PDF Summary:The Startup of You, by Reid Hoffman and Ben Casnocha

Do you feel like the job market is changing faster than ever? Does job stability seem like a thing of the past? In The Startup of You, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman and entrepreneur Ben Casnocha argue that to build a successful career in the modern world, you must approach your career as if it were a startup company—something that’s always growing and adapting. By applying principles of entrepreneurship to your career, you can overcome unexpected career obstacles and react quickly to opportunities.

In this guide, you'll learn about the changes to modern work and how to approach your career as if it were a startup company using three entrepreneurship tactics. We’ll supplement Hoffman and Casnocha’s strategies with those of other business professionals and provide suggestions on how to apply their strategies to your career.

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In other words, you can enhance your competitive edge by keeping the market’s needs in mind. The authors advise you to research what people value to identify fast-growing industries or a popular market that relates to your skills and values. Then, try to locate a niche with little competition so that your skills can stand out. For example, as a game designer, you might notice a growing interest in health and wellness and consider creating games about self-care.

(Shortform note: In Designing Your Life, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans argue that experimentation can help you locate hidden and potentially hot job markets. They suggest you interview people in your field of interest and test out the jobs by volunteering or interning. The authors explain that most jobs aren’t advertised and argue that these methods give you direct access to and knowledge about job markets under most people’s radar.)

Principle 2: Be Adaptive

In addition to developing competitive advantages, like successful startups, you must also become adaptive in your career. When you prioritize adaptability, you can not only survive unpredictable challenges but also seize unexpected opportunities. To fashion a flexible career path, the authors suggest you create backup plans, open yourself up to more opportunities, and take calculated risks.

(Shortform note: Research supports Hoffman and Casnocha's suggestion to be adaptive, with one study finding that adaptability leads to higher career satisfaction and performance. Psychologists determined four traits that can be used to measure career adaptability: concern (how much you prepare for future challenges), control (how much effort and discipline you put into your work), curiosity (how open you are to exploring new and different opportunities), and confidence (how well you believe you can overcome challenges). These traits—concern and confidence, in particular—predicted more career satisfaction and success over other measurements like demographics or personality traits.)

Create Multiple Career Plans

To navigate the ever-changing job landscape, plan out three possible career paths instead of a single one. The authors explain that many startup companies became successful not because they had a brilliant idea from the start but because they could pivot quickly when their idea failed or when a better direction opened up. Like these successful startups, make plans so that you’re prepared to switch paths easily, take risks, and be resilient to setbacks. Here are the three plans you should have in place:

Your Current Path (“Plan A”): This is the path that you’re currently on or the field that you’re working in. For example, you might be working full-time as a software engineer.

Your Alternative (“Plan B”): Your alternative plan should be in a field related to Plan A, one that you can turn to if you run into problems with your current path or if a promising opportunity suddenly appears. For example, if you’re a software engineer, your Plan B might be related to game development. If you suddenly notice an exciting opportunity, such as promising advances in virtual reality, you can pivot quickly to seize it. The authors advise you to shift to Plan B before you think you should or consider starting it up on the side.

Your Last Resort (“Plan Z”): Your last resort plan is where you go to regroup if opportunities fall through or if the risks you take don’t work out. This could mean moving back in with your parents or working temporary gigs like driving for rideshare services. When you have a Plan Z, you feel more comfortable taking risks and acting quickly on potential life-changing opportunities.

How to Create Multiple Career Plans: Other Perspectives and Suggestions

Hoffman and Casnocha explain the different career plans you should have, but they don’t go into much detail on how you can develop them. Other experts provide insights on career planning that you can consider when creating your three plans:

Plan A: Hoffman and Casnocha write that your Plan A is the current path you're on. However, to improve the chances that Plan A goes well, you should still think about the future and plan how you should best continue down your current career path. Experts say you should reflect on your career path every six months to determine if you’re still headed in the direction. And if you see obstacles ahead, stay committed and don’t immediately switch plans.

Plan B: Other experts point out what signs you can look for to know when it might be time to pivot to Plan B. First, if you’re losing excitement or engagement for your current work, consider seeking new opportunities. Similarly, if you haven’t received a promotion or gotten new or different responsibilities in over three years, you should consider pivoting because you’re not able to build your skills in your current environment. Lastly, consider whether your current role enables the lifestyle you want—if not, consider pivoting.

Plan Z: Experts suggest several preparations you can make in case of major career setbacks: Always perform quality work so that you’ll have strong references who can vouch for you, create an emergency fund that can cover all of your expenses for at least three months, and proactively build a network. While Hoffman and Casnocha recommend having a side hobby to test out a Plan B, working on a side hobby you can profit from can also help sustain you if you must fall back and regroup with your Plan Z.

