This presentation is a research project from students at San Francisco State University and is intended for educational purposes only, any other uses are strictly prohibited.

Agenda

• What is LinkedIn?• Company

background• Current business

model• Competitors• Sustaining success• Summary

What is LinkedIn?LinkedIn is a networking tool that enables people to establish, manage and build their professional network.

• Most powerful networking company in the world

• Scalable revenue model and clear vision for future growth

• Represent the gold standard of web 2.0 business

Logged out homepage screenshot

History of Growth• Founded Dec. 2002, launched May 2003• Current market reach continues to grow (see below)

Unique Visitors only counts a user once no matter how many times they visit the site in a given month—this is the industry standard for measuring a website popularity

Source: Compete.com

Reid Hoffman

Reid Hoffman, Chairman and CEO

▫ Chairman, CEO and Co-founder of

▫ Previously Executive Vice President of

▫ Background in management & technology

Known as..

“The most connected man in Silicon Valley”(which is practically/statistically true)

Reid is also involved with other successful start-ups, including;

Management Team

Steve Sordello, CFO• Previously served as Tivo, Inc.’s CFO• Was also CFO for AskJeeves, heading a turnaround strategy to turn the

company profitable again.

Jean-Luc Vaillant, CTO• Co-founder of LinkedIn• Previously was Director of Engineering for Logitech

Jeff Weiner, President• Oversees all day-to-day operations• Over 14 years of experience as an internet executive• Most recently spent seven years as Executive Vice President of Yahoo! Network Division

Kevin Eyres, Managing Director - Europe• Responsible for leading company strategy and growth• Has experience internationally as European Managing Director of SideStep and GM of

AltaVista International

Vision & MissionVision Become the new global medium for how business gets done.Mission Connect the world’s professionals to accelerate their success.

LinkedIn revenue model is based on 2 revenue streams, which include:

Revenue Model

1) Advertising Fees-4 basic advertising options for simple, clean and professional adsReach target customers directly Cohesive with the ‘User Experience’ by avoiding flashy/irritating ads

2) Premium Membership Fees- Generated from membership fees for upgrade accountsAdditional services for professionals to improve productivity

*These features are useful for marketing professionals, head hunters, etc

Membership ‘feature matrix’ screenshot

Revenue Model (cont)

Industry AnalysisProfessional Networking Site Industry (PNS)• LI is the gold standard for professional networking

Their current industry position in the broader SNS industry

Social Networking Site Industry (SNS) characteristics– Target markets slow to adopt– Hyper-Competition– Perpetual Innovation– Rapid technological developments

Competitor Analysis• Direct Competitors

• Indirect Competitors (numerous)

Market AnalysisTarget User Characteristics• Mostly males• Age 40 (approx)• No kids• Income $100k+• High Education level• California/New York

Sample User Profile

Company Growth

• Company– 33 employers to 345 as of January 2009– Memberships have more than doubled, surpassing 38 million

users as of March 2009– Projected Growth for 2011 (below)

0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000Members

Members

Membership Statistics

Company Growth

PropertyAverage

AgeAverage

HHI%Comp Co Size <100

% Comp Business Decision Makers

% Comp That Read

Business Magazine

Last 30 Days

LinkedIn 41$109,70

326% 49% 29%

WSJ.com 48 $101,701 18% 40% 45%

Forbes.com 47 $93,896 18% 38% 47%

BusinessWeek.com 48 $95,668 18% 42% 51%

Company Growth

Company GrowthAdded Services: Building value proposition to Users

• LinkedIn Jobs• LinkedIn Mobile• Featured Apps:

iPhone App screenshot

•International expansion- Roughly half of the members are international users

•Currently available in six languages – Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish

Interest in LinkedIn by search volume

Company Growth

Interest in LinkedIn by search volume

Company Growth

• Investments

– Sequoia saw potential growth in LinkedIn and invested 4.7 million dollars in May 2003.

– Other important investors include;

Marketing

LinkedIn uses three main forms of marketing:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)– Optimizing search results in search engines through carefully selected keywords and

being connected to other high-traffic websites.

• Viral Marketing– Offering free web-based services and products as a means of encouraging individuals

to create exposure for LinkedIn.

• Word-of-Mouth– Exposure created through the personal experiences and knowledge of

individuals.

Value addedLinkedIn also offers vital services that enhance

their overall product:

– LinkedIn Polls

– LinkedIn Answers

– Applications to create synergistic interactions• One-stop connection to blogs, business websites,

online calendars, and events.

Closing

• Young market with large growth potential

• Sustainable business model

• Unique product offering

Thank you for your time!

For additional info regarding this presentation, please contact Adam Pastana--pastana@sfsu.edu

This presentation is a research project from students at San Francisco State University and is intended for educational purposed only, any other uses are strictly prohibited.