6 posts tagged “linkedin”

[Update]: Some cool media coverage of this funding today by Becky Buckman in The Wall Street Journal and Brad Stone at The New York Times 

I could not be more excited for the team at LinkedIn. If there is any social network that delivers a no-brainer value, its LinkedIn. I have benefited from meeting some of the coolest people from the day I started using it in 2003.

Some personal milestones with LinkedIn:

• An early user since 2003 when they had 40k users. Today they have over 22M
• I met Vice Presidents then (I was "Vocationally Challenged") through LinkedIn at Siebel, eBay and more who are now VERY good friends
• Became an early employee in 2004 when they had 1.5M users and about 25 employees
• Left in 2006 when LinkedIn had about 7M users and ~60 employees. Today, I believe, they have more than 250!
• Now, 5 years since I started using LinkedIn, I have over 1000 connections on LinkedIn and I have met and really know almost all of them

Watch the perspective of the returning and (one) new LinkedIn investors on this new milestone. Dan's post is here

Imagine: Its ALL about Relationships

LinkedIn always had a tradition of celebrating its milestones when a significant number of users had signed up.

They just celebrated 20M users and a HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to the much newer and larger team. See all the fun pictures on their blog post here. I started using LinkedIn:

• As a user in 2003 when they had 40k users and with it my initiation to all things social/Web2.0
  
• As an employee in 2004 when it had about 1.5M users
• Left in 2006 when it had about 6.5M users

Two of them where I was in on the journey are below. I can spot myself in the second one but had no luck with the first

It took me a day in 2003 to see that LinkedIn worked and it would always work. Why?

"People Always do Business with People

Imagine: It is that simple

As we all continue to hear the 'R' word (Recession) across all media outlets through stories like that of Bear Stearns and other financial collapses, I thought I would pen down the fundamental hard-to-measure factors that made me thrive during the dot-com bust days and hope it helps. It was almost 3 years for me before I found a full-time job, even though I had just finished B-School.

So if you happen to find yourself with a new job of 'CEO, Vocationally Challenged, Inc', you may not see it this way but it might one of the best opportunities that will come your way to thrive and come out stronger. Very briefly, here is what made that time one of the best in my professional life (in fact, on my LinkedIn profile, that is the only experience I highlight and detail under all experiences):

• Positive attitude and humor: I started enjoying the hunt, the chase and gave myself the title of CEO, Vocationally Challenged, Inc. Another one to consider is its acronymed version - VC ... just at the other end of the spectrum
  
• Its about People. Build and sustain long term relationships - I made friends and mentors, independent of titles, that I still stay in touch with regularly since 2001.
  
• Continuous unlearning and learning: I read voraciously and listened to anyone who could tell me something new. This is also how I discovered and started using LinkedIn when it had 40k users in 2003 (today they have 20M). And absolutely dont forget to ask people you meet two questions:

        "What do you do and How do you do it?"
        They were pivotal to Chris Gardner's Pursuit of Happyness

• Laser Focus on goals: I never compromised and knew very clearly what I wanted. I joined LinkedIn and transitioned into the consumer Internet space, specifically social networking/media after having spent my prior life in enterprise software
  
• Habits 'Built to Last' (that would be hard to break after employment). Some examples: I dont start the day before I have read The Wall Street Journal cover to cover, I workout and pay attention to my physical health

And yes - very importantly, it helps to have a supportive sugar mama!

For those who want to read more about what others are doing that is measurable and easier to execute - here are a few stories and posts that caught my eye:

• Getting Hired by William Bland
• How To Job Hunt as Time Drags On - The Wall Street Journal
• In Silicon Valley, a Flight to Safety - The Wall Street Journal
  

Imagine: "Adversity is a fact of life. It can't be controlled. What we can control is how we react to (and leverage) it."

I first signed up on LinkedIn and started using it when there were 40,000 users (in 2003) - now there are 9Million!

Then went to work there in 04 and left last year.

Being always intrigued in what I am going to discover or learn through the inherent diversity within all of us, it is neat to see from a distance the new passengers in my journey.

Sanjiv Chopra - we both went to the same engineering college back in India but whom I met for the first time recently- is now my connection # 666. Being born on Christmas, he does not worry me.

Imagine: Coincidence, and if you believe in it, are you paying attention?

It was awesome to see LinkedIn finally launch its own version of Q&A today - a new tab hopefully will get it some good promotion and more importantly generate more usage and page views.

I strongly believe in living life being interested rather than interesting, surrounding myself with trusted long term mentors, and so it was one of my big internal requests internally while I was there. Kudos to Mike Lin for getting a neat UI on it!

It is certainly not going to be easy with Amazon.com launching its own version (Askville) last month - The San Jose Mercury announced it today. Furthermore, Mashable has a good analysis on the QnA market here with Yahoo clearly dominating though IF there is real trust and respect within your connections, this can be more credible and valuable to its users. The irony at the same time though is that all business folks are always very busy.

Thoughts?

So what was my time at LinkedIn be worth soon? :)

I love VOX and I said in my personal blog here before - VOX ROX! Its time to get more in here so I couldnt think of a better personal milestone to do so.

Have you had moments when you want to stand in the middle of the street and give a shout out to the whole world about something - let me use the web2.0 version this time to do so since I am VERY excited

CrossLoop has featured on del.icio.us' homepage i.e. on their hotlist today!

If you know in how short a time that is, you will want to tell everyone as well - go ahead, we love that! :)

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