Reid Hoffman is a venture capitalist and Greylock parter who has either founded or invested in some of the fastest growing companies in Silicon Valley, including both Facebook and LinkedIn and now he wants to teach others how to create the next Facebook.
Hoffman will partner with former Mozilla CEO John Lilly, LinkedIn co-founder Allen Blue, and entrepreneur Chris Yeh to teach a course called “technology-enabled blitz-scaling.” The class will teach Stanford undergraduate and graduate computer science students how to create the next Facebook, or “scape-ups,” and technology companies that are capable of growing at incredible speeds. Building these tech companies requires more than just a mobile app and a venture capital investment.
The team will educate the future generation on how to initiate the same growth that Facebook has achieved. Class curriculum will cover a wide range of topics, including how much money to raise, how to handle competitors, and how to expand into international markets. The course will start with “household” or one-man startups, move to “village” companies with a staff of under 50 people, and eventually cover “nation” startups that have thousands of employees and millions of users. A stellar panel of guest speakers is already lined up, including Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of Theranos, LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner, and SurveyMonkey COO Selina Tobaccowala.
Future entrepreneurs who take this course will gain the necessary skills to become a founder of a great tech company. They’ll also get a glimpse of what to avoid, learn to recognize patterns, and discover how to grow a large, loyal customer base.
