LinkedIn Has Turned 20

FAST COMPANY - LinkedIn was launched in 2003, at the same time as several other social networking start-ups, most of which failed. Its emphasis on members' professional lives rather than personal pursuits was initially seen as a strategic blunder. However, LinkedIn became a rare example of a company that saw its greatest success after being bought. Microsoft acquired the site for $26.2B in 2016 but let it continue to chart its own destiny. Today, ~4,500 job applications are submitted, and eight hires are made every minute on the platform. The lesson? "The less exciting turtle does win the race sometimes," says Reid Hoffman, the company's co-founder. To tell LinkedIn's improbable story, FastCompany talked to dozens of eyewitnesses, including founders, key employees, early users, independent observers, and current executives.