Eleven years ago

This morning, I sent this note to my team on the occasion of my 11th work anniversary at LinkedIn.

Eleven years ago today, I drove down from San Francisco to Mountain View to start my first day at LinkedIn. There were a little over 100 employees at the company and the network reached 13 million members during my first week.

It would be an understatement to say that it was a different world back then. LinkedIn, the service and the company were very different. Profiles did not yet have pictures, and the feed had yet to be created. We had not yet launched Recruiter or developed the diverse lines of business that we have today. While LinkedIn was growing very fast, in members, employees and revenue, the company was immature and not yet a well-oiled machine. While there is often romantic lore about the good old days of successful companies, I can safely say that I rarely miss those days.

As I reflect back on my time at this company, I am reminded at how much different LinkedIn is from any other place I have worked during my career. While no place is perfect, I have found at LinkedIn a company that is mission driven, is filled with motivated and committed coworkers, and has a strong and growing business. This combination of attributes is not common and is very hard to find. I remain very grateful for being at a company that deeply protects, values and pursues its mission. Balancing the needs and expectations of our members, customers, partners, employees, and corporate parent is no small task but I think we do a good job of balancing these constituents.

I am often asked why I have stayed at LinkedIn after so much time. Quite simply I remain inspired and excited by the opportunity that LinkedIn has to pursue its mission. I believe that we are entering a time in which LinkedIn’s opportunity and success will increasingly rely on our ability to further activate pillars of the network after years of successfully growing the network. This to me is exciting, challenging and inspiring and worthy of pursuit.

I’m more excited now for the future of LinkedIn than I ever have been and I appreciate all the effort and impact that you all deliver for the company. Thank you for protecting and enhancing our company culture, and advocating for our members, customers and partners.

Happy Monday