♪ david: let's talk about who reid hoffman is. you study philosophy. did you take away from your experience that applies to you today? reid: surprisingly, philosophy has been more important to me than any background in business. it is precision in thinking, thinking about human nature, what an investment thesis is and how you measure that when you are trying to create something from nothing. those tools, this thinking about possibility, thinking crisply, measuring it is a way of creating measurements against the investment thesis, all things that come back to my philosophical training. david: a great rigor in thinking. the goal of philosophy was to get as for size as you can get, which means it never ends. did you have any difficulty letting it go? i don't know all the answers, but i have to make a decision now. reid: i think i didn't have the difficulty of making a pragmatic decision. i think the thing you had to learn was that make the decision now, and realize you may make a different decision later, but the way you learned was making the decision n

reid hoffman, welcome to "bloomberg big decisions." reid: it's great to be here.avid: "blitzscaling" you have out. what made you think in this way? reid: so, "blitzscaling" is the practice we do in silicon valley. it's grow to a globally relevant company, transformational company of industries. the thing that got me writing the book and doing the podcast and all these things was that silicon valley is still the startup story. silicon valley, half of nasdaq. why is that? we have the startups, and startups succeed. that's true. but that's true in 100 plus areas in the world now. what's important is the way we get this to massive scale quickly, airbnb, uber, facebook, linkedin, and this set of techniques about how you go to markets, hire talent, scale the company, what business models you create. those are the things that allow silicon valley to do this. david: when is it stupid to blitzscale? reid: when it prioritizes speed over efficiency. it's frequently driven by competition. in this hyper connected world, competition comes from everywhere in this hyper connected

♪ ♪ david: let's talk about who reid hoffman is. you study philosophy. you take away from your experience that applies to you today? reid: surprisingly, philosophy has been more important to me than any background in business. the reason is,it is precision in thinking, thinking about human nature, what an investment thesis is and how you measure that when you are trying to create something new,something from nothing. those tools, this thinking about possibility, thinking crisply, measuring it is a way of creating measurements against the investment thesis, all things that come back to my philosophical training. david: a great rigor in thinking. the goal of philosophy was to get as precise as you can get, which means it never ends. did you have any difficulty letting it go? i don't know all the answers, but i have to make a decision now. reid: i think i didn't have the difficulty of making a pragmatic decision. i think the thing you had to learn was that make the decision now, and realize you are going to learn and you may make a different decision later,

emily: reid hoffman, cofounder of linkedin.g up, what the midterms mean for the future of tech policy in a newly democratic house. we will talk about amazon, the new headquarters on the east coast. how amazon is trying to reinvent itself on the other side of the country and what it means for the price of surrounding areas. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪ i am a family man. i am a techie dad. i believe the best technology should feel effortless. like magic. at comcast, it's my job to develop, apps and tools that simplify your experience. my name is mike, i'm in product development at comcast. we're working to make things simple, easy and awesome. emily: this is bloomberg technology coming to you from the bloomberg bureau in seattle. we are talking about the midterms. one for the record books. the democratic party taking control of the u.s. house. it is a victory that could mean changes in policy for big tech. how democrats are likely to push for a data privacy law and could look to reinstate net neutrality roles when they take

reid hoffman, cofounder of linkedin.g up, what the midterms mean for the future of tech policy in a newly democratic house. theill talk about amazon, new headquarters on the east coast. how amazon is trying to reinvent itself on the other side of the country and what it means for the price of surrounding areas. that's next. this is bloomberg. ♪ comcast business built the nation's largest gig-speed network. then went beyond. beyond chasing down network problems. to knowing when and where there's an issue. beyond network complexity. to a zero-touch, one-box world. optimizing performance and budget. beyond having questions. to getting answers. "activecore, how's my network?" "all sites are green." all of which helps you do more than your customers thought possible. comcast business. beyond fast. show me movies a grinch would love. [ bark ] nu uh, i'm picking the movie tonight. [ whimpers ] be sad, i enjoy it. show me grinchy movies. oh, goody. [ whimpers ] mmm, fine! show me movies max would like. see the grinch in theaters

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week, reid hoffman. welcome. you have a new book out that you have co-authored. at really drove you and made you think in this way? reid: we have growth to a relevant company. the thing that got me to write in the book and all these things was the secret that people say about the silicon valley is still the startup story. people say, white is that? we have all these startups, and only some of them succeed. what is important is the way that we get this to massive quickly, the coopers and facebook's and linkedin's. of techniques about how you go to market and skill the company into the business models you create, those are the things that allow silicon valley to do this. tell me about the scale. over prioritizing speed efficiency. wouldn't you rather just reduce uncertainty? world, a heightened competition is everywhere. the first two scale is the business that wins. that's what sets all the bowls. david: when is it reckless to do this? >> you don't have a competitive lens. will i be able to pull this together as a macro-business? ingredientsve the to think about wh

