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  • Published: 16 February 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448136292
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

The Start-up of You

Adapt, Take Risks, Grow Your Network, and Transform Your Life




The founder of LinkedIn's bestselling guide to transforming your life and career - now in a revised and updated edition.

'I think that the startup approach to life is necessary. This book distills the key techniques needed to succeed.' Jack Dorsay, co-founder of Twitter
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Co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, and author Ben Casnocha offer a revolutionary method to accelerate your life and career. The secret is to think like an entrepreneur - to run the 'start-up of you'.

Entrepreneurs are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage. These are the very same skills we all need to get ahead.

Hoffman and Casnocha show how you can create opportunities where others see dead-ends, and when to take proactive risks where others may seek safety. They reveal how to maintain a competitive advantage so you can stand-out from others. They explain how you can build your network. Above all, they share the insights and strategies you need to succeed in the most important venture of all - your own life.
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'Everyone, women and men alike, needs to think big to succeed. This book shows you how to take control and build a career that will enable you to have real impact.' Sheryl Sandberg, COO of Facebook

  • Published: 16 February 2012
  • ISBN: 9781448136292
  • Imprint: Cornerstone Digital
  • Format: EBook
  • Pages: 272

About the authors

Reid Hoffman

REID HOFFMAN is co-founder and executive chairman of LinkedIn, the biggest professional social network in the world with 100+ million members. Previously he was executive vice president of PayPal. He is also a partner at Greylock, a leading Silicon Valley venture capital firm. He has been an early investor in over 100 technology companies, including Facebook and Zynga.

Ben Casnocha

Ben Casnocha is an award-winning entrepreneur and author. He has written for Newsweek and appeared on CNN, the CBS Early Show and Fox News. BusinessWeek named him one of 'America's best young entrepreneurs' and he is in much demand as a public speaker.

Praise for The Start-up of You

The most compelling parts of this book are the ones that look at the importance of developing and exploiting professional networks. As well as explaining network intelligence, or why your contacts’ contact 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

Economist

[An] extremely interesting and informative read

Bookbag.co.uk

Rather than containing the usual tranch of aphorisms and advice on how to create lists of things you want to achieve, The Start-up Of You suggests arranging your career like a business . . . We challenge you not to be inspired.

PA Life

It is the optimism of Silicon Valley that infuses this book: there is still hope for those striving to break into the charmed circle

Richard Waters, Financial Times

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 Start-Up of You holds lessons for success.

Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg

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, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

Forging a fulfilling career is one of the most important--and often, most difficult--challenges in building a happy life. The Start-Up of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want.

Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 bestseller, 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 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 of Twitter, co-founder of Square

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 Andreessen Horowitz; director at Meta, HP, and eBay

A profound book about self-determination and self-realization. By capturing and universalizing the wisdom of successful start-up 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.

Cory Booker, United States Senator from New Jersey

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

In times of change and uncertainty...adaptability creates stability. It is insights like this that make The Startup of You such a compelling new way to approach your life. Hoffman and Casnocha have distilled the essence of entrepreneurship into a potion for personal success, regardless of your career plans.

John Etchemendy, Provost, Stanford University

The same extraordinary vision and timing that enabled Reid to found LinkedIn is once again on display with his book The Start-up of You. His central thesis, that every individual can benefit from acting as the entrepreneur of their own life and career, has never been more important than it is in today's increasingly globalized, competitive, and networked world.

Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn

A fascinating insight to the workings of Silicon Valley and the characters therein and how they interact with each other

RecruitmentViews.com

There is much helpful advice but the main themes are to make sure your network is as strong as it can be so that it helps you to also make sure you are in a place that has opportunities for you

Citywealth Magazine

A surprisingly wise book about how you can use the strategies of an entrepreneur to enhance your pedestrian career.

The Times

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 Start-Up of You holds lessons for success.

Michael Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg, L.P. and Mayor, 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, Chief Operating Officer, Facebook

Forging a fulfilling career is one of the most important--and often, most difficult--challenges in building a happy life. The Start-Up of You is crammed with insights and strategies to help each of us create the work life we want.

Gretchen Rubin, author of the #1 bestseller, 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 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 of Twitter, co-founder of Square

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; director at HP, Facebook, and eBay

A profound book about self-determination and self-realization. By capturing and universalizing the wisdom of successful start-up 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.

Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark

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

In times of change and uncertainty...adaptability creates stability. It is insights like this that make The Startup of You such a compelling new way to approach your life. Hoffman and Casnocha have distilled the essence of entrepreneurship into a potion for personal success, regardless of your career plans.

John Etchemendy, Provost, Stanford University

The same extraordinary vision and timing that enabled Reid to found LinkedIn is once again on display with his book The start-up of you. His central thesis, that every individual can benefit from acting as the entrepreneur of their own life and career, has never been more important than it is in today's increasingly globalized, competitive, and networked world.

Jeff Weiner, CEO, LinkedIn

It is the optimism of Silicon Valley that infuses this book: there is still hope for those striving to break into the charmed circle

Richard Waters, Financial Times

Rather than containing the usual tranch of aphorisms and advice on how to create lists of things you want to achieve, The Start-up Of You suggests arranging your career like a business . We challenge you not to be inspired

PA Life

[An] extremely interesting and informative read

Bookbag.co.uk

A fascinating insight to the workings of Silicon Valley and the characters therein and how they interact with each other

RecruitmentViews.com

The most compelling parts of this book are the ones that look at the importance of developing and exploiting professional networks. As well as explaining network intelligence, or why your contacts' contact 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

Economist

There is much helpful advice but the main themes are to make sure your network is as strong as it can be so that it helps you to also make sure you are in a place that has opportunities for you

Citywealth Magazine