Category

business

Ted Murphy
In gear

The Best Little Portable Speaker

This past January at CES I scoured the show floor for electronics that truly impressed me. I stopped by Jabra’s booth and instantly feel in love with the Jabra Solemate. The Jabra team very kindly gave me one for free and  7 months later I have decided I love it enough to write about it.

If you follow me you know I am constantly on the go and travel non-stop. I love to listen to music while I work, and will often play music out of my iPhone’s speakers while in my hotel room. While the iPhone is surprising loud, it is not very clear and lacks any hint of bass whatsoever.

Little Package. BIG Sound.

The Soulmate changes all of that for me. From the moment you pickup the Solemate you will be impressed by the quality of construction and the weight of the device. Turn it on and a deep bass “bonnnnngg” demonstrates just how loud this portable speaker is. Connect it via bluetooth to your iPhone (or other inferior mobile device) and you will simply be amazed by what comes out of this little black (or white) box. This thing destroys the Jambox by Jawbone.

jabra_solemate

I recently took the Solemate to a beach party and it was an instant hit. It was loud enough to overcome all the people talking and the ambient noise of the ocean – so much so that people started dancing (ok, ok, ok – there may have been some alcohol involved). The long battery life (it is rated for 10 hours of music streaming) gave us enough charge to last our entire time at the beach, and to top it off the Solemate comes with a handy sand-proof bag.

I love the fact that I can keep my iPhone in my pocket and walk away from the Solemate. I’ve noticed that it gets about 20-30 feet of distance before it disconnects, but this is more than enough for most applications. You don’t have to wire into your speakers and leave your phone exposed for would-be thieves…or worse…would-be DJs messing up your playlist.

The Solemate features a unique rubber bottom that looks like the sole of a chunky shoe. It makes it so the speaker does not slide around when it is on smooth surfaces. Jabra also boasts that this design will limit vibrations from the speaker, which I can attest that to be true as well.

I have used the Solemate in my truck as a bluetooth speakerphone for conference calls. It has a built in omni-directional noise canceling microphone that works better than the one built into my wife’s SUV. Soulmate uses digital signal processing to optimize your voice and music and suppresses echoes.

All in all I give this device 5/5 tongues. I highly recommend it.

You can buy it through Amazon for about $150.00 (yes, I am an Amazon affiliate).

Ted Murphy
In travel

Soup Dumpling Awesomeness

Like most business travelers I have my “go-to” places in the cities that I regularly visit. When I visit New York, Joe’s Shanghai is up at the top of the list. I originally discovered Joe’s back in 2003, a friend took me to the Chinatown location (9 Pell Street) and I instantly fell in love.

Joe’s isn’t fancy by any stretch of the imagination. The Chinatown location is old, cramped and sports dusty neon lights straight out of the 80s. When you are shown to your table, you may be surprised that you will be sharing it with a complete group of strangers and sitting (very) closely to people that aren’t part of your party. Chances are they will already be half way through their meal, speaking Chinese to each other as they eat things you will be afraid to order.

IMG_1232

I like to experiment, but I am not down with fish heads. The reason I go to Joe’s can be summed up in two words – soup dumplings. You may think you have had something like them before, but I promise you have never had soup dumplings until you have had them at Joe’s. There is always a line out the door and these little pouches of soupy happiness are why. Order the pork dumplings and your belly will smile.

Soup DumplingsWhile the reason to go is the dumplings, they do offer a full list of options on the menu. Other favorites of mine include Joe’s Shanghai Noodles, Crispy Beef and Shrimp Grand Marnier (not on the menu). If you head to the Chinatown location know that it can feel a little sketchy at night if you aren’t comfortable in big cities. They don’t accept credit cards so make sure you have some cash.

If you are looking for a slightly more upscale experience you can checkout the Joe’s on 56th street in Midtown. They offer soup dumplings, though they are more expensive and always feel a bit smaller in size to me. You get 8 dumplings for $6.95 in Chinatown – you get 6 dumplings for $8.95 in Midtown. The upside to Midtown is you get your own table, there is rarely a line and they accept credit cards. Not quite the authentic experience, but a close second if you can’t make it down to Chinatown.

Have another Chinese restaurant you love in New York? Let me know and I will check it out on my next visit.

