The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career

Reid Hoffman · Ben Casnocha

Feb 2012 · Penguin Random House Audio · Narrated by Kaleo Griffith

About this audiobook

The groundbreaking #1 New York Times bestseller that taught a generation how to transform their careers
 
“A profound book about self-determination and self-realization.”—Senator Cory Booker
 
“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 Happiness Project

In this invaluable book, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Ben Casnocha show how to accelerate your career in today’s competitive world. The key is to manage your career as if it were a start-up business: a living, breathing, growing start-up of you.

Why? Start-ups—and the entrepreneurs who run them—are nimble. They invest in themselves. They build their professional networks. They take intelligent risks. They make uncertainty and volatility work to their advantage.

These are the very same skills professionals need to get ahead today.

This book isn’t about cover letters or résumés. Instead, you will learn the best practices of the most successful start-ups and how to apply these entrepreneurial strategies to your career. Whether you work for a giant multinational corporation, stitch together multiple gigs in a portfolio career, or are launching your own venture, you need to know how to

• adapt your career plans as you change, the people around you change, and industries change
• develop a competitive advantage so that you stand out from others at work
• strengthen your professional network by building powerful alliances and maintaining a diverse mix of relationships
• find the unique breakout opportunities that massively accelerate career growth
• take proactive risks to become more resilient to industry tsunamis
• tap your network for information and intelligence that help you make smarter decisions
 
A revolutionary guide to thriving in today’s fractured world of work, the strategies in this book will help you survive and thrive and achieve your boldest professional ambitions. The Start-up of You empowers you to become the CEO of your career and take control of your future.

About the author

Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock, and director at Microsoft, and is widely viewed as one of the most successful investors of all time. He is the host of the award-winning podcast Masters of Scale and the New York Times bestselling author of The Alliance, Blitzscaling, and Masters of Scale.

Ben Casnocha is an entrepreneur and cofounder of Village Global, a Silicon Valley venture capital firm that has funded hundreds of successful startups. He has appeared on CBS’s The Early Show, CNN, and CNBC. He is a co-author, with Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, of the bestseller The Alliance.