees first and foremost (e.g. giving health insurance for all part-timers, holding annual parent meetings in China), I doubt if Starbucks could get to where it is today
What awes me the most is that Schultz did all this in a publicly traded company. I cannot imagine the pain and stress he went through as he tried to resist and appease the outcries from Wall Street. Fortunately, perhaps thanks to Starbucks' success, the shareholder capitalism is no longer taken for granted in Americas, with many of the large corporations on board with doing greater good (e.g. Business Roundtable discussions on the purpose of Corporation, Salesforce's 1-1-1 model)
Coming back to the ten wisdom of entrepreneurship, how we put them into practice depends on our courage, perseverance, and conviction. Even some of the more self-explanatory wisdoms, such as the importance of culture and flexibility to 'unlearn' yourself amid changing trends, are extremely tough in practice. Reed Hastings of Netflix and Phil Knight of Nike are extraordinary people with so much to show up for themselves. For Hastings to shift his perception on Netflix culture or Knight to start a mass advertising which he had despised, they must have invoked a great deal of self-reflection and humility to themselves. Hoffman's ten wisdoms offers an opportunity for all of us to self-reflect and self-improve our business practices and career goals
Initially, I gave 4 stars because it did not 'wow' me. With my exposure to "How I built this" podcast, some of the founders and their founding stories were not new to me (e.g. Jenn Hyman's Rent the Runway, Tobi Lutke's Shopify). As I was writing my review, I could better appreciate the power of Hoffman's ten wisdoms. The Starbucks story, while familiar to some readers, was quite impactful for me. Hence, I gave 5
1. Getting to No
- If you got a 'squirmy no' from VC, you might actually be onto a best idea (e.g. Tristan Walker)
- The unhelpful no (Sarah Blakely detached herself from talking to friends about Spanx)
2. Do things that don't scale
- AirBnB - the first step to scale is to renounce your desire to scale. Design an 11-star experience
- DonorsChoose (elementary school teacher hustling to fund school projects)
3. What's the big idea?
- Rent the runway: Jenn Hyman asked Neiman how often women bought dress and return to the store. The answer was, wow, 70% of the time!
- Bad ideas might have gold hidden - Airbnb? UBER? Who'd have thought people would let strangers in?
4. Culture
- Netflix culture deck (first-principle thinkers)
- USHG ('enlightened hospitality')
- Peoplesoft -> Workday (Wow, the CEO is taking me out for beer!)
5. Growing fast vs. Growing Slow
- Tory Burch (Remained patient about entering China, but once she entered, she would go aggressive; "you are protecting your brand to the point where it must be annoying to your investors")
- Peter Thiel doesn't believe in beating the competition, he believes in escaping it altogether. Escape velocity is not a fixed speed. It's always relative to competition
6. Learn to Unlearn
- Nike switched to mass (embraced advertising)
- Lockheed plane development: waived all the rules and told engineers were free to fabricate the parts on the spot (during WWII)
7. Watch what they do, not what they say
- Google: How many search results do you want to see per page? A: 30. In truth, it was 10. IT was speed of loading, not the breadth of information, that mattered the most, and consumers were not yet aware of its significance
- Eventbrite: at first, organizers asked them to help sell their tickets, but what their real needs were building an 'enablement' platform with market dynamics on top
8. The art of the pivot
- Stewart Butterfield - Slack
- Ev Williams - Twitter <- Odeo (podcasting)
- Tobi Lutke - Shopify
9. Lead, lead again:
Managers tell people what to do. But leaders inspire them to do it (Jeff Weiner of LinkedIn, Angela Ahrendts of Burberry).
"Dara [Expedia CEO], you keep telling us what to do, instead of telling us where to go."
Reid's theories on leadership
- Compassionate leader (Angela Ahrendts)
- The Truth Teller/ Seeker (Sheryl Sandberg)
10. The Trojan Horse (doing good)
- Starbucks (explicitly doing good), - The Black List (Trojan Horse)
helpful VC entrepreneurship cheatsheet you won't find in the book:
- LinkedIn: use dark patterns to tr
helpful VC entrepreneurship cheatsheet you won't find in the book:
- LinkedIn: use dark patterns to trick users into spamming everyone in their inbox
- AirBnB: screw over renters and delete their reviews when something bad happens. it's all about the landlord
- Bumble: use a gimmick ("women message first") to convince investors. :wave:
- Instagram: create a social network for vanity and don't mind the increase of teen suicide in girls
John eventually learned he could have saved himself a lot of time—and a good deal of rejection—by focusing his pitch effort on more eccentric, contrarian VCs. Instead of wasting his time on the usual suspects, he could have intentionally sought out investors like Lee who actively seek out unconventional ideas that create new categories.
