--- description: Breaking news and analysis from time.com. Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science, and entertainment news. title: Reid Hoffman by Sean Parker: TIME 100 image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d982123720bd5/6987eb2af887dc5d8be8df7c/reid-hoffman-time-100-2015-titans.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Apr 15, 2015 # Reid Hoffman by Sean Parker  Reid Hoffman, chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn Corp., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., on Thursday, June 12, 2014\. LinkedIn announced last week that users will soon have more design license over their profile pages, with the option of adding stock images or a custom backdrop - similar to what's already available on Facebook and Twitter. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images Reid Hoffman, chairman and co-founder of LinkedIn Corp., speaks during a Bloomberg Television interview in Sunnyvale, California, U.S., on Thursday, June 12, 2014\. LinkedIn announced last week that users will soon have more design license over their profile pages, with the option of adding stock images or a custom backdrop - similar to what's already available on Facebook and Twitter. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesDavid Paul Morris—Bloomberg/Getty Images Back in 2004, when Mark Zuckerberg and I were starting Facebook, Reid Hoffman was the first person we called to fund the company. There has always been something different about Reid, owing to his gregarious good nature, honest advice and keen intellect. He set us up with Peter Thiel and suggested that Peter join the Facebook board; Reid was too busy launching LinkedIn, but he agreed to give us our first funding anyway. Reid has tirelessly worked to channel the capabilities of social media toward a more productive purpose. LinkedIn succeeded in connecting the professional world, enabling social mobility on an unprecedented scale. The result was a revolution; the world was suddenly a much smaller, much more connected and ultimately much more productive place. And Reid remains a magnet for the smartest, most creative people looking to change the world through technology. _Parker is an entrepreneur, investor, and investor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822665/reid-hoffman-2015-time-100/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822665/reid-hoffman-2015-time-100/"},"headline":"Reid Hoffman","datePublished":"2015-04-15T16:04:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-21T07:22:29.483Z","description":"Silicon Valley's grand master","url":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822665/reid-hoffman-2015-time-100/","keywords":["TIME 100","TIME 100"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d982123720bd5/6987eb2af887dc5d8be8df7c/reid-hoffman-time-100-2015-titans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc93d982123720bd5/6987eb2af887dc5d8be8df7c/reid-hoffman-time-100-2015-titans.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-100/","name":"TIME 100"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/2015-time-100/3822665/reid-hoffman-2015-time-100/","name":"Reid Hoffman"}}]}] ```