When it comes to surviving the real world, carving a career path is half about what you know and half about who you know. But how do new graduates make important connections without much networking experience to draw from? And more importantly, how do perspective employees properly market themselves to the corporate community, say, before rent is due? In an effort to open the doors of professional networking, the creators of LinkedIn.com have created a site whereby users can gain and expand business contacts, search jobs and create profiles that are a major step up from the lame old business card. Allen Blue, LinkedIn Co-Founder and VP of Product Strategy, tells us more.
Photo by Dave Getzschman
How did the concept for LinkedIn come about?
When you’re an entrepreneur, you do almost everything with the people you know. The founders of linkedIn knew this fi rst-hand, because we had all been doing it for years. With linkedIn, we were looking to build a system that would let professionals not only stay in touch with friends, co-workers and college classmates, but also let them search their network for people that had expertise in certain areas. Every professional is more successful when they can get answers to tough work-related questions like “How do I begin a career in advertising?” or “What vendor should I be looking at to help me solve ‘X’ problem?” from people they know and trust.
What did it take to get the idea off the ground? What investors were you able to secure?
It took a good idea, then a lot of work. on the Internet, a good idea is a product that people will value, that will grow for low cost, and will make money. once we had those pieces, we knew it was worth a shot. We were initially funded by angel investors and founders. our goal was to prove the business before going out for investment. By the end of 2003, we were ready to do that, and Sequoia capital made the fi rst investment. our [next] fundraising round was announced in June of 2008. We raised $53 million in funding led by Bain capital Ventures and the valuation was just over 1 billion dollars for the $75.7 million raised.
How long did it take for the site to catch on and how were you able to measure its success initially?
It took several months for the product to start growing on its own, and most of our focus in the fi rst years was on growing. After all, for a business network to be useful, it has to have business people in it. When we reached 1 million professionals, we knew we had something valuable. Now we have over 32 million professionals from around the world who are members of linkedIn. We have professionals that work at companies like Ferrari, Maxim, disney and MTV that are members. People like Bill Gates and NBA basketball star Yao Ming have profi les on our site.
How have you tried to separate LinkedIn from social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook?
The difference is that linkedIn is an online professional networking site versus a social networking site. Everything that we do on the site is geared toward helping a professional do their job faster, quicker and more efficiently. This is why bosses and companies don’t mind having their employees on a site like linkedIn because they’re actually doing work. You can look up a client by name and learn more information about them before you meet them.
Given the current economic state, what sort of change have you noticed on the site?
We’ve seen more people looking for jobs, or preparing for that possibility — they’re updating their profi les and making sure they are connected to all of their business contacts.
What is the importance of professional networking sites like LinkedIn for college graduates eager to enter the workforce? Any tips on creating a profile?
LinkedIn lets you fi nd the people who can help you get the job you want. let’s say you wanted a job in marketing at Nike. There are 401 Nike marketing people on linkedIn, from all around the world. Now that you’ve found them, you can put together a good profi le and reach out to the right one for an informational interview, or to follow up on a job application. You can also look for university alums that do the things you want to do, and set up some time with them by joining your alumni linkedIn Group. When fi lling out your profi le be concise, but be thorough about what you’ve studied and your previous experience. That way, you will show up when employers search. Second, get at least three linkedIn recommendations from professors and bosses. And make sure you set the “I’m looking for a job” preference.
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