Greylock Partners

Reid Hoffman didn't just co-found LinkedIn—he codified why it worked. When he joined Greylock Partners in 2009, he brought an explicit thesis: invest in businesses that become more valuable as more people use them. This is network effects as investment strategy, and Hoffman understood the biology behind it. Positive feedback loops in nature create exponential growth until they hit resource limits. The same dynamics power LinkedIn, Facebook, and Discord—each new user makes the network more valuable, which attracts more users, which makes it more valuable still.

This venture capital firm, founded in 1965, is one of venture capital's oldest surviving firms. Their $3.5 billion under management has funded 476 companies yielding 16 unicorns, 24 IPOs, and 224 acquisitions. The portfolio reads like a network-effects museum: LinkedIn, Facebook, Airbnb, Discord, Figma, Dropbox, Instagram, Workday, Roblox. Over 80% of their investments are first checks—Pre-Seed, Seed, or Series A—positioning them to capture network effects before the flywheel accelerates.

Hoffman's investment in LinkedIn at $0.60 per share during the Series B became the template. Greylock's bet: LinkedIn could transform recruiting through professional network effects. The company went public in 2011 and sold to Microsoft for $26.2 billion. Figma, another Greylock network-effects play, hit $13.5 billion market cap at its NYSE listing. Discord, Roblox, and Nextdoor continue the pattern—platforms where user growth compounds value.

Hoffman stepped back from general partner duties in August 2023, though he remains a venture partner. His January 2025 launch of Manas AI (drug discovery) and his book 'Superagency' show continued focus on where network effects meet AI. Greylock's AI portfolio now includes 37+ companies.

The firm's 60-year survival demonstrates something biological: network effects expertise compounds over time. Each successful investment teaches the pattern recognition needed to spot the next one. Greylock doesn't chase every sector—they've mastered one mechanism and keep deploying it across evolving technology substrates.