Video Of The Week: Reid Hoffman and Joi Ito at The Churchill Club

My favorite talks are between interesting people who know each other well. This talk is one of those. Joi and Reid have been friends for as long as I’ve known them, which is over a decade.

Reid is the founder and Chairman of LinkedIn and a leading VC with Greylock. Joi is the Director of the MIT Media Lab and formerly the Director of Creative Commons.

Thanks to Tyrone who sent this one to me earlier this week.

#VC & Technology#Web/Tech

Comments (Archived):

  1. Dave Pinsen

    I thought the video of the week might be RVP’s header from yesterday: http://es.pn/UA3Lyd

    1. fredwilson

      and a great pass as well. amazing play.

      1. Dave Pinsen

        Yes, great pass by Blind there.

    2. gregorylent

      content not available in your area (india) … what globalization?

      1. Dave Pinsen

        I’m sure you can find it on Twitter or YouTube. Speaking of India, though, an Indian Twitter user was confused with Van Persie yesterday: https://twitter.com/vsuvin/

    3. Rohan

      The goal from Robben was fantastic too – blistering pace.

      1. Dave Pinsen

        Nice work by him too.

  2. Richard

    RH is one smart cookie. He gets the subtle (but huge) distinction between invention and innovation. We are in one or the greatest of innovation cycles, which always lags the invention cycle.

    1. LE

      Reid eats to many smart cookies.

    2. Twain Twain

      Perhaps Peter Thiel would define invention as being going from 0 to 1 whilst innovation is the incrementals in between that:* http://www.amazon.com/Zero-

      1. Richard

        I disagree, if invention is 0 to 1, innovation is 1 to 100 on a log scale.

        1. Twain Twain

          In that case, would this list be reasonable?Inventors: Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Thomas Edison, Henry Ford.Innovators: Jeff Besoz, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk.It would be great to get AVC community’s views on who they personally classify as an Inventor and who an Innovator.For example, if someone doesn’t build a physical device but creates a business framework like Michael Porter does, are they an inventor or an innovator?

    3. Emeri Gent [Em]

      For me the subtle distinction is how we stand on the shoulders of the great, in that innovation isn’t an isolated lone inventor thing, it is a coming together of various efforts that may have happened well in the past, but which find their realization today.IMHO there is something to the phrase “there is nothing new under the sun” – invention is nothing new under the sun, for invention is the sum of human kinds development because we built on our tools. Innovation simply presents something that feels new to us under the sun.Innovation therefore touches the many, whereas invention can sometimes merely only need to touch the one – the subtle difference is in how these things are realized through time and space, something which is never realized in isolation of humanity that is present in our living space and contributions of humanity developed on over time – so inventions today may be realized at a future time as an innovation.The subtle difference therefore is how it is we draw on the things yet to be drawn.[Em]

  3. pointsnfigures

    Academics wonder, “it works in practice, but does it work in theory”

    1. Richard

      Not Harry Markowitz (a hacker before we used the word hacker).

    2. PhilipSugar

      My favorite quote was “in theory there is no difference between in practice and in theory”

    3. Richard

      Im all in on this wave of innovation, but remember what Adam Smith said about mercantilism. There are “disadvantages of the commercial spirit, because with it the minds of woman and men are contracted, education is neglected and “Heroic Spirit’ is extinguished”.

  4. gregorylent

    would love to ask hoffman why he censors linked-in content in china ..

  5. SubstrateUndertow

    After listening to the first 40 minute my take home lesson is that:- hardware / software- data-structures / processing-structures- design / prototype-implementation- biology / network-computingare all now becoming fungible technology accelerantswith the spoils going to thosethat most quickly develop best practices/methodsfor integrating that new found fungible———————————————–This video is too long, making it kinda hard to a have high participation rate in the comments ? Maybe long video-of-the week posts would be helped by posting the video at the end of Monday posts for later commenting on Saturdays. Many of these long videos deserve more robust comments.