Ted Murphy
In sales & marketing

5 Creative Ways to Motivate Your Sales Team

A position in sales can be incredibly lucrative, and thankfully this means there is rarely a shortage in applicants. Unfortunately the sales life is a tough slog, and not everyone is cut out for it. It is demanding – sales people often don’t get the respect they deserve from other departments, and it is among the most stressful roles in any organization. The job never ends for salespeople. Had a good month? Well… that was last month! Unfortunately for the sales person, there are always more sales to be had.

All that pressure can lead to sales fatigue. People can get demotivated, especially when there are bumps along the road. Here are 5 quick ideas that go beyond the typical cash commissions and bonuses that you can use to keep your team motivated.

1. Give Incentives That Can Be Seen by Others.

A reward that others can see is much more effective in motivating the entire team than one that can’t. If all you are offering is more cash on a pay stub, the person getting it may be elated – but the others won’t notice much difference. I prefer a much more public approach. Ship your rockstar sales person off to the Dominican Republic with their loved one for a week, Instagramming and Facebooking the whole time… hey, that could be you!

2. Build Value.

Sell your salesperson on the value of selling. Sometimes a lacking salesperson might just have lost sight of the impact of their work. Remind them how they are the lifeblood of the company, that they ultimately provide the income that supports the entire organization. Point out ways in which their work is adding value to the client’s life. Money, while fantastic, isn’t a motivator in and of itself. It’s the happiness and joy that comes with it, and those are the things that can help push someone out of a slump.

glengarry_steak_knives-thumb-425x239-365773. Provide Small Rewards for Small Details.

Sometimes it truly is the little things! Announce first thing in the morning you’ll treat the first person to make a sale to lunch. Keep an eye out for deals to stock up on small rewards, even things as simple as candy bars or Starbucks gift cards, and pass them out when you overhear something positive.

4. Invest in the Self.

People are more motivated when they see the lasting impact they have, so, provide some of that to the people on your team. If you have stock options to give, give them! If you aren’t in the position to offer stock, do something as simple as asking if they’d like to take any personal courses to invest in themselves.

5. Sell Something!

If all else fails (and really, even if it doesn’t), get your ass out there and show your sales team how it is done! Sell a new client, bring in a new partner or close on an investment. Nothing gets sales people more excited than seeing their leader in the trenches alongside them.

 

Ted Murphy
In business,

Jeremiah Owyang’s Collaborative Economy

I first met Jeremiah Owyang back in 2005 when he was working for Hitachi Data Systems. I interviewed him for my podcast called Internet Marketing Voodoo (you didn’t know I used to be a podcaster did you?).

Those were the very early days of social media, before Twitter even existed. He and I would often see each other at conferences where we would both be speaking about the coming wave of “consumer generated media” and the impact it would have on business. Those were very exciting – yet frustrating – times as many of the C-Level execs we addressed just couldn’t see the future that was so clear to both of us.

altimeter_group_logoI recently had the opportunity to catch up with Jeremiah, now a Partner at Altimeter Group, on a trip to the bay area. We traded war stories like old veterans that served on the front line of a long, bloody battle. In many ways I felt like I was closing a chapter in my professional life. Jeremiah was the person that first broke the PayPerPost story online by sharing the launch with Mike Arrington. That post started a ethical battle about paid social media that would rage for years. It is now clear that I was on the right side of that battle – though I took many an arrow in the back for leading the way.

The Next Chapter

Jeremiah and I are both looking to the next big thing. I am working on a new product (details coming soon) and he is blazing a trail with his research on the collaborative economy. He shared his thoughts with me over breakfast and I think he is on to something huge. Many of the principles he speaks about are already baked into the product I am working on.

This is the next wave of innovation and opportunity for business, both online and offline. While it may sound a like a fad right now –  just remember that people said the same of social media. I interviewed him via email as a followup to our conversation:

Collaborative Economy

What exactly is the collaborative economy?

jeremiah_videoOur tight definition is: The Collaborative Economy is an economic model where ownership and access are shared between people, startups, and corporations. We currently see that corporations are being disrupted by the sharing revolution, and are fighting back through lobbyists or marketing. We see an opportunity for corporations to get involved, and not stand by the wayside.

(The details of this are in the research report published here. Also check out this video and this series of posts by Jeremiah)

Collaborative Economy

What inspired your research?

Over dinner, Loic Le Meur, the founder of LeWeb and serial entrepreneur leaned over and told me in his charming French accent that the next LeWeb would be about sharing, at the time he called it “digital hippies”, which he settled on the sharing economy. It took a few weeks for it to sink in, and as I probed the space, I realized that this was a major disruption to corporations as people could buy one product once, and then share many times with each other –not needed to buy again. I also saw there were many corporate business opportunities for the taking, but the idea and concept had not yet been fully baked in the market, so I did what I do best: I conducted a research project to find out what is possible –and what is not.