LinkedIn created a viral loop that kept people c
He can pinpoint, down to the PowerPoint slide number, the moment his audience stops paying attention to his pitch.John eventually learned he could have saved himself a lot of time—and a good deal of rejection—by focusing his pitch effort on more eccentric, contrarian VCs. Instead of wasting his time on the usual suspects, he could have intentionally sought out investors like Lee who actively seek out unconventional ideas that create new categories.
LinkedIn created a viral loop that kept people coming back and bringing their friends, over and over.
you can't let rejection rule you. Instead, let it fuel you. In the case of "the telling no," the naysayers are teaching you more about their own assumptions than about the truth of how the world actually works. To your keen ears, their "Nos" should sound like, "Yes, conventional wisdom is overlooking this opportunity."
The ability to both recognize a winning instinct and kill or refine a losing idea is an essential part of succeeding as an entrepreneur. Time is your most precious resource; don't waste it on a bad idea
Y Combinator has incubated more than fifty companies that have reached $100 million in value or more—so they have a fairly good sense of what does and doesn't scale.
The host disappears into a back room, then returns. "He comes back with a binder and he's got dozens of pages of notes." The binder was filled with pages and pages of written suggestions, for all the changes that the host wanted to see on Airbnb. "It was like he created a roadmap for us," Brian recalls. "The roadmap often exists in the minds of the users you're designing things for."
How would you like to see peer reviews work? And What do you need most from customer support, and when?
"If I ask, 'What can I do to make this better?' they'll say something small," Brian explains. So instead, he'd ask bigger, bolder questions, like "What can we do to surprise you?" or "What would it take for me to design something that you would literally tell every single person you've ever encountered?"
"What's a 7-star experience? You knock on the door. Reid Hoffman opens it. 'Welcome. I know you like surfing. There's a surfboard; I've booked lessons for you. By the way, you can use my car. And I also want to surprise you. I got you a table at the best restaurant in the city of San Francisco.' And you're like, 'Whoa. This is way beyond.'
This advice may seem paradoxical to readers of my book Blitzscaling, in which I articulate the counterintuitive rule, "Ignore Your Customers." The common thread between "engage one-on-one with passionate customers" and "ignore your customers" is this: Find and focus on the customers who represent your scale opportunity, and ignore the others. Spending precious time and resources on responding to requests from the loudest of your current customers can distract you from the work that will win you millions of loyal, passionate future customers.
Brian no longer knocks on hosts' doors or sleeps on their couches. Airbnb today is a public company that hardly resembles the scrappy little startup in the stories above. But handcrafting still matters to Brian. He relies on close contact with longtime hosts and customers for input on design and strategy.
What creates transformative travel? Connection—and leaving your comfort zone. "When you first go to a city, you need a welcome event within the first twenty-four or forty-eight hours where you're around people," Brian begins. "By day two or three, you need to have a challenge out of your comfort zone. If you do not leave your comfort zone, you do not remember the trip.
The team booked Ricardo a stay with a top-notch Airbnb host; took him to dinner parties; booked seats at a couple of the city's best restaurants; even brought him on a midnight mystery bike tour.
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Hey Guys! this is book # 2 of my 52-week book challenge wherein I aim to read 1 book a week or 52 books in a year! Here's a summary of my top 5 key takeaways from the book, "Masters of Scale" by Reid Hoffman Summary
https://youtu.be/FwbZzYATOBY
0:00 - start
0:33 - First Principles Thinking -
Masters of Scale by Reid Hoffman Summary. This week's book, Reid Hoffman, the founder of LinkedIn, shares how the world's successful entrepreneurs were able to start and grow their companies into a global brand.Hey Guys! this is book # 2 of my 52-week book challenge wherein I aim to read 1 book a week or 52 books in a year! Here's a summary of my top 5 key takeaways from the book, "Masters of Scale" by Reid Hoffman Summary
https://youtu.be/FwbZzYATOBY
0:00 - start
0:33 - First Principles Thinking - Learn how the likes of Elon Musk is able to successfully enter and disrupt various industries by using this method of thinking
2:43 - the biggest ideas as contrarian - Learn how to look for the squirmy "NO" in spotting ideas that have potential
4:45 - Design the extreme and build backwards - Learn how airbnb was able to succeed by using this 11-star framework
6:37 - This should exist list - Learn how entrepreneurs are able to think of disruptive ideas
7:43 - Being in permanent BETA - Learn why this mindset can help you leapfrog your peers in the longrun
Thanks and to view more of my previous summaries, like and subscribe my Youtube Channel, Paolo Balinas
Now off to the next book! :)
P.S. Comment below on what was your key takeaway
#BookSummary #BookReview #MastersOfScale #ReidHoffman
...more The book is divided into 10 chapters each describing a specific theme and different principles. In one of the chapters, the author explained how company culture is more important than strategy and culture will be the deciding factor of a company's growth. The author has also shared the concept of designing a 11 star experi
This is an easy read business book by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman describing how to grow an already established business. It is based on a famous podcast of the same name.The book is divided into 10 chapters each describing a specific theme and different principles. In one of the chapters, the author explained how company culture is more important than strategy and culture will be the deciding factor of a company's growth. The author has also shared the concept of designing a 11 star experience for your customer. 1 star is very bad and 11 star is out of the world and unrealistic. During the process of designing these experiences, you will find the sweet spot in between 1 star and 11 star that works for you and your customers. Just like these, there are various other principles explained in the book. The author has shared a lot of real world examples in each chapter from companies like Google, Facebook to Starbucks and Airbnb which will easily help in understanding the principles in detail.
