Jeff Weiner

Founding Partner Next Play Ventures; Former CEO / Executive Chairman at LinkedIn

United States

About

For much of the last three decades, Jeff's focus has been on building purpose-driven companies that create lasting value, helping leaders realize their potential, and aspiring to manage compassionately. He is the founding partner of Next Play Ventures, an early and growth stage venture fund focused on coaching and investing in entrepreneurial leaders building world-class, purpose-driven organizations. Previously, Jeff spent over 17 years at LinkedIn, including over 11 years as CEO and six as Executive Chairman. During his tenure as CEO, LinkedIn grew from 338 employees and $78M in revenue to over 16,000 employees and $7.9B in revenue, and expanded its membership from 33M to more than 690M. Throughout, he prioritized LinkedIn's vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Jeff is also a founding LP and Investment Committee member at Westbound Equity Partners, an early stage fund backing diverse founders and companies serving underserved communities. Additionally, he is co-founder of The Compassion Project, a nonprofit working to ensure compassion is taught in every elementary school in the United States. Earlier in his career, Jeff was an Executive in Residence at Accel Partners and Greylock Partners, advising consumer technology portfolio companies and evaluating new investments. Before that, he spent seven years at Yahoo!, ultimately serving as EVP of the Network Division, where he led the company's consumer web portfolio including the Front Page, Mail, Search, and Media products. Jeff currently serves on the advisory board of the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula and has previously served on the boards of Intuit, DonorsChoose.org, Everfi, and Malaria No More.

Experience

  • Next Play Ventures (San Francisco Bay Area)
    • Founding Partner
      Jul 2020 - Present · 6 yrs

      Our mission is to coach and invest in entrepreneurial leaders building world-class, purpose-driven organizations. Focus primarily on early stage and growth opportunities, e.g., Esusu, Entire, Brilliant, Lakeshore Learning, BRINC Drones, Blockit, Cloaked, and more

    • Investor/Advisor
      Sep 2008 - Jun 2020 · 11 yrs 10 mos

      Investments include Figma, Notion, Brex, Scale, Headspace, Vox Media and more. Previous exits include Slack (IPO) and Cloudera (IPO).

  • Founding LP, Investment Committee at Westbound Equity Partners
    Oct 2019 - Present · 6 yrs 9 mos

    Advisor and member of the investment committee for early stage fund and foundation focused on empowering diverse founders, start-ups serving underserved communities, and companies committed to building diverse teams.

  • Co-Founder at The Compassion Project
    Sep 2017 - Present · 8 yrs 10 mos

    The Compassion Project is an initiative designed to ensure compassion is taught in every primary school in the U.S. To date, 34k schools have registered, impacting over 1M students. Co-founded with Everfi, an innovative edtech provider that has been essential in developing and distributing the coursework.

  • Member, Advisory Board at Boys & Girls Clubs of the Peninsula
    2011 - Present · 15 yrs 6 mos

    BGCP’s mission is to help its members develop the academic and life skills they need to complete high school ready for college and career. BGCP serves youth in grades K–12 at nine locations: three clubhouses and six school sites in East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, and Redwood City, where over half the youth drop out of high school. While most youth development organizations select the young people whom they serve, BGCP serves all youth. The organization has grown rapidly over the past five years and now serves 2,000 active members at its nine sites.

  • LinkedIn (17 yrs 5 mos)
    • Executive Chairman
      Jul 2020 - Apr 2026 · 5 yrs 10 mos

      Help LinkedIn realize its vision of creating economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce. Continue to mentor and coach the leadership team, and advise on key strategic initiatives.

    • CEO
      Dec 2008 - Jun 2020 · 11 yrs 7 mos

      Over 11 year tenure as CEO, LinkedIn grew its membership base from 33M to more than 690M, increased its revenue from $78M to $7.9B and expanded the team from 338 employees to over 16,000.