Is work-life balance a myth in start-up era? LinkedIn's co-founder has a harsh truth for those who love 9-to-5 jobs

You don’t build a $26 billion empire by prioritising work-life balance. An old video of LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman arguing that startup owners cannot think of work-life balance if they want their business to take off is currently going viral on social media.

Hoffman had one piece of advice for new entrepreneurs: forget about seeking work-life balance.

“If I ever hear a founder talking about, 'This is how I have a balanced life, they're not committed to winning,” Hoffman told Stanford University’s “How to Start a Startup” class in 2014. "The only really great founders are [the one's who are] like, 'I am going to put literally everything into doing this.'”


While Hoffman’s tough love when it comes to work-life balance is nothing new, the clip has recently resurfaced on social media, and it’s now racking up thousands of likes.

“When we started LinkedIn, we started with people who had families. So we said, "Sure, go home and have dinner with your family. Then, after dinner with your family, open up your laptop and get back in the shared work experience and keep working,” he explained.

“The people that think that's toxic don’t understand the start-up game, and they’re just wrong,” he said. “The game is intense. And by the way, if you don’t do that, eventually, you’re out of a job.

In LinkedIn’s formative years, the intense work culture left little room for personal time—even for parents. Although nearly a third of the early team had children, taking extended time off simply wasn’t part of the equation.

The only real concession to family life was the expectation that employees could go home for dinner. By today’s standards, that may seem harsh. But Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn, explained that this culture wasn’t unique to the company. In fact, things were even more relentless during his earlier venture at PayPal, where meals weren’t enjoyed at home at all—they were provided right at the office, signaling an unspoken expectation to stay and keep working late into the night.

For Hoffman, this wasn’t a flaw in the startup world—it was a feature. He emphasized that joining a startup is a deliberate decision, not something forced upon anyone. The lifestyle, he admitted, demands sacrifice, and it often comes at the cost of work-life balance. But for those willing to embrace that grind, the payoff can be extraordinary.

And LinkedIn is a prime example of that payoff. According to Hoffman, many of the company’s first 100 employees reached a point of financial freedom as a direct result of their commitment during those early years. The hard work and long hours paid off in a life-changing way when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn in 2016 for a staggering $26.2 billion. That acquisition cemented the company’s legacy and ensured that the people who built it from the ground up were well rewarded—not just with money, but with the freedom to choose how they spend the rest of their lives.

In essence, Hoffman’s perspective reflects a broader truth about startup culture: it’s not for everyone. The demands are high, the pace is unforgiving, and the sacrifices are real. But for those who opt in and fully commit, the experience can be both professionally fulfilling and financially transformative. As he sees it, the early grind wasn’t a hardship to be avoided but a path that led to unparalleled success—something that, for many of LinkedIn’s early employees, changed their lives forever.

Netizens React

Hoffman's views, which were cited by a Fortune report, went viral on the subreddit Indian Workplace. Netizens criticised the LinkedIn co-founder for his disregard for work-lifebalance.

"No employee will make such a comment. Only CEOs and founders make. Because it's their job to make money for the company..." Read the comment.

"If you watch closely, only those who "own" the businesses are talking shit like this - probably because they did sacrifice wlb for the sake of their company. But they miss the point that they "own" it; it's their baby. Whereas for us, we're just employees. In the same analogy, I will surely sacrifice my WLB for my real baby. But that doesn't mean I start expecting the same from the nanny..." wrote another.