Attract Opportunities

Plans can help you maneuver through the unpredictable work world, but success often comes in the form of unexpected opportunities that you must quickly adapt to. While you might not be able to predict which opportunities will be truly transformative, you can increase the odds by learning to attract more of them.

(Shortform note: Being able to seize unexpected opportunities is a factor that makes you “lucky,” according to one study. The study found that it’s not so much that some people are lucky and others are unlucky when it comes to chance opportunities—it’s that “lucky people” are better at noticing opportunities than “unlucky people.” This is because they have a broader and more open focus—rather than looking for what they want, they remain open to what’s possible. Similarly, they actively vary their routines, which increases the chances of encountering opportunities.)

Hoffman and Casnocha write that to expose yourself to more opportunities, you must develop your curiosity and get involved with different groups of people. The more information and people you encounter, the more you increase the chances that you’ll encounter a breakthrough idea, a favorable opportunity, or a new passion. Specifically, the authors recommend you find small, informal groups of people who share similar interests or goals. Whether it’s a club or an alumni association, tight-knit and niche networks often circulate the richest ideas—each individual has their own ideas and connections that can benefit you.

(Shortform note: Joining groups isn't always easy, especially if you're introverted. To become a better “joiner,” experts recommend you practice by talking more with your coworkers or reconnecting with an old friend. Then, join a casual networking event with people that have shared interests or hobbies since it’s easier to find topics to discuss. If you don't know anyone, approach others who are alone or groups of people standing in an open formation rather than a closed circle as they tend to be more open to others joining the conversation.)

Take Calculated Risks

Once you’re attracting more opportunities into your life, how do you know which ones to pursue? To be adaptive in your career, you must take smart risks—those with benefits that outweigh any possible negative outcomes. To assess whether a risk is worth taking, ask yourself if you can handle the worst-case scenario.

For example, you might be working on a project that requires you to invest some personal funds to launch it on a new platform. If some extra money could make your project more successful, and losing that money wouldn’t hurt you, the risk might be a smart one to take.

An Exercise for Assessing Risk

In Tools of Titans, Tim Ferriss says that people often let opportunities pass them by because of fear, and he provides an exercise you can do to overcome fear and determine whether a risk is worth taking. Like Hoffman and Casnocha, he recommends you consider the worst case scenario but suggests you additionally ask yourself how likely it is to occur and how you could bounce back from it. Then, Ferriss suggests you consider what the best case scenario would be and reflect on how it would improve your life. You can further imagine how your life would be if you don’t take the risk and consider whether you’d have any regrets.

Once you've run through these imaginary scenarios, you'll get a clearer picture of how each outcome will affect your life, and you might realize that the risk isn't as dangerous as you first considered it to be.

According to Hoffman and Casnocha, people tend to overestimate risk, which holds them back from pursuing opportunities that could lead to rapid career growth. There’s an evolutionary reason behind this aversion to risk: Our ancestors were more likely to survive by playing it safe. Today, we no longer face life-threatening dangers, but our heightened sensitivity to risky situations remains.

(Shortform note: Other experts note that, in certain situations, people also have a tendency to underestimate risk because of the optimism bias—the belief that we’re more likely to experience positive events and less likely to experience negative events. For example, you might neglect to wear a helmet while riding a bike because you assume that you will never crash. Psychologists explain that our optimism bias, like risk aversion, is an evolutionary adaptation—one that improves your happiness and well-being since you worry less and feel more hopeful about the future.)

Taking the occasional risk, the authors argue, actually prepares you for more long-term success than pure stability. That’s because when things go wrong in your career, you’ve had practice overcoming uncertainties and setbacks.

(Shortform note: Taking the occasional risk not only helps you with career success but allows you to live a life with fewer regrets. In Who Will Cry When You Die, Robin Sharma says that taking risks allows you to experience more than someone who avoids adventurous experiences out of caution.)

Principle 3: Build a Strong Network

Now that you’ve learned to be competitive and flexible with your career, let’s look at another key tool successful startups use: a strong network. Without supporters and advisors, you can only make decisions based on your limited perspective and knowledge. A network, however, exposes you to many different perspectives that can help you make professional decisions and provide you with a wealth of opportunities, insights, and support. Even further, Hoffman and Casnocha point out that the people around you affect the kind of person you become, so you should network with people you want to be like.

(Shortform note: Groups are even more intelligent when they’re diverse, argues Matthew Syed in Rebel Ideas. This is because groups whose members come from different backgrounds and have different perspectives have greater overall knowledge to draw on than groups whose members all think alike. As a result, diverse groups enjoy enhanced intelligence and innovation as long as each individual is competent. When building a network as Hoffman and Casnocha recommend, consider how diverse your connections are.)

