Early history of LinkedIn's UED team, including screenshots, key employees, and assorted hijinx. This was presented to the LinkedIn UED team on June 18, 2013, to commemorate the hiring of LinkedIn's 100th web developer.

1. LinkedIn UED: The Early Years
2003-2007

2. Before I left in late 2011, I put together this timeline of LinkedIn's history, highlighting key moments, events, etc.
Now at ourstory.linkedin.com
Today, I want to go a little further and talk specifically about the history of the UED team
If the timeline is the intro course in LinkedIn history, this is the graduate-level seminar

3. 2003

4. Internet was a very different place in early 2003
No: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Tumblr
No: Web 2.0, AJAX (Google Maps 2005, GMail 2004), tagging (Flickr, Delicious)
No: Chrome, Firefox, Safari (in beta); IE ruled both Windows & Mac (IE5!)
No: Ruby on Rails, Django, Node.js (2009)
No: iPhone, Android
No beard either

5. One thing that was around... Friendster (Summer 2002)
Not a new concept (sixdegrees.com), but first to go mainstream
Huge idea that really took off; the ability to see your friends of friends
Easy to mock now for its technical/business missteps, but was white-hot in 2003-4
Kind of an inspiration for LinkedIn

6. We started building LinkedIn in late 2002
Team made up of mostly old colleagues from a company called SocialNet
Founded by Reid in 1998; seven of the founding team members worked there including Reid, Allen, Jean-Luc, Yan, Ian McNish, David Eves, and myself
We broke the work into six phases, working from mockups (not visual) that Allen created
Idea was to have a completely usable system by the end of each stage
Covered Login, Invitations, Profile, Search, Requests (Introductions), and Subscriptions
This is one of Allen’s mockups for Phase D
No visual design yet; this is all placeholder
Even the company name was still considered temporary (hoped to think of something better)
We decided to use Java/JSP since the ex-SocialNet employees (Yan, JL, me) were all familiar with it
Fulfilled our needs and let us hit the ground running
Hugely important in a bootstrap startup situation where you want to get something live ASAP

7. This is an early CSS layout test I did (February 03)
On the front-end, I decided early on to build the site using CSS (no tables) for layout
A lot of blogs were doing this, but Wired was the only big site to have done it (Oct 02)
ESPN switched in Feb 03 which helped validate the decision a bit
Made for some really clean JSP pages, which made it easy to go back and forth with Yan when we were working on features

8. Launched on May 5, 2003
This is the guest home page
First week was exciting, about 1000 users right off the bat, then tapered off

9. Signed-in member home page
Visual design done by Allen
Single column layout (except for home pages), limited color palette, a few icons

10. Profile page; things to note:
Profile is pretty sparse; no endorsements/recommendations (not until later that year)
No education on Profile (not until mid-2004!)
Search network through 4 degrees of separation
BUT, no way to view (or contact) people outside your network at all (no nameless profiles, etc.)
Introductions are the only communication tool; InMail comes later
Invite by email address ONLY
Wanted to ensure you really knew the people you were connecting to
Lots of messaging on the site re: only connecting to people you know
Didn't want to weaken the network
No photos
Coming from SN, we didn't want it to be a dating site
Very cautious –> recurring theme throughout the early years
No ads, no monetization whatsoever
Token "beta" survey hinted at possible subs (way down the road)

11. Early example of game mechanics in connection icons (created by Allen)
Little icon on profile/search results next to your # of connections
Icon changed as you added more connections
Never published those thresholds, users had to discover on their own
Fun way to encourage connection building

12. Front-End: May 2003
•70 JSP pages
•20 JSP emails
•4 JS files
•1 CSS file
•Browsers: IE6/Win, IE5/Win, IE5/Mac
We were an all-Mac shop, only 1 PC in the office (located on the floor of a closet!)

13. End of 2003
1
Developer
0
Designers
100,000
Users
End of year stats for 2003
Still no dedicated designer, aside from Allen (who was also PM, Customer Service, etc.)

14. 2004

15. Site has undergone some changes
Secondary navigation appears
Multi-column layout
“Add connections” link appears in the header (this is just one test)
Growth starts to pick up significantly with address book uploads/invites
Days in 2003 where we got 10-20 signups!
Groups launched
Very bare bones; badging only
Groups created manually by WebDev (for the next couple years)
Releasing new features weekly

16. Explaining how LinkedIn worked and how to get value out of it was probably our biggest issue back then
Spent a LOT of time on the new user experience in those days
Constantly redesigning the new user home page; here’s one example

17. This is a homepage from mid-2004
Emphasizes address book uploads and searching your network
Note the “Sponsored Links”: our first, teeny tiny crack at making money (run first through MarketBanker, then Adbrite)

18. Ches Wajda joins as LinkedIn’s first designer (this photo’s actually from his last day... captures a typical workday for him)
Was a lead at eTrade
Incredible illustrator; over time, he transformed the site completely...

