Question 1

True or false: Reid Hoffman wrote the book 'The Lean Startup.'

Accepted Answer

False. That book was written by Eric Ries. Hoffman co-authored 'Blitzscaling' and 'The Startup of You.'

Question 2

True or false: Hoffman is a venture partner at Sequoia Capital.

Accepted Answer

False. Hoffman is a partner at Greylock Partners, not Sequoia. He joined Greylock in 2009 to focus on early-stage investments.

Question 3

True or false: Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn after serving as COO of PayPal.

Accepted Answer

True. Hoffman was a board member and executive at PayPal before launching LinkedIn in 2003, leveraging his network from the 'PayPal Mafia.'

Question 4

True or false: Hoffman played a key role in OpenAI's early funding and board structure.

Accepted Answer

True. He helped found OpenAI as a nonprofit in 2015 and served on its board until 2023, contributing to its initial $1 billion pledge.

Question 5

True or false: Reid Hoffman was born in the United Kingdom and moved to the US as a child.

Accepted Answer

False. Hoffman was born in Palo Alto, California, and grew up in Berkeley. He studied at Stanford and Oxford.

Question 6

True or false: Reid Hoffman has a PhD in philosophy from Stanford University.

Accepted Answer

False. He earned a master's in philosophy from Oxford as a Marshall Scholar, but his Stanford degree is a BS in symbolic systems.

Question 7

True or false: Hoffman invested in Facebook before Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of Harvard.

Accepted Answer

True. Hoffman invested $40,000 in Facebook in 2004, when Zuckerberg was still a sophomore, and later joined the board.

Question 8

True or false: Hoffman was an early investor in Airbnb when the company was still selling cereal boxes.

Accepted Answer

True. He invested in Airbnb's seed round in 2009, during their Obama O's cereal fundraising phase, before they became a giant.

Reid Hoffman Trivia Questions