Your vision of the future must be met with some resistance because it challenges the status quo. What do the naysayers push back on most often and what is your response?

This reminds me of 2005-2006 when we first started to get together Ted and create social media (back then we called it something else), and we were singing the exact same song that corporations need to get on board or lose out. It feels the exact same way as I heard it eight years ago, but now, rather than sharing media, people are sharing goods and services. When I told you, I could see the same fire in your eyes light up that I saw in us 8 years ago.

How does this shift effect the small retailer running a store in my neighborhood? What can they do to adapt?

This is a great opportunity for any size business, as they can now unlock any inventory or space or services that are idle and resell on the market, or they can offer their own services on demand we call this Company as a Service. Companies can also Motivate a Marketplace of customers around them to resell or add new value to the products and goods that are being shared in their own market. For example small business ScotteVest encourages their own customers from their dot com to buy and sell used goods, bringing the community of customers closer to them.

In what ways has the collaborative economy effected you personally? What are you doing now that you didn’t do 5 years ago?

Well, for one, I let a stranger drive off in my family car using a website called RelayRide so I could generate revenues from my idle car that was sitting on the curb. The out of town college student got a car for the weekend, I got some revenues, and we both won. I also use Taskrabbit for work at the office, as well as at home, tapping into workers on demand. At Altimeter, where I’m a partner, we’re tapping into LiquidSpace to find meeting space on demand for our remote meetings and more.

Collaborative Economy

It’s key to remember, this is still part of social business. The first phase was sharing media and ideas, the second phase is about sharing goods and services.

Welcome to the Collaborative Economy.

Ted Murphy
In entrepreneurs

7 Successful Entrepreneurs that Failed First

Many entrepreneurs experience failure and rejection before they find success. Those that do succeed know that it takes determination to reach their goals and fulfill their dreams. I have personally been through many a trial, but I have never given up.

Every “no” gets you closer to a “yes”. Every failure gets you closer to success.

Here are some “failures” that I admire.

dorseyJack Dorsey

While Jack Dorsey is currently considered one of the golden boys of Silicon Valley, he was actually fired as CEO of Twitter in 2008. He went on to found Square and later returned to Twitter as Executive Chairman.

edisonThomas Edison

School teachers told Edison that he was stupid. He invented almost 1,000 light bulbs before one of them worked. Now Edison is one of the most famous inventors in United States history. He held 1,093 U.S. patents, including 1084 utility patents (patents for inventions) and 9 artistic design patents.

oprahOprah Winfrey

Oprah has confessed that she was fired from her television reporting job early in her career because of her appearance. Winfrey persevered and became the queen of television talk shows with her own production company and later her own television network.

fordHenry Ford

Ford’s first company went out of business. He abandoned his second auto company bearing his own name because of a dispute with colleagues. He later created the Ford Motor Company in 1903 and pioneered the production line, revolutionizing the automotive industry. Over 110 years later the company is still going strong.

jk_rowlingJ.K. Rowling

Rowling was as an unemployed single mother living in England when she conceived the idea for the first Harry Potter novel. It took her seven years to complete it and during this period she lived in poverty. The first book Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone was a bestseller worldwide. The Potter books have now sold more than 400 million copies.

disneyWalt Disney

As a teenager Disney was constantly rejected when he applied for cartoonist jobs. A reporter once told him he “lacked imagination and had no good ideas.” Eventually Disney decided to found his own cartoon studio when he was 22. Unfortunately the company went bankrupt. He then went to Los Angeles where he founded the Disney Studios with his brother Roy. The Walt Disney company is now 66 on the Fortune 500.

steve_jobsSteve Jobs

The board of directors of Apple fired Steve Jobs in 1985. He was responsible for the Macintosh division which performed poorly and the company had to discontinue the Lisa computer. Jobs returned to Apple in the late 1990s as an advisor and eventually became the CEO. He prevented Apple from going into bankruptcy and made it a profitable company by 1998.

