Best known as a founding team member of Priceline.com, having lead the development of Priceline YardSale, Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovator.
After launching his first software company while a student at Yale University, Hoffman continued to successfully found and grow a several startups, including uBid.co, CTI and ColorJar. Priceline was Hoffman’s fifth startup. Today the company has a market cap of over $45 billion.
[EVENT] Priceline.com Cofounder Jeff Hoffman to Keynote 2015 Upstate Venture Ecosystem Awards
Now as a serial entrepreneur, proven CEO and motivational speaker, Hoffman is focused on supporting entrepreneurship worldwide. In doing this, he encourages other successful founders to create bigger, better lives for themselves and for others by paying it forward. He believes this is the higher purpose that drives the best founders, and the component for developing a truly successful startup ecosystem. “Grab somebody’s hand and pull them forward. The best thing we can do as entrepreneurs is support each other and support our community,” said Hoffman.
Practicing what he preaches, when Hoffman helps first-time entrepreneurs he sets aside the spreadsheets, instead asking them about their lives, dreams and mission. He believes when people are driven by a purpose, they are far more successful than entrepreneurs focused on finances, with the world rewarding them through the value they create. “Entrepreneurship is a method to build your own destiny, to design your own future, ” said Hoffman. “Successful entrepreneurs can design the future of people around them.”
[BUY TICKETS] Register Online Before September 8th and Receive $25 Off Tickets to Hear Jeff Hoffman Speak at the 2015 Upstate Venture Ecosystem Awards
Hoffman instills in entrepreneurs that, while their companies may not change the world, their lives can. The idea is for startup founders to design their lives around what is necessary to succeed in their goals. This doesn’t mean being the smartest person in the room. It means that having a true purpose leads to true success. “The secret sauce is passion. They’re not smarter than you, they outwork you. They’re dedicated to something that matters. They believe in something. They’re driven to get up every single day. And some passion for something in life drives them every day. Those are the people that are the most successful,” said Hoffman.
In line with UVC’s mission to create a united startup ecosystem throughout Upstate New York by increasing opportunities for “creative collisions,” Hoffman advices entrepreneurs that the harder they work, the luckier they will become. “The more you get out of your house, out of your office, meet new people, introduce yourself, go places and try new things, the more luck you seem to run into.”
Join UVC and the Upstate Venture Association of New York on October 9 at the Turning Stone Resort as we celebrate the achievements of our region’s entrepreneurial leaders who are paying it forward and creating a stronger startup economy in Upstate New York.
