The Startup of You (Revised and Updated) - by Reid Hoffman & Ben Casnocha (Hardcover)

About the Book

LinkedIn co-founder and chairman Hoffman and author Casnocha show readers how to accelerate their career in today's competitive world. The key is to manage one's career as if it were a start-up business--a living, breathing, growing start-up of you.

Book Synopsis

The groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller that taught a generation how to transform their careers--now in a revised and updated edition

"A profound book about self-determination and self-realization."--Senator Cory Booker

"The Startup of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want."--Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

In this invaluable book, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today's competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a startup business: a living, breathing, growing startup of you.

Why? Startups--and the entrepreneurs who run them--are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage.

These are the very same skills professionals need to get ahead today.

This book isn't about cover letters or résumés. Instead, you will learn the best practices of the most successful startups and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career. Whether you work for a giant multinational corporation, stitch together multiple gigs in a portfolio career, or are launching your own venture, you need to know how to

- adapt your career plans as pandemics rage and technologies upend industries
- develop a competitive advantage so that you stand out from others at work
- strengthen your professional network by building powerful alliances and maintaining a diverse mix of relationships
- engineer serendipity that produces life-changing career opportunities
- take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry tsunamis
- tap your network for information and intelligence that help you make smarter decisions

The career landscape has changed dramatically in the decade since Hoffman and Casnocha first published this guide. In an urgent update to the frameworks that have helped hundreds of thousands of people transform their careers, this new edition of The Startup of You will teach you how to achieve your boldest professional ambitions.

Review Quotes

"Hoffman and Casnocha make a number of astute observations about shifts in the world of work. . . . As well as explaining network intelligence, or why your contacts' contacts may be the best source of leads about potential jobs . . . the book also gives numerous tips--including ones gleaned from the world of online dating--about how best to broker effective relationships."--The Economist

"If you are starting a career, it is an excellent book for thinking through the practical issues you will face in branding yourself in what is becoming a more volatile and very different labor market."--Tyler Cowen, Marginal Revolution

"Hoffman has pulled off something extraordinary in his book-writing debut. He has challenged a well-worn idea . . . and replaced it with something better."--Fortune

"Being an entrepreneur isn't really about starting a business. It's a way of looking at the world: seeing opportunity where others see obstacles, taking risks when others take refuge. Whatever career you're in ­or want to be in,­ The Startup of You holds lessons for success."--Michael Bloomberg, founder, Bloomberg, L.P., and former mayor of New York City

"Everyone, women and men alike, needs to think big to succeed. This is a practical book that shows you how to take control and build a career that will enable you to have real impact."--Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In

"Forging a fulfilling career is one of the most important--and often, most difficult--challenges in building a happy life. The Startup of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want."--Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project

"The Startup of You describes how to take the Silicon Valley approach to building a life: Start with an idea, and work over your entire career to turn it into something remarkable. In the world today, I think that the startup approach to life is necessary. This book distills the key techniques needed to succeed."--Jack Dorsey, co-founder, Twitter and Square

"This great book shows that entrepreneurship is really about taking control of your life, and you don't need a big startup to be an entrepreneur--you need personal responsibility and intellectual exploration."--Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist

"Silicon Valley revolutionizes entire industries through the way we work. It is now time to export our playbook to the rest of the world. The Startup of You is that key playbook: It will help you revolutionize yourself and achieve your own career breakout."--Marc Andreessen, co-founder, Netscape

"A profound book about self-determination and self-realization. By capturing and universalizing the wisdom of successful startup businesses, the authors provide an exciting blueprint for building a fulfilling career. Invaluable for any person who wants to be a successful entrepreneur--not in a particular company, but in the most important enterprise of all: one's own life."--Senator Cory Booker

"The Internet has fundamentally changed the architecture of business and society. This terrific book shows you how to live, learn, and thrive in a networked world."--Joi Ito, director, MIT Media Lab

About the Author

Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock, and director at Microsoft, and is widely viewed as one of the most successful investors of all time. He is the host of the award-winning podcast Masters of Scale and the New York Times bestselling author of The Alliance, Blitzscaling, and Masters of Scale.

Ben Casnocha is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Village Global, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded hundreds of successful startups. He has appeared on CBS's The Early Show, CNN, and CNBC. He is a co-author, with Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, of the bestseller The Alliance.