Ted Murphy
In business, inspiration, travel

Tony Hsieh’s Las Vegas Downtown Project

A few months ago Tony Hsieh set up an opportunity for me to take a tour of the Downtown Project in Las Vegas. This is a massively ambitious effort dedicated to transforming downtown Las Vegas into “the most community-focused large city in the world”. I walked away from the experience excited about… and a bit jealous of… the future of downtown Las Vegas. In fact, this tour is what inspired me to create Trucks and Tech and take a more active role in the development of Orlando’s tech community.

tony_hsieh_downtown_projectTony and his team are true visionaries. They are empowering a new generation of entrepreneurs to rethink and reinvent the way they work and play. They have already created 454 new jobs and the project is still in its nascency. I followed up with Kim Schaefer of the Downtown team to get the 2 minute lowdown for my readers.

What was the inspiration behind the downtown project?

When Zappos announced their move to their new headquarters, Tony and several other Zappos team members decided to make the move Downtown–they had actually been hanging out down here for quite some time. But they had also been talking a lot about what their new campus would be like. They decided that rather than creating a really cool, but insular campus that had all of the amenities employees would ever need, it would be interesting to turn that idea inside out. Downtown Project was born from that idea. How could the entirety of Downtown be helped by the new influx of people and activity.

What makes Vegas so special?

Las Vegas was for a long time the fastest growing city in the country. Because that growth happened in a very condensed period of time, there was a resulting sprawl that occurred. That sprawl can lead to a disconnect between people in a community. The area we are helping to revitalize was once the vibrant core of our city, a place where families came to shop, dine, and meet with friends. It’s our hope that the neighborhood can return to that vibrancy and once again be the heart of the city for the people who live here–not just Downtown residents, but all residents of our city.

You have raised $350M so far, where did it all come from?

The $350 million is a private investment from Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh.

What startups are part of the program?

Tech startups are important to us because we believe you change the world with a laptop. As opposed to a brick and mortar operation, in which we are also investing, tech startups can rapidly scale, creating jobs and helping to further diversify the Las Vegas economy.

(When I was there they setup a meeting with the founders of Romotive)

Why is coworking so important to the downtown project?

Coworking is a great way to accelerate learning and innovation. It allows technologists and entrepreneurs opportunities for serendipitous interactions, which we call collisions, to interact in a casual way where they can learn from one another, collaborate with one another, and support one another as they grow their businesses. We’ve invested in a coworking space called Work In Progress that also offers its members support in the form of classes, talks, office hours with experts, and mentorship to help them scale.

If you are ever in Las Vegas and have some time to broaden your mind I encourage you to reach out and try to schedule a tour with the Downtown team. This experience beats any show you can see on the Las Vegas strip! I promise you will walk away energized and driven to become more involved in your local community.

Ted Murphy
In business

The Evolution of Patents

Protecting Inventors

In colonial times, courts could give inventors exclusive rights to use inventions for a certain number of years. But modern U.S. patent law really began in the late eighteenth century, when the Industrial Revolution was under way. Lawmakers realized that developing industries depended on new inventions, and no one would be motivated to produce inventions if they weren’t money-makers.

So states began to pass general patent laws. The first state to do this was South Carolina, where the law was called “An Act for the Encouragement of Arts and Sciences.” Other states followed, and the term of the patent then was generally 14 years.

This was a good start, but interstate commerce resulted in inventors having to patent their inventions in multiple states. So Congress passed the first Federal patent law, the Patent Act of 1790. Inventors and businesses were generally dissatisfied with it. The granting of patents was up to the Secretary of State; at the time that was Thomas Jefferson, who liked inventions but soon found himself overwhelmed. In addition, the term of the patent was still only 14 years, and no one thought that was long enough.

So after many experiments, the Patent Act of 1836 was passed. It created the Patent Office, streamlined the application process, and put a staff in charge of evaluating inventions. It also enabled inventors to apply for a 7-year extension of their patent term. By this time a modern patenting system was definitely needed, because industry was growing rapidly. Some history-changing inventions had already been approved, such as Whitney’s cotton gin and J. Ruggles’ traction wheels. In the 19th century, as industry continued to expand, Morse patented the telegraph, Bell patented the telephone, and Thomas Edison would hold 1093 U.S. patents.

patent_grants

Protection Turns to Abuse

While the concept of issuing patents started out with the best of intentions, the patent system is now being heavily abused by “patent trolls”. These are companies that sue others for using patents that they own but aren’t using actively using themselves – hoping for a settlement. Worse yet, many of the patents issued to trolls are so broad that it allows the trolls to go after hundreds or thousands of potential sources of income through settlement. Have a podcast? This guy is suing podcasters based on the claim that he invented them, even though his business was sending out “magazines on tape”.

podcasttapes2

The White House has called the practice of patent trolling “abusive,” and in 2011 the America Invents Act was passed to provide reviews of whether patents really have been violated. More recently, President Obama has called for legislation requiring companies to disclose patents they own, to discourage them from buying up patents for the purpose of suing. But companies accused of being patent trolls say they’re just protecting the patents that they paid for.