For more such principles, please go through the book. Its a must read for those who have an established business and want to grow it to new heights.
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I learnt new thi
It's a blend of stories altogether - and kudos to the team for pulling the stories of the biggest companies that have scaled up in the recent years. Some are interesting (e.g. AirBnb, yahoo.), while most anecdotes I am already familiar with (e.g. Spanx, Canva, Nike, 23andme) and it feels a little generic (e.g. don't say no). Also, too much plug of his own Blitzscaling term. He does advocate that you should have an MVP you are embarrassed of, otherwise you have launched too late.I learnt new things about how AirBnB scaled by giving their solid few customers the super VIP treatment and taking their feedback seriously; and how Yahoo's Marissa Meyer also grew well by focusing on the team within first because they know key areas to improve in.
Overall, I felt the flow was quite disjoint and sometimes I don't see the clear theme across the examples. Nonetheless, still a good reflection of successful companies in recent times. Good to pick up and read several snippets, but too many may not be most effective.
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On the negative side you could say that the social aspect of the book is weak an I love Masters of Scale podcast and this book is a great curation of those interviews guided by a central theme. I think that there's a lot of people talking and profiting of the promise of building successful businesses, but they often didn't started any on their own, hearing from the leaders about their experience and trying to find patterns on those experiences is almost invaluable to me; this is a book of ideas.
On the negative side you could say that the social aspect of the book is weak and I'm skeptic about the "build now add the social aspect later" approach which could lead to problems, Hoffman tries to make that point clear several times but I wonder if the extreme positivism of the book needs an actual chapter about the negatives, like learn from mistakes kind of, like a big retro (as Hoffman has suck an engineer mindset for writing).
But the net value of the book is highly positive if you want to be more entrepreneurial, on your own or even inside a company that allows you to do that. ...more
* Kathryn Minshew (Muse) -- investors said 'no' to her 148 times! She knows this because she recorded it...and yes, every single one hurt.
* Brian Chesky (Airbnb) -- try to imagine what an 11-star experience feels like when building your product or service.
* Charles Best (DonorsChoose.org) -- do things that are important to your business (e.g., hand-written 'thank you
* Kathryn Minshew (Muse) -- investors said 'no' to her 148 times! She knows this because she recorded it...and yes, every single one hurt.
* Brian Chesky (Airbnb) -- try to imagine what an 11-star experience feels like when building your product or service.
* Charles Best (DonorsChoose.org) -- do things that are important to your business (e.g., hand-written 'thank you' notes from students) even if that process/activity is not scalable, but important to what your business what's to be.
* Jenn Hyman (Rent the Runway) -- sometimes your core business (rental clothing) isn't your actual business (in this case, the dry cleaning is the business).
* Fred Kofman (executive coach) -- lead with compassion. Wisdom without compassion is ruthlessless; and compassion without wisdom is folly.
I generally don't read books on entrepreneurship but Reid Hoffman's book is more of a compilation of lessons that successful entrepreneurs have learnt over the years than a theoretical handbook.
From Flickr to Airbnb, Reid has summarized the ideas and advice of 70 iconic entrepreneurs such as Arianna Huffington & Eric Schmidt, which
Most books on entrepreneurship provide the theoretical knowledge on how one can be an entrepreneur. Some books are company-specific when it comes to entrepreneurship.I generally don't read books on entrepreneurship but Reid Hoffman's book is more of a compilation of lessons that successful entrepreneurs have learnt over the years than a theoretical handbook.
From Flickr to Airbnb, Reid has summarized the ideas and advice of 70 iconic entrepreneurs such as Arianna Huffington & Eric Schmidt, which he learnt through interviewing them.
I liked the 'Reid's Analysis' sections across the book. I enjoyed how the author doesn't elaborate on one company at one go but explains a situation through experiences of many entrepreneurs and endeavors.