Build Networks by Giving Value

According to Hoffman and Casnocha, a strong network is made up of diverse connections and close relationships, which you can cultivate by viewing networking as forming genuine and mutually-beneficial relationships. Instead of focusing on getting something out of your contacts, take interest in their concerns, too. When building your network, the authors suggest you focus on having strong relationships rather than making many surface-level connections. This generates the most reliable support, opportunities, and ideas to aid you in your professional growth.

The authors offer a few suggestions for building and strengthening your network:

Give value to others first. To nurture your connections, take time to figure out what they value and offer them something first. It doesn’t have to be anything costly, the authors argue. You could provide insider information, help them practice for a job interview, or put your existing skills to use, like by giving them a painting to hang up in the bakery they just opened.

Accept their help. According to the authors, people enjoy helping others as it makes them feel good about themselves and strengthens their relationship with you. When people offer to help you, accept with gratitude.

Stay in touch. Many people are afraid that they’ll annoy others by trying to keep in touch, but the authors argue that this is rarely the case and encourage you not to assume so unless they give you a definitive “no.” Often, if you don’t receive a response, it might be because people are busy and want to be sure that you actually care about connecting with them and are willing to follow up. To show that you care, the authors advise you to reach out with a personalized message focused on them rather than an update about yourself or a generic greeting.

Additional Suggestions For Building Your Network

In Never Eat Alone, Keith Ferrazzi argues that you must develop your connections before you need them and provides more detailed suggestions you can consider when building your network as Hoffman and Casnocha advise. He agrees with the two authors that networking is a two-way street and adds that taking without giving can give you a bad reputation because you’ll be viewed as selfish or exploitative.

Give value to others first: When thinking of what you can offer the other person, Ferrazzi points out that you’ll need to take the initiative in identifying what they need because many people are reluctant to ask for help. To do this, he recommends you look for any hints during your conversations with them, browse their social media, and reflect on what their motivations are. If you can’t identify any specific needs, Ferazzi states that everyone values health, wealth, and their children, which you can support.

Accept their help: Ferrazzi agrees with Hoffman and Casnocha that you should accept help from your connections, adding that, contrary to what many believe, there’s no limit to how many times someone is willing to help you. In fact, asking repeatedly for someone’s help communicates to them that you consider them valuable and capable, strengthening your relationship and making them like you more.

Stay in touch: Like Hoffman and Casnocha, Ferrazzi advises you to stay in touch with your contacts. He adds that following up is important for both existing contacts and new contacts. For existing contacts, reaching out frequently shows that you care and value them, which makes them more likely to continue their relationship with you. For new contacts, Ferrazzi writes that they’ll forget about you if you don’t follow up since they likely meet new people regularly. He recommends you follow up with new contacts within 24 hours and a second time within the month so that you can continue to deepen the relationship.

Cultivate Three Types of Relationships

The authors identify three types of relationships that you should cultivate in your network:

Close Allies: People you regularly consult, support, and collaborate with. You share a mutual feeling of trust and friendship as well as publicly promote and defend each other’s work and reputation.

(Shortform note: In The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy advises that you carefully choose the people you regularly collaborate with. He explains that the five people you associate most closely with affect the kind of person you become. You become like the people you associate with because you regularly talk about the same things, do the same activities, and consume the same information. Hardy recommends you think about the people you spend the most time with and sort them into three categories: negative influences you should detach from, limiting influences you should spend less time with, and positive influences you should spend more time with.)

Acquaintances: People with whom you’re friendly yet share less of a personal relationship, such as your coworkers or old classmates. The unique advantage of having acquaintances, the authors explain, is that they often frequent different social circles than you and your closest allies, so they can offer valuable perspectives, expertise, and opportunities that can be helpful for your career.

(Shortform note: In The Defining Decade, Meg Jay echoes Hoffman and Casnocha’s claim that weaker acquaintance relationships can offer more promising opportunities because new opportunities almost always come from outside of your close contacts. She suggests you reach out to weaker connections by asking for a specific and easy favor. When you ask for a favor, research the other person and make sure your request matches their interests and expertise.)

Followers: People you might not directly interact with but who follow you on social media. When you have many followers, you can get in touch with influential people, get your work noticed, and stay up to date with your field. The advantage of cultivating followers is that it creates a self-perpetuating cycle—the more followers you gain, the more attention you get, leading to even more followers.

(Shortform note: Having many followers on social media can improve your reputation and help you attract opportunities because of social proof—evidence of how valuable you are based on how others view you. According to a survey, 60% of employers look at candidates’ social media activity when making hiring decisions. When you have many followers saying good things about you, you develop trust with employers even before they meet you. Conversely, when you lack visible supporters, there’s little proof of your successes or authenticity.)