19. Shortly after Ches came on board, we did a full redesign of the site
Here’s the guest home page
Note the tie-in with Kelly Perdew, who won Season 2 of the Apprentice that year; he had an LI profile and helped promote us (somewhat)

20. Here’s the member home page
Note the header: we did a cobranding deal with American Express’s Small Business Network
Anyone who signed up through it got that logo in their header
We were really excited because it was going out to 1.5 small business members
One of those things we spent a ton of time on to make work, and really didn’t net much in the end
Part of the startup experience: throw a lot of stuff against the wall, trying to move the needle; some sticks, most doesn’t

21. End of 2004
1
Developer
1
Designer
1,600,000
Users

22. 2005

23. Jobs launches in early 2005. This is the job seeker homepage at the launch
We’ve redesigned the global nav again; alternating blue tabs for the “find” and grey for “my” items
Also a funky toggle used to go between the seeking/hiring areas of Jobs
This header would basically endure (with slight variations and additions) until beginning of 2008
This was our first big push at monetization (although postings were free for the first couple months as we tried to build traction)
Jobs was a tremendous amount of work for the whole team and, in particular, me
Realized after pulling an all-nighter the night before the launch that I needed help
Had about 7-8 engineers now feeding me work + Ches redesigning the site every 5 minutes

24. Made my first-ever hire, Scott Schlegel
Nerve-wracking process; making that leap from individual contributor to “Mr. Manager”
Still remember having lunch on Scott's first day and thinking "Man, I really hope this works out."
Fortunately it did, better than I could have ever imagined
Everybody knows how important hiring is, but the first couple people you hire on a team are important x 100
They end up setting the tone as much as you do yourself; you just can’t get those hires wrong

25. Around this time that Ches re-did the LinkedIn logo
After many explorations, this is the final round of designs that Ches did
Each exec was given three pennies to use as votes, they placed those pennies on the variation they liked best
The one in the upper right is the one we use today

26. Continued to churn out new stuff
Guest home page from mid-2005
We had also launched Services at this point
Really just a page of links to different Service Provider searches (“lawyers in your network”, “accountants”, etc.)
News mentions helped validate us and so were still very prominent

27. Here’s a member home page
Getting a lot busier
Global nav changes
Find Services is now a tab
Plus there’s a download link for one of our desktop tools, the JobsInsider

28. This is a weird feature we did called the Signature Creator
Basically generated an HTML signature (including a LinkedIn profile link) that you could import into Outlook or other clients
Another example of something we spent a ton of time on but, in the end, had little impact
Schlegel pulled his first LinkedIn all-nighter for this project
Some execs really loved this feature and thought it would boost our virality; it didn’t

29. Here’s a one-off page we did for an event our Sales/Marketing team was attending
This page is long gone, but it inspired a parody that still lives on the site today...

30. The Togo’s page!
There was a Togo’s about a half-block from our office on El Camino in MV (it’s since been torn down and replaced by a Walgreens)
We probably went there 3-4 times a week. Sandwiches were good, the service was pretty horrible (we figured this out much later after going to another Togo’s that was 2x as fast)
When we weren’t eating at Togo’s, we went to...

31. Sizzler!
This was also a parody of another marketing/sales page; I can’t remember which one
Picture of Greg Cervelli, one of our product managers, who held the record for most shrimp eaten (92 on the day of that photo)
We didn’t actually eat at Sizzler often because, if we did, we’d be dead

32. Here’s the product team circa 2005 (Ches taking the photo) at Sizzler
Allen and Josh Elman, another PM (now a principal at Greylock) on the right

33. Besides jobs, the other big product from 2005 was Subscriptions
Huge release: really changed the way LI works
Reduced network from 4 degrees to 3 degrees
InMail is introduced; can get as part of a subscription or a la carte
Name search across the entire user base (not just your network)
Such a big release, we took the site down for six hours in the middle of the day
While Eng worked, the Product team went to Malibu Grand Prix (true story)
This is (pretty close to final) comp of the Member Home page from the time of the Subs launch
As you can tell, we were redesigning the home page pretty much every 3-6 months in these early days
Inbox is still very prominent (esp. here where the comp shows all the cases)
Also the top text ad makes its first appearance (still there today)

34. Of course, we did take some breaks.
Scooters were very popular; we had a large office that was half-empty, so we frequently had scooter races
On the left, Scott’s jumping over Greg
On the right, he’s taking off during a timed lap
We also organized wiffle ball games in the front parking lot (where we learned our high school-age summer receptionist was a ringer)

35. End of 2005
2
Developers
1
Designer
4,200,000
Users

36. 2006

37. Public Profiles
First signficant LinkedIn content available to non-members
Drove a lot of new signups via search engine traffic; huge boost to our numbers

38. We also created a LinkedIn Team page so we could boost the search ranking for our employees LinkedIn profiles
It was a simple list of everyone who worked here, but we needed something else for the page
I told Ches, we should say “these are the wizards who make LinkedIn happen” and have an appropriate graphic
And so he drew a wizard
That’s the first draft on left, final on right
We used this on the Team page for years (as long as we had that page)
Later, he appeared whenever we had scheduled downtime (which was frequently, nearly every release), which gave him a bad reputation
He still lurks in dark corners of the site, spreading his magic where he is least expected...

