LinkedIn to go public

This one had been in the works for a while. Based in Mountain View, the social network that's focused on business and career wants to raise as much as $175 million in the initial public offering. The company's filing finally provides some details about its financial performance, including net income of about $10.1 million for the first nine months of 2010, compared with a loss of $3.4 million for the same period a year earlier. Sales totaled $161 million during the first nine months of 2010. Here's the S-1. LinkedIn is the first of several social networks expected to file public offerings.

Also, here's an Inc. magazine interview I did a couple of years back with founder Reid Hoffman (he's expected to maintain a large stake in the company). Hoffman is an investor in many Silicon Valley companies, including Facebook.

The trick to doing well with these things is to be in a place where people are saying, Hey, that's a crazy idea. If you're right, there's the opportunity to produce something really big. You want to be one to three years early. You want to start before others think it's an easy idea. It's much harder to be successful when 10 similar things are all being financed.