Seek Information From Your Network

When you’ve built a strong network, it can offer personalized advice and insights about your career that you won’t be able to find in books or on the internet. Like successful entrepreneurs, you must learn to extract insights from your network to navigate uncertainties, stay on top of new developments in your field, and make important career decisions. Hoffman and Casnocha advise you to practice communicating with your network regularly to best benefit from their information and expertise.

(Shortform note: While Hoffman and Casnocha suggest you communicate frequently with your network, experts suggest you be careful when consulting multiple advisors because people’s perception of you changes based on whether or not you take or ignore their advice. Studies have shown that, when advisors know that they’re one of several experts that the advice-seeker has consulted, they’re more likely to believe that their advice will be disregarded and distance themselves from the relationship. Consequently, they tend to view the advice-seeker more negatively.)

To get the best advice, Hoffman and Casnocha recommend you:

Figure out who to consult. First, consult with the most relevant experts to your situation—those most knowledgeable or experienced with what you’re dealing with. For example, if you’re considering going back to school to get another degree, reach out to someone in your network who has that degree or works in a related field. After you’ve talked with them, reach out to close allies who know you well and can help you assess the relevance of the information based on your personal situation. Additionally, consider asking people whose judgment you trust in general, as they can often provide valuable outside perspectives on your situation.

Ask good questions. When asking for advice or information, avoid making it seem like an interrogation, which might make the other person uncomfortable and prevent them from sharing rich insights. Instead, encourage a real conversation by preparing a handful of good questions such as, “What’s the most exciting development in your field these days?” Ask both broad and specific questions to get the best information. If you’re interested in discussing a topic deeply, try framing the question in a new way.

(Shortform note: In addition to asking good questions to help your contact feel comfortable, you can also try displaying open body language and mirroring how they speak (such as softly or enthusiastically). Repeat back some of their words, but don’t interrupt them mid-sentence.)

Synthesize the information. Once you’ve spoken with different people, take time to synthesize the information you received and assess what’s helpful and what’s less relevant. Since everyone has their own biases and experiences, you can get the most out of your network’s knowledge by carefully comparing different pieces of information and making sense of contradictions.

Listen to your instincts. Hoffman and Casnocha advise you to check in with your instincts before and after you consult your network. Often, you’ll have a gut feeling about a career decision. If there’s no time to discuss an opportunity with your network, the authors say you should practice feeling comfortable with making decisions based on your gut feeling.

Assess the Relevance of Your Network’s Advice

While Hoffman and Casnocha point out the different types of experts you can consult, others stress that taking in more information isn’t always better if it only confuses you or wastes your time. Therefore, it might behoove you to vet the information you receive to gauge its relevance and helpfulness to you before implementing it.

You can do this by considering what type of advice your contact is giving you. They can provide you with data, information, or knowledge, whose value and relevance to you ascend in that order. Alternatively, you can simply heed your instincts when talking to a contact. Let’s look at how to best analyze each type of advice.

Using just your instincts: When you receive information (like an email about enrolling in an online degree program), first try to make sense of it according to your instincts. Decisions made by instincts can be done quickly, but are more risky. Like Hoffman and Casnocha point out, sometimes you have little information to go on and must make decisions based on your gut instincts. Consider how you’d feel if your decision was publicized, which might add another level of clarity as to what option is best for you. For example, if you’re considering going back to school, first assess the reasons based on your instincts.

Data: When consulting your network, your connections might provide you with raw facts and statistics. Data can help inform your decisions, but you should avoid basing your decisions entirely on data because they can be incomplete or inaccurate depending on the context. For example, your contacts might provide you with facts about the degree you’re interested in, such as the credit requirements or the salary of potential careers.

Information: Information is data that others have added context and meaning to. When you ask people in your network questions, as Hoffman and Casnocha suggest, they can help you make sense of data and turn it into more valuable pieces of information that you can give more weight to when making decisions. For example, your contacts can provide added context and personal opinions about the data you’ve gathered, such as whether the credit requirements are too demanding for your existing lifestyle.

Knowledge: Experts argue that you should give the most weight to knowledge—information that has been analyzed or validated that you can act upon. Knowledge might be the culmination of your conversations with your contacts—once you’ve received data and information, analyze and synthesize the information you’ve received in a way that makes sense to your life.

When assessing for biases, as Hoffman and Casnocha recommend, consider whether the person you’re talking to is credible and whether they’re giving you data, information, or knowledge. Then, determine if they might have any hidden agendas that could be affecting what they’re communicating to you.