Harry Stebbings’ Post

As a LinkedIn active user for 20 years and a product geek, I have 2 variants of the same question: - Serious version: "What's the long-term differentiated product vision for your platform, how do you win and for which audience?" - Cheeky version: "Which primary metric is driving the erosion of content quality on the main feed, and why is this the right long-term choice? If LinkedIn’s business model is centered around advertising, is focusing on dwell time for less targeted content truly the best way to create value for advertisers—and ensure an engaging, professional platform for us the readers and creators?" Here's what I mean: - LinkedIn is home to truly exceptional content, but it often feels buried by algorithmic priorities. - Current optimisation metrics seem to be steering LinkedIn toward a "TikTok-like" or "Instagram-like" user experience. I fully understand the trend towards video, but not all views are created equal on a B2B platform monetising its audience. - I know it works, we’re all human, and posts of smiling connections with sunglasses will always grab attention. It reminds me when Facebook focused on daily usage with the metric % of MAUs who are DAUs and the various effects it had downstream...

These could be interesting questions: 1. Reimagining LinkedIn in a Generative AI World: If you were building LinkedIn from scratch today, with the power of AI tools like ChatGPT and personalized knowledge graphs, how would your approach to fostering professional networks and discovering talent differ from the early days? 2. Network Effects & Enduring Scale: You’ve often emphasized the power of network effects. In a world saturated with platforms vying for user attention, what’s the next frontier in harnessing network effects to drive not just scale, but enduring, defensible value? 3. Rapid Iteration vs. Responsible Scaling: You often advocate for rapid iteration. How do you advise founders to balance speed with the responsibility to anticipate and mitigate unintended consequences, especially in fields like AI and biotech, where the stakes are high? 4. Philanthropic Capital as R&D for Society: You’ve described philanthropy as “risk capital for society.” How should founders think about integrating philanthropic principles—such as long-term thinking, bold experimentation, and social responsibility—directly into their company’s DNA from the start?

Do you regret blitzscale?

How should AI regulations be shaped in his opinion and why? How does he foresee the future of work, with the upcoming creator and gig economy? What impact will this have on company culture, how can companies avoid risk losing extensive knowledge coming from longer term commitment, and what will be the benefit for companies? What are the top 5 roles & skills we should cultivate over the next year(s)? What is the future of SaaS as we know now?

Did LinkedIn imagine its platform would one day host must-ask questions from a VC about interviewing the LinkedIn founder? Seems like the circle of life for networking content. 😅

Why haven't you invested in Polaroo yet? 🤣

This is going to be a quality episode. Harry Stebbings I have 4 questions. 1) Should the LinkedIn profile replace the CV in future? 2) Which industries are not yet leveraging LinkedIn to their fullest potential? 3) Are LinkedInfluencers more of a help or a hinderance to the platform? 4) What is Reid Hoffman's ideal way to cold DM a prospect on LinkedIn. (not that he has to do cold outreach anymore, but would be interesting to hear his methodology on cold DMing as a sales method.)

How do you believe the feed on LinkedIn can be improved? (Lots of old posts I’ve already interacted with pop up again, from 2 weeks to a month ago) Has the video aspect of LinkedIn shown to improve reach, and how important will video content be in the future of LinkedIn?

My biggest question as a founder of an indie games studio is, what is the most looked for things to find funding? Also, where to find reputable VC's, pre-seed, and seed funding? I have an awesome team who's just looking for a chance and it's hard to get funded in the industry right now.

Oh man this’ll be🔥 I’d love to hear Reid’s perspective on how early LinkedIn PM culture actually impacted Zynga, Mark Pincus and the PM culture that he built in gaming (which endures to this day across all successful gaming companies). Mark regularly referenced how powerful Reid’s learnings were, so let’s hear Reid’s thoughts on how applicable he thinks they actually are.