Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Greylock Partner and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman share lessons learned from scaling Microsoft, LinkedIn and PayPal. Blitzscaling is the strategy that leading entrepreneurs have implemented to build strong, enduring companies. The techniques allow for startups and incumbents across any industry to scale at rapid rates and outdistance the competition. This episode…
To achieve ‘blitzscaling,’ you have to go against common sense
By Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh All founders need some universal skills to succeed. They need the ability to take bold risks in pursuit of a vision that isn’t self-evident to others. They need the ability to learn (since they’re trying to do something brand-new). And to play a long-term role at their start-up turned…
What will be the enduring, market-defining companies of the future? Where will they come from? And what are the modern secrets of Silicon Valley? How do we use those lessons to help every region of both the U.S. and the world build scale industries and economies? I have tried to address these questions in my…
Over the last year, I’ve had the chance to sit down with dozens of founders as host of the Masters of Scale podcast. Through these conversations I’ve honed my theories on what allows companies to scale spectacularly, and how these individuals realize their visions. For this week’s show, I had a very free-flowing conversation with Ev Williams, who founded…
In today’s highly networked world, a key secret to building startups into massively successful companies is blitzscaling: Rapid, relentless growth that allows you to become the first player to achieve scale and develop a daunting competitive advantage. Blitzscaling has allowed companies like Google and Facebook to grow from garage to global dominance in less than…
Only two percent of high school students who experience suicidal thoughts use telephone crisis hotlines. But that doesn’t mean they don’t want to talk about the issues they face, or won’t seek support. They will, if you extend it in ways that they’re comfortable with. Take an innovative non-profit called Crisis Text Line. CTL is exactly what…
Silicon Valley and the surrounding Bay Area has become a global leader in innovation, technology and new industry creation. This small region, with only 7m residents, boasts more than 150 technology companies valued at more than $1bn. Most observers instinctively conclude that Silicon Valley is great because it has a unique ability to create start-ups.…
Silicon Valley has become a global leader in innovation, technology, and new industry creation. The nearly universal explanation for Silicon Valley’s success: entrepreneurs, venture capital, technical universities, existing technology companies — which all lead to launching great startups. So, the explanation for the creation of massive new industries is this: Silicon Valley is great because…
Nearly every company understands the urgent need for innovation. Technology and globalisation have so accelerated change that scale and power — once the greatest strengths — have become weaknesses because they impair an organisation’s ability to adapt. The problem is, the term “innovation” is used so broadly that it has become virtually meaningless.Consider the typical…
Over the next decade and a half, 2.5 billion people in China, India, and other developing countries will join the global middle class. They are going to need skyscrapers to live in and super-stores to shop in. They are going to want smartphones, cars, flank steaks, air conditioning, pet clothing, Disneyland vacations, and probably some…
At Greylock, my partners and I are driven by one guiding mission: always help entrepreneurs. It doesn’t matter whether an entrepreneur is in our portfolio, whether we’re considering an investment, or whether we’re casually meeting for the first time. Entrepreneurs often ask me for help with their financing decks. Because we value integrity and confidentiality…
Immigration is pure entrepreneurship. You leave behind everything familiar to start somewhere new. To succeed, you need to develop alliances. You must acquire skills. You will have to improvise on occasion. It’s a bold proposition. Immigration is also fundamental to the U.S. national identity — as the Senate just acknowledged with passage of the most…
20 years ago, the classic startup model was to have young founders start a breakthrough company, then bring in “grey hair” in the form of experienced executives once it was time to scale the business. Key examples included Cisco, Yahoo, eBay, Google, and many smaller companies. In the last decade, however, that common wisdom has shifted,…