LinkedIn co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman quits Microsoft’s board to chase an AI dream

US: Reid Hoffman is a man in a hurry. The venture capitalist and LinkedIn co-founder has abruptly quit Microsoft’s board, declaring he needs to get back into “founder mode” to run Manas, his drug-discovery start-up. After nearly a decade as one of Silicon Valley’s most prominent ambassadors to the Redmond giant, Hoffman has traded the boardroom for the lab bench. Hoffman broke the news in a video posted to his social-media accounts, filmed alongside Microsoft’s chief executive, Satya Nadella, in a display of amicable parting. “We’re seeing such progress with Manas,” Hoffman said, “I said, ‘Look, I think I need to get back to founder mode.’” It was, he added, “a huge honour and pleasure” to have served on the board. He had joined the board in 2017, a consequence of Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn, the professional networking site he co-founded in 2002. For years he played a pivotal role, acting as a conduit between Microsoft and the swarming AI companies of Silicon Valley. He sat on the board of OpenAI, a close Microsoft partner, and of Inflection AI, whose leadership Microsoft later snapped up to spearhead its own large language model push. The departure, however, arrives trailing uncomfortable baggage.
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