LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman says work-life balance isn't possible in the startup game
Frederic J. Brown / AFP via Getty Images
- Reid Hoffman discussed on "Diary of a CEO" the lack of work-life balance in startup culture.
- He said startups needed to be intense and competitive to achieve success.
- Sacrifices that come with startup work include dinner at the office and working on the weekends.
Reid Hoffman got real about the lack of work-life balance when you're trying to build a company.
The LinkedIn cofounder said during an episode of the "Diary of a CEO" podcast that startup employees shouldn't expect that if they want their business to take off.
"Work-life balance is not the startup game," Hoffman said.
Before it became a large platform for professionals, LinkedIn was a startup. Hoffman said early employees with families were allowed to spend time at home — with the expectation that they'd also be getting work done.
"The people who think it's toxic don't understand the toughness of the startup game, and they're just wrong," Hoffman said.
The nature of building budding companies is intense, he said, and that intensity is necessary at any startup if its workers want it to be a success. That often means working on Saturday mornings and sacrificing time for a personal life.
"We served dinner at the office at PayPal, and that was a deliberate thing," Hoffman, who was a part of the company during its early days, said.
@steven Co-founder of LinkedIn Reid Hoffman gives his opinion on work-life balance and why he doesn’t agree with it when you’re building a start-up ???? #podcast #podcastclips #work #company #business #founder #linkedin #truth #reidhoffman #startup #businesstok #interview #diaryofaceo #opinion #entrepreneur
♬ original sound - Steven Bartlett
He added that there were only two instances when startup employees could balance their lives and work more evenly: a supersmall startup that doesn't have much competition or a startup where employees have worked hard enough to outpace competitors by a long distance.
Recently, business leaders such as Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky have popularized the term "founder mode" to describe being a present and detail-oriented leader. Chesky previously said that founders go wrong by letting go of their product and delegating tasks instead of getting into the details of their company.
Startup culture may sound toxic, but it's a choice, Hoffman said. He compared it to training to become an elite athlete — swimming only two hours a day probably won't lead you to an Olympic team.
"Choose what your life's about," he said. "No one says you have to do that."