The book is an enjoyable read and the author avoids using technical jargons which further helps in maintaining the flow of reading. For those who are entrepreneurs or those who want to read on this topic, I recommend this book.
...more The investors for your contrarian enterprise are out there and they have the resources to
This book was Stevo's Business Book of the Week for the week of 9/12, as selected by Stevo's Book Reviews on the Internet and Stevo's Novel Ideas. From Reid Hoffman: The first truth of entrepreneurship and investing: The biggest new ideas are contrarian. When you have a contrarian idea, it leaves you the space to create something. Being contrarian and right gives you a critical head start on achieving scale.The investors for your contrarian enterprise are out there and they have the resources to take you to the next level. Hoffman shows you how to find them and get them to "Yes!"
Find more Business Books of the week on my Goodreads Listopia page at https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9..., and find many more recommended books on my Amazon Influencer page at https://www.amazon.com/shop/stevo4747 or by searching for me on Google.
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I love that the lessons don't just come from one perspective, either. There are valuable takeaways from a wide range of successful leaders, like Tory Burch, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Brian Chesky, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Phil Knight, Caterina Fake, a
The most comprehensive source of entrepreneurial wisdom I've found yet! And not only that–the lessons in this book are relevant for anyone interested in innovation, leadership, career acceleration, or just simply learning how to build a vision and act on it.I love that the lessons don't just come from one perspective, either. There are valuable takeaways from a wide range of successful leaders, like Tory Burch, Whitney Wolfe Herd, Brian Chesky, Stacy Brown-Philpot, Phil Knight, Caterina Fake, and more–with each story wrapped in a helpful analysis from Reid that makes the lessons even more memorable.
My key takeaway? Entrepreneurship is a mindset that can be cultivated: and this book will tell you how.
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Still, I got some good nuggets out of it, and it was indeed inspiring.
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https://www.businessinsider.com/book-...
I haven't listened to the podcast. The previous podcast-turned-into-book that I read wasn't that great as a book (the Bomber Mafia, by Malcolm Gladwell).
This book was amazing. I'd rather read than listen since I can read at about 10 times the speed as regular speech... But don't want to miss content or knowledge. What podcas
I read /Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs/, by Reid Hoffman and his podcast partners:https://www.businessinsider.com/book-...
I haven't listened to the podcast. The previous podcast-turned-into-book that I read wasn't that great as a book (the Bomber Mafia, by Malcolm Gladwell).
This book was amazing. I'd rather read than listen since I can read at about 10 times the speed as regular speech... But don't want to miss content or knowledge. What podcasts are out there that are not in book form that I should listen to?
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3 stars because most of
Reid Hoffman does an admirable job building on his network and sharing unique insights about the various challenges now-popular startups faced. He doesn't just cover tech startups though they are a majority. It can be a terrific source of inspiration for entrepreneurs and founders. I found certain sections quite helpful even if you are not a founder (e.g. following customers closely even if the techniques are not scalable, building culture from day 1 vs a bolt on later).3 stars because most of the content in the book is covered in his podcasts.
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Reid joined Greylock Partners in 2009. His areas of focus include consumer Internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments, and social networks. Reid likes to work with products that can reach hundreds of millions of participants and businesses that have network effects.
An accomp
Reid Hoffman is a Partner at Greylock, and Co-Founder and Executive Chairman at LinkedIn.Reid joined Greylock Partners in 2009. His areas of focus include consumer Internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments, and social networks. Reid likes to work with products that can reach hundreds of millions of participants and businesses that have network effects.
An accomplished entrepreneur, executive and angel investor, Hoffman has played an integral part in building many of today's leading consumer technology businesses, including LinkedIn and PayPal. He possesses a unique understanding of consumer behavior and the dynamics of viral businesses as well as deep experience in driving companies from the earliest stages through periods of explosive growth.
Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn, the world's largest professional networking service, in 2003. LinkedIn is thriving with more than 63 million members in 200 countries around the world and a diversified revenue model that includes subscriptions, advertising and software licensing. Hoffman led LinkedIn through its first four years and to profitability as Chief Executive Officer,
Prior to LinkedIn Hoffman served as executive vice president at PayPal, where he was a founding board member. At PayPal he was responsible for all external relationships, including payments infrastructure, business development, international, government and legal. Reid was instrumental to PayPal's acquisition by Ebay and responsible for partnerships with Intuit, Visa, MasterCard and Wells Fargo.
Reid is a board observer at Airbnb, Gowalla, and Swipely and is a director at Zynga, Mozilla Corp., Six Apart, Shopkick, and Kiva.org. He is an angel investor in numerous influential Internet companies, including Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga.
Hoffman earned 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 was the recipient of an SD Forum Visionary Award and named a Henry Crown Fellow by The Aspen Institute.
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