I think 'Settlers of Catan' is such a well-designed board game - it's the board game of entrepreneurship - that I made a knockoff called 'Startups of Silicon Valley.' It's literally - it's the same rules but just a different skin set to it.
— Reid Hoffman
Many employer-employee relationships are built on a lie that starts from the first interaction: neither party automatically conceives of the relationship as something that will last a lifetime, but both interact as if it is. This lie of omission bases the relationship on distrust.
Our polling methodology has gotten outdated, and, in fact, it's not really telling us what it needs to be telling us.
Simply writing a Ph.D. or academic book was unlikely to play much of a role in helping shape people's lives as I wanted.
I think I have a good track record, both in commercial investing and in philanthropic investing. I don't have any interest in creating a named foundation; I have an interest in really good impact for capital. I think I'm pretty good at doing it, so I'm going to apply myself to doing it in my lifetime.
If you contrast the productivity that comes from a networked or capitalist distribution of resources versus a centralized planning system, frequently referred to as communism or socialism, the network approach does much better when it's applied accurately.
Starting a company is like throwing yourself off the cliff and assembling an airplane on the way down.
Our elected officials must understand that we, the American people, expect them to perform the duties of their office, even when that means working with other elected officials from different parties.
The American people deserve to know what's on Trump's tax returns. And Trump must show that he truly embraces accountability and transparency and understands what it means to work on behalf of the public interest.
Death Row inmates are almost twice as expensive to house each year as other inmates. Death penalty trials are much costlier than trials where execution is not a potential punishment and consume more time from judges, public defenders, and other legal personnel.
For me, the ethical arguments that resonate strongest are the ones that oppose the death penalty.
I've long believed that if you're not embarrassed by your first product release, you've released too late.
I would have volunteered to work at Netscape. It was the center node of this new technology and the commercial ecosystem of the Internet.
Over the last 20 years, I've worked on or invested in many companies that scaled to 100 million users or more. But here's the thing: You don't start with 100 million users. You start with a few. So, stop thinking big, and start thinking small.
Democracy tends to be a collaborative process, a committee, a consensus. Silicon Valley tends to believe in the individual who creates a small group and does something big.
When thinking about how to deploy kind of professional and social networking into your business, it's really not a question of if - it's a question of when.
What happens during recessions, is you have less windfalls just helping you cover mistakes. You have to be more careful about not making mistakes.
If you could train an AI to be a Buddhist, it would probably be pretty good.
In the past, individuals and companies envisioned a lifetime mutual commitment. That's not realistic anymore - nor is it in the interest of either party. So both parties need a more adaptable way to engage each other and co-invest over shorter periods of time for mutual benefit.
The business of America is business, but it's about high-integrity business. It's about a business where you keep your word, where you make square deals.
Silicon Valley tends to be very myopic - to be focused on one or two things - which has some strengths as well as weaknesses.
One of the things that happens that's challenging within the democratic process is that people say, 'Look at this failure, so we should totally change this whole thing.' And then you add in tons of bureaucratic process and checks and balances, and all of a sudden, it doesn't work that well.
The opportunity to build an enduring product far outweighs the cost of alienating a few users along the way. And the sooner you internalize that trade-off, the faster you'll move along the path to scale.
The best ideas make you want to say 'yes' and 'no' in the same breath.
In democracies, we aren't always governed by the people or the parties that we voted for. But when officials are elected, we must respect their authority, as long as they're exercising that authority within the bounds of whatever regulatory frameworks are in place to guide them.
For Trump, the reasons to release his tax returns have always been compelling. Doing so would show the American people he doesn't just talk about accountability and transparency but also walks the walk.
Any effort to make the death penalty speedier and less costly - more 'efficient' - will inevitably make it less just.
If Trump's actions as President reflect his campaign rhetoric, the ACLU and other capable organizations like it will be critical for defending the Bill of Rights for all Americans.
Some people mistake grit for sheer persistence - charging up the same hill again and again. But that's not quite what I mean by the word 'grit.' You want to minimize friction and find the most effective, most efficient way forward. You might actually have more grit if you treat your energy as a precious commodity.
'Founder' is a state of mind, not a job description, and if done right, even CEOs who join after day 1 can become founders.
We want to be inclusive. We want to have our shareholders, our employees, our customers, whether they are Democrat, Republican, Green or Libertarian, to feel comfortable with how we're doing business. And so that tends to be apolitical. People say, 'No, no, I just simply shouldn't get involved in politics.'
There's a lot of people in the world that would love to trade places with American citizens, and we are very fortunate to be here.
In crisis times, it's actually not more difficult to motivate your staff, because everyone gets much more focused on how they control their own economic destiny.
The way you deal with bullies is you change their economic equation. Make it more expensive for them to hassle you.
I usually allocate time each week to work on topics outside of the normal workflow. These topics can be multi-year strategies for work, theories of how the world is changing, or just something refreshingly different or new.
We need to invest in technologies that amplify human capacity, not replace it.
Each year, I ask, 'Now that I have this knowledge, these resources, what can I do?'
The same instincts that make us good students can make us lousy entrepreneurs.
I do think there are some irreducible inefficiencies in government. But we still need to have government; we still need to make government effective if we can.
A startup, to a some degree, is a set of those challenges of, 'If you don't solve this, you're dead.'
Leaders, whether in the public or the private sphere, must understand the responsibilities that come with their role. They are the most visible standard-bearers of their organizations. Holding them accountable to this responsibility protects the promise of our organizations and our communities.
As an entrepreneur and investor, I prioritize construction and collaboration. Whether it's a five-person start-up or a global giant, the companies that are most productive are the ones whose employees operate with a shared sense of purpose and a clear set of policies for responding to changing conditions and new opportunities.
Trump often says he needs to keep his tax returns private until the IRS finishes auditing him. But the IRS itself has said this isn't necessary. And recently, Trump changed his tune, saying he'll release his returns as soon as Hillary Clinton releases the 33,000 emails she deleted from her email server.
The death penalty and the arguments it inspires don't only involve ethics, morals, and justice. There are bureaucratic and economic aspects to it as well. All these different aspects commingle in ways that convince me we should take whatever steps we can to abolish the death penalty.
As a candidate, Trump could make outlandish statements with little regard for their Constitutional implications. As President, he is pledged to respect the Constitution's authority, and the specific rights and protections it guarantees to every American citizen.
Hard work isn't enough. And more work is never the real answer. The sort of grit you need to scale a business is less reliant on brute force. It's actually one part determination, one part ingenuity, and one part laziness.
It's unprecedented in the post-World War II era to have the leader of Germany say, 'Oh we can't rely on America anymore.'
So benevolent, enlightened, wise dictators are the most efficient form of government. The problem is what comes afterwards, right?
If performance management were a movie, it will become less 'Gladiator' and more 'Moneyball.'
The key thing is to invest in the future, and what that means is - when you're deploying technology or you're a technology business - is to make sure that you're keeping on the innovation cycle, where you're both creating and adopting the new business practices and the new techniques in order to drive your business the right way.