    1. SubstrateUndertow

      Ok – 1.5 hours laterwhat a great conversation that was !on bit-coin as a distributive organically-mediated financial substrateand organic peer learning networks as the substrate for modern educationIn short a great conversation about applying the generic reusables ofOrganic Process Literacy !to everythingMeme us all up Scotty !and by Scotty – I mean Everybodycollaborating on developing a set of easily accessible- Narratives- Metaphors- Attitudes- Language- Tools- Techniques that make those organic reusables frameworks collectively easier to visualize and apply as core strategic social memes/Apps/tools.VIDEO – “This Thing For Which We Have No Name”http://player.vimeo.com/vid…

  6. Emeri Gent [Em]

    After having wasted hours of my life watching stuff like Italy beating England, I was well prepared to look at this 90 minute talk – which ironically is the length of a World Cup soccer match.My Highlights (multitask thru listening – personal probing for my own linkages/interest):1. Ito: Neoteny – a retention of childlike attributes in adulthood http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2…2. Ito: Prefers building stuff (Work-in-Practice) not scholastic researchhttp://bit.ly/1qfTNib3. Ito: Fungible Understanding/Hybridization – (Not Interdisplinary Classes)http://blog.andreaskoller.c…http://bit.ly/1kBx6054. Ito: Regenesis a book by George Church http://www.regenesisthebook…5. Ito: Shenzen and Agile Hardwarehttp://atmelcorporation.wor…6. Ito: Multiple Prototypeshttp://stanford.io/1p66IQ67. Ito: Deploy or Diehttp://radar.oreilly.com/20…8. Reid: A-B Testinghttps://www.optimizely.com/…9. Ito: Tony Fadellhttp://bit.ly/1vj2JDt10. Ito: M.I.T. Bitcoin Club (Bitcoin – a hack on bookkeeping – as a ledger system)http://bitcoin.mit.edu/11. Ito/Reid: ASIC Development (point was hardware and the makers – kids)http://www.sandia.gov/mstc/…12. Ito: Jay Dvivedi – Accouting Geniushttp://www.japaninc.com/art…13. Ito: Knowledge/Skill Delivery not the focus – Effective Peer-Learninghttp://edge.org/conversatio…14. Ito: Degree Learning – Get out of here mentality vs. scaffolding (don’t want to leave)http://vimeo.com/8456140Link found on Reid’s view: http://linkd.in/1lmuwLx15. Reid: Network Literacyhttp://blogs.hbr.org/2012/0…16. Ito: Minimum amount of identity for any type of transaction – Loop of Trusthttp://joi.ito.com/weblog/2…Quote from Link: “A multitude of identities is an essential component in protecting privacy and interacting in an exceedingly digital world.” Joi Ito17. Reid: Individual Rights vs. Collective Rightshttp://geolib.com/sullivan….18. Ito/Reid: Business Model Hacking – Impact as important as cashflowhttp://www.innovationhackin…19: Reid: “OTAKU” Japanese for “Excessive Geek” http://en.wikipedia.org/wik…Other stumbled upon link during talkTedX Dubia 2009 – Joichi Ito Talk : http://vimeo.com/8456140%5BEm%5D

  7. Matt Zagaja

    A couple things that really stood out to me include the discussion about college dropouts and GPA in relation to hiring, how Silicon Valley is failing to innovate in spaces like lobbying, and the tough road faced by regulatory hackers. It’s ironic how many startups and tech companies founded by college dropouts or people without experience put 5+ years experience in their job posting requirements. It’d be interesting to have Reid talk a bit more about how LinkedIn is trying to hack the hiring process to help companies find diamonds in the rough, if they are at all.I may have to concede there might not be as much road for innovation in lobbying as there is in other fields. To be honest I think twitter is the biggest lobbying hack I’ve ever seen. You now have a chance for a politician to actually see your note whereas using mail or e-mail usually staffers would process and respond to it.An important point was made about the fact that senior level people in government are not engaging with technology and therefore do not completely understand the implications of cyber-warfare.

    1. Emeri Gent [Em]

      Matt, when you look at the sheer scale of lobbying, there is a tremendous road for innovation, albeit the first step does involve a much clearer definition of lobbying and when it crosses the line into corruption.I don’t see how one can work on that definition without lobbying viewed as a social transparency – every election cycle promises to look at the influence of corporations and money into politics, but the only way to really manage this is through technology.Technology may not initially change the process of lobbying but it can aggregate profiles of activity, which can lead to connections to transparency – (i.e. pressure to explain or to be more accountable). This would not be a call for greater transparency, but the creation of system that enable transparency to call out suspected corruption and lobbying overreach.Technology can both a public watchdog and an exercise in greater accountability.[Em]

  8. paramendra

    Joi follows me on Twitter. I don’t know why! 🙂