When LinkedIn co-founder told employees: Go home, have dinner with family, and then open laptops to …

During the initial days of LinkedIn, co-founder Reid Hoffman wanted employees to continue working from home after having dinner with their families. "When we started LinkedIn, we started with people who had families. So we said, sure, go home have dinner with your family. Then, after dinner with your family, open up your laptop and get back in the shared work experience and keep working," former LinkedIn CEO Hoffman said in a podcast appearance last year, highlighting his controversial stance on work-life balance for startup employees.


The LinkedIn co-founder stresses that sustained effort and hard work are essential for a startup’s success. "If I ever hear a founder talking about, 'this is how I have a balanced life'—they're not committed to winning," Hoffman told Stanford University's "How to Start a Startup" class in 2014. Despite growing conversations about workplace wellness since the 2020 pandemic, Hoffman's position remains unchanged. "Work-life balance is not the start-up game," he said on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
Hoffman defended his position, arguing that critics fundamentally misinterpret the realities of startups. "The people that think that's toxic don't understand the start-up game, and they're just wrong," he said. "The game is intense. And by the way, if you don't do that, eventually, you're out of a job."
The former CEO points to significant financial rewards for those who embrace the grind. According to him, approximately 100 early LinkedIn employees "don't need to work anymore" following the company's success. Hoffman's approach to work schedules represents a glimpse into the demanding culture that helped build LinkedIn before Microsoft acquired it in 2016 for $26.2 billion.
In another news, Hoffman shared a viral Reddit post where a user credited ChatGPT with solving a lingering medical issue in under a minute—after five years of fruitless effort.