As an entreprenuer I see both sides of the equation. I have recently filed my first patent for an invention I believe is truly unique and very specific in nature to the operating business I am in. I have watched as others have cloned my ideas in the past and done little to protect myself other than create a better business – in retrospect that was a mistake. I have also recently been sued for “infringing” on an incredibly broad patent and count Groupon, Living Social and Yelp as my co-defendants. Needless to say I believe the patent is overreaching and baseless, but defending that claim is already costing me time and money.

My hope is that there is some real reform in patent law. It is costing entrepreneurs and true innovators billions each year and stifling innovation in America. Patents should continue to be issued, but only on very specific inventions and I believe the inventors should be required to actually create and execute on the patents they are granted. Anyone can come up with an idea, the real challenge is making it a reality.

Ted Murphy
In sales & marketing

Super Sponsorship

This past weekend “Man of Steel” clocked over $113M in box office receipts ($125M total including Thursday night’s Walmart screenings), making it the biggest June opening ever. That in itself is impressive, but what has really impressed me is the amount of sponsorship dollars the film secured before it hit a single theatre.

Rumors are that Warner Bros. arranged over 100 separate sponsorship and product placement deals, amounting to about $160M. You will see Superman (played by Henry Cavill) surrounded by brands such as Sears, 7-11, Gillette and Chrysler. Reports even suggest that major product placement ally Nokia paid over 45 million dollars so that Superman would carry one of its phones in the film.

man_of_steel_product_placement

nokia_man_of_steel

Product Placement in Movies

Over the last several decades, brands and studios have worked closely to insert products into all areas of moviemaking and television. These product placement strategies have ranged from the simple insertion of a product into a single scene in a film (such as someone holding a brand name soda can), to product placement that actually impacts the direction of the plot (think FedEx in “Cast Away”).

Perhaps the most blatant product placement I have ever seen was in “Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle.” The product placement in that film was so overt that the product was inserted into the title. While that is a bit over the top, less intrusive types of product placement have become very popular over the years. Brands see these integrations as a unique way to position their products and connect with an audience to drive both affinity and sales.

For example, when Pierce Bronson took over the reins of the James Bond franchise as the title character, the producers of the series decided to make a drastic change to Bond’s preferred mode of transportation. After spending decades riding around in Aston Martin vehicles, James Bond would hit the road in a BMW Z3. The radical design earned BMW hundreds of millions of dollars in presales alone.

A more recent movie with a ton of product placement is “Iron Man 3”.  Filmmakers not only included millions of dollars worth of product placement for American audiences, but also created an entirely separate edit of the film for Chinese audiences with Chinese branded product placements. Chinese milk drink Gu Li Duo was featured in the Chinese version of the film and other partners created localized promotions for consumers around the world.

ironman3_audi_product_placement

Far from having a character briefly hold or use a particular product in a film, today’s product placement efforts are epic, and have a huge impact on the ability of film production companies to recoup filmmaking costs. I don’t believe that many of the summer blockbusters could be made without the support of brand dollars. It is truly a symbiotic relationship.

Big Deals in Social Media are Next

I find this phenomena fascinating and believe that it parallels what we are seeing with native advertising in the social media space. We will soon live in a world where all of the content streams we consume contain some form of branded content.

 

Ted Murphy
In entrepreneurs

5 Questions with Gary Vaynerchuk

jab_jab_hook_rightDescribed as “The most influential wine critic in the United States,” Gary Vaynerchuk is proof that it only takes a dedicated passion for one thing to launch an empire.

Vaynerchuk was born in what is now Belarus in 1975 and immigrated to the United States with his family when he was only three years old. His father started a small liquor store, and after graduating from Mount Ida College in Masachusets, Vaynerchuk returned to transform the store into The Wine Library. In 2006, he launched what would be key to his success, a daily internet webcast in which he’d discuss and critique wine called Wine Library TV.

The webcast took off, and with its success he went on to create and produce another web series called Obsessed TV, a 30 to 40 minute show that eventually boasted 75 celebrity guests such as Al Roker. He quickly became known as one of the top gurus of marketing in the social media era.