39. Kept iterating on the site
Here’s a guest home page from mid-2006
Note the search for public profiles, as well as the links to the public profile directories for SEO
I think this is the first time “Relationships Matter” is used as a tag line

40. Here’s the member home page
The top nav now includes a search box on every page
“What’s going on in your network” is the first appearance of the Network Updates feed

41. Around this time that Ches decided even he needed some help, which lead to the arrival of... Mike Lin, aka Ultraman!
Mike came from Yahoo, first in a long line of UED team members (designers and developers) we would import from the big Y
The day Mike arrived was a very special one
Not just because he was to become instrumental in shaping the direction of LinkedIn’s UI over the next few years
But because we welcomed him with lunch at...

42. ARBYS!
To be honest, I can’t remember WHY we took him to Arby’s; in retrospect, it was pretty far from the office (Sunnyvale)
Arby’s was to become the scene of many...

43. Many...

44. Many...

45. Many New Hire lunches. In fact, every new hire lunch in UED from May 2006 to September 2010.

46. Brought the tradition to an end in September 2010 when we went for lunch on Mike’s last day at LinkedIn.
Closing the circle, if you will.
Keep in mind that everyone in this photo had lunch on their first day as a LinkedIn employee... at Arby’s.

47. After Mike arrived, we redesigned the profile
Break out some content (recommendations, connections, messages) onto sub pages
Add a big 300x250 ad slot

48. Part of redesign: a small Profile Completeness widget that superseded the old Profile Tips
The % indicator suddenly made it exciting to fill out your profile in a way the old tips didn’t accomplish
Became a classic game mechanic example on the web (still it referred to today, and many other sites have copied it)

49. Coincided with a revamp of the Services area
This never really succeeded as we hoped (eventually removed from the site), but I did use it to find my current dentist (true story)
Around this time, we added two new members of the UED team...

50. Omar Lee
Omar came from Tivo
Another amazing illustrator and designer
Replaced Ches, who had left for YouTube

51. Steve Ganz
This is what he looked like when he joined LinkedIn
Sent him an intro through my old boss at QS
Turned me down initially, but then he came around
Passionate about web standards, and was intrigued by our use of microformats/hResume
Pivotal hire for WebDev, responsible for connecting us to many future hires
Opened up PayPal to us: Jamie (who in turn, brought Scott O), Jeremy; also Travis
Key lesson: Only thing better than hiring a great developer is hiring a great developer who knows lots of other great developers and can convince them to join him
Also promoted our work in the WebDev community, conferences, etc.

52. Around this time, Guitar Herotook the UED team by storm
Scott came into work one day and would not stop talking about how awesome it was
We went to his apartment during a break in the afternoon and played
I think we had a PS2 and Guitar Hero for the office within a day or two
Guitar Hero become such a big thing at LinkedIn that we had a company-wide tournament when Guitar Hero 2 was released
And it was the centerpiece of our “World Tour” t-shirt at the end of 2006, designed by Omar

53. UED team photo, late 2006
L-R: Scott Schlegel, Omar Lee, Chris Saccheri, Mike Lin, Steve Ganz

54. End of 2006
3
Developers
2
Designers
8,000,000
Users

55. 2007

56. LinkedIn Answers
Another feature we invested a lot of time in but didn’t quite pan out as we hoped (eventually removed from the site)

57. Redesigned the home page again around this time (widening the right rail for a big ad slot)

58. Continued to find ways to blow off steam from work
Sometime in 2006, Scott and I found a rubber ball in the office, took it out back and marked out a four square court
It caught on pretty quickly; we’d send out a company email announcing four square and eventually people would trickle into the back parking lot
Sometimes had to create two simultaneous games!

59. Eventually took on other startups (SimplyHired, Meebo) and were even featured on Fox Sports Bay Area
This is a photo of us with our uniforms and personalized LinkedIn 4 square balls
Headed over to SimplyHired to do some damage (and we did)

60. In 2007, we moved into Stierlin Court and kept the bullpen-style arrangement that kept us in close quarters
Even built out a nice Italian restaurant for our cube warming/decorating contest
Those are famous Italians on the wall (from DeVito to Sinatra)

61. This was a fun, UED-driven project to redesign the guest home page
Worked closely with Reid on this, all of us in a room together brainstorming
Yet another attempt at explaining the value of