The Inspiration for LinkedIn

The Inspiration for LinkedIn with Konstantin Guericke, co-founder of LinkedIn

“When you need an investor, or business partner, its usually not someone who you know, but it’s often someone who you know knows” –Konstantin Guericke, Co-Founder of LinkedIn

“I am a social architect with a passion for exploring the intersection of psychology, sociology and computing. I enjoy mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, serving on boards and teaching. My current focus is on starting a philanthropic organization.

I am considering areas such as conserving natural resources and supporting teens as they develop their values and identity.

As a son of high school teachers, I grew up in a small town in northern Germany. I have studied, lived and worked in Japan and traveled extensively in South-East Asia. My technical concentrations at Stanford were in artificial intelligence and reasoning under uncertainty.

Most of my industry experience is in consumer Internet-based communication services and social networking, but my background also includes freemium services, SaaS and immersive 3-D worlds.

My interests include marketplaces, collaborative consumption, crowdsourcing, online-to-offline, pro-active services, software brains for autonomous vehicles, healthcare IT, the Internet of Things and productivity apps/services.

My proudest professional accomplishment so far is co-founding LinkedIn, but I also believe you learn at least as much from startups that didn’t work out as well.

Since 2012, I have shifted from sitting to walking meetings, and I have never looked back.” – bio from Linkedin