2009 was a monumental year for Vaynerchuk. Buoyed by the success of his web ventures and retail enterprise, he co-launched a social media consulting agency called VaynerMedia and signed a million dollar book deal with HarperStudio.Crush It!, his first book, was released later that same year and focused on how people can monetize their passions on the internet. It claimed the #2 position on the New York Times Advice Bestsellers list.

His second book, The Thank You Economy, was published two years later and again claimed the #2 spot on the New York Times Advice Bestsellers list, behind financial guru Suze Orman.

That same year, in 2011, Vaynerchuk decided to end his webcasts so that he could devote his full attention to VaynerMedia and his writing. VaynerMedia regularly consults with big brand names like Pepsi, Disney, Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson.

Vaynerchuk has been featured in the New York Times, GQ, Time, The Wall Street Journal and has appeared on talk shows such as Conan O’Brien and Ellen. His third book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, will center on “how to sell your story in a noisy world,” and is slated to drop sometime in 2013. Follow Gary on Twitter or checkout his website.

I asked Gary 5 Questions :

1. Why do you get out of bed each day?
To make my family proud and to build my legacy.

2. What is the worst thing an entrepreneur can do?
To think they won, means they aren’t a real entrepreneur after all!

3. If you could do it all over again would you go to college?
Yes, I went to a crappy college. I never went to class but grew as a man by being away from home and enjoyed the vacation before all this damn hustling.

4. What is the greatest invention of all time?
The Internet.

5. If you had to choose between giving up wine or the Internet what would it be?
EASY – wine – the Internet = people and that i cant give up!

Ted Murphy
In business,

The History of LinkedIn

Over the past decade LinkedIn has grown from a simple idea to a company with more than 200 million members worldwide. Designed for professionals, recruiters and job seekers, the site allows members and companies to build profiles and make connections, taking business contacts out of the rolodex and into the 21st century.

I am a huge fan of LinkedIn. I have used the site for recruiting, sales and even raising capital. If we aren’t connected we should be. You can find my profile here: www.linkedin.com/in/tedmurphy

I thought it would be cool to take a look back and see how it all started. A brief history of LinkedIn:

2003: Reid Hoffman and Colleagues Launch the Site

Like so many other internet and technology ventures, LinkedIn began in someone’s home, more specifically, the home of Reid Hoffman. Formerly an employee of SocialNet and PayPal, Hoffman invited a team of colleagues from those companies to begin work on his project. Co-founders of LinkedIn include Allen Blue, Eric Ly, Lee Hower, Konstantin Guericke, Stephen Beitzel, David Eves, Ian McNish, Jean-Luc Vaillant, Yan Pujante and Chris Saccheri.

2004-2006: Growth, Investment and Profitability

After the launch in 2003, LinkedIn grew slowly at first, but by the following year, the site gained the attention of Sequoia Capital who invested more than 3 million dollars in the company. During these years the site introduced new features for its users, such as Address Book, Groups, LinkedIn Jobs, Business Accounts, InMail, Recommendations and People You May Know. The company also began advertising to small business owners in partnership with American Express. By 2006, LinkedIn achieved profitability

2007-2010: New Faces and New Places

After reaching profitability, LinkedIn experienced changes in leadership and a period of expansion. Replacing Reid Hoffman as CEO, Dan Nye took over the reins in 2007. The following year, LinkedIn opened their first international office in London and launched both French and Spanish language versions of the site. The company would again see a change in leadership when Dan Nye departed from the company and Jeff Weiner became the new CEO in 2009. New features during this time include LinkedIn Answers and LinkedIn Recruiter.

2011: Initial Public Offering

On May 19, 2011, LinkedIn went public under the stock symbol LNKD, beginning at $45 per share. The company also opened the doors to new offices in Paris, Bangalore, Melbourne, Milan, Munich, Sao Paolo, Stockholm, Tokyo and Singapore, and added even more foreign language versions of the site. That same year, the Apply with LinkedIn feature was introduced, allowing job seekers to apply directly to companies through the site.

2012: New Visual Architecture

After the IPO, the LinkedIn website underwent a complete visual redesign, streamlining everything from the homepage to profile and company pages. The company also continued to add new language versions, bringing the total to 19 that year

2013: 10th Anniversary

As the company turns 10, it boasts an impressive 225 million members and counting, with new memberships numbers estimated at approximately 2 new members every second. Countries with strongest membership numbers include the US, India, UK, Brazil, Canada, Australia and the UAE. There are 23 products and services now available on the site, such as InMaps, Resume Builder, Sales Navigator and Talent Connect.