his name is a reid hoffman, founder of linkedin.lease welcome to the stage reid hoffman and our moderator. ♪ >> alright. yes. packed house, that is good. welcome. >> great to be here. >> you are obviously an investor for many years and the cofounder of linkedin. now you are the author of this book, "blitzscaling." what do you define as blitzscaling? reid: prioritizing speed over security in products, and what that fundamentally means is that, what matters is the speed at which you get to scale. we are in an age where the businesses that survive and thrive are the quickest. innovation matters when it gets to scale, so the secret of silicon valley and a bunch of areas in china is that, how do you get the scale very quickly and very powerfully, and how do you make the decisions to poor on the gas, and how do you make it happen? >> one common lament among tech entrepreneurs is that the tech giants have sucked at the air out of the industry and it is difficult to get to scale when you're -- your competition can undercut you. advice to pe

reid hoffman has always been fascinated by the intersection of technology and human networking.creating his own undergraduate major at stanford

reid hoffman has always been fascinated by technology and human networking.ng his own undergraduate major at stanford to founding paypal, hoffman created linkedin and made big bets on facebook and airbnb. now some of the same questions that have driven him through his life are front and center, finding the best balance between social media and human interaction. and how much is too much techn

reid hoffman has always been fascinated by technology and human networking. own undergraduate major at stanford to founding paypal, hoffman made biginkedin and bets on facebook and airbnb. now some of the same questions that have driven him through his life are front and center, finding the best balance between so

reid hoffman has always been fascinated by technology and human networking.ting his own undergraduate major at stanford to founding paypal, hoffman created linkedin and made big bets on facebook and airbnb.

his name is reid hoffman, founder of linkedin and now a partner at greylock.lease welcome reid hoffman and our moderator matt panzerino. ♪ ♪ >> all right. yes. all right. a packed house is good. welcome, read. >> great to be here. >> thank you for coming. aren't investor for many years and the cofounder of linkedin and now you're -- thisre the author of book. what do you define as blitz scaling/ >> is prioritizing speed over efficiency in an environment of uncertainty in projects like building companies and employing technologies. that fundamentally means it's a compact definition is that what matters is the speed at which you get to scale. we are in an age now where the businesses that survive and thrive are the quickest. innovation matters when it gets to scale. the secretive silicon valley and a bunch of companies in china is that -- how do you get to skill very quickly and powerfully and how do you make the decisions to when to pour on the gas and how do you make it happen? lament is that tech giants have sucked the air out of the industry and it will be d

his name is a reid hoffman, .ounder of linkedin please welcome to the stage reid hoffman and are moderater our moderator. alright. yes. packed house, that is good. welcome read. >> great to be here. you are obviously an investor for many years and the cofounder of linkedin. now you are the author of this caling." tzsva what is blitz scaling? need overritizing and whatin products, that fundamentally means is that , what matters is the speed at which you get the scale. we are in an age where the businesses that survive and thrive are the quickest. innovation matters when it gets to scale, so the secret of silicon valley and a bunch of areas in china is that, how do you get the scale very quickly and very powerfully, and how the make the decisions to win to pull on the gas, and how do you make it happen? one common lament among entrepeneur her's is that the text giants have sucked at the air out of the industry and it is very difficult. what is your advice to people looking to cut into something --t may seem attend market? our firste is reference. with large companies, if you someone said to

plus, reid hoffman speaks out on facebook's handling of the elections and shares his prescription foroing forward. the boring company comes to san

but if i look at reid hoffman at linkedin -- the model is to be more fluid between those two things,t makes you better. truthfully, it is also back to the future. this is what venture did in the 70's and 80's. emily: do you worry about fake -- a winter slowdown with schooters? -- scooters? joe: the business is so new, so they have more history on the bikes side. but of course, in the northern hemisphere, there will be some level of inclement weather. part of the reason he want to -- you want to offer multiple vehicle types is to make up for some of that. and that everything is so that you can have offsetting revenue in trips per day in the southern hemisphere. remember, the vehicle is removable. we can take fleets from the northeast and move them to the latin america. emily: it sounds intensive to do a love that transport the there was just a recall on some of the scooters and when it comes to safety, how do you make sure you keep all this up and be profitable, when a ride is only a couple of dollars? joe: there is no denying that it is an operationally complicated business, but that

plus, reid hoffman speaks out on facebook's handling of the elections and shares his prescription for

and dara khosrowshahi on the future of autonomous vehicles as well as linkedin founder and -- reid hoffman . >> you got your camera crew and what is that all about? [ laughter ] >> in the days of uber 1.0, it was do whatever it takes to get ahead and nothing else really matters. with you in charge and with the uber cofounder out, things seem to be going a little differently.

and dara khosrowshahi on the future of autonomous vehicles as well as linkedin founder and -- reid hoffman . >> you got your camera crew and what is that all about? [ laughter ] >> in the days of uber 1.0, it was do whatever it takes to get ahead and nothing else really matters. with you in charge and with the uber cofounder out, things seem to be going a little differently. what is it been like doing the right thing? >> so far so good. i have had the job for about a year, and every company goes through different stages in its life. what travis and team did is they built an incredible and important company, and the board brought me own to change directions and change strategies and etc.. for me, it is easy for me to say do the right thing. ultimately, our growth is going to be a function of our own innovation and what we build. will also be based on the relationships we have with our driver partners and the cities that we work with. ultimately, we have a service as important as uber in terms of the way we touch people on a everyday basis and how many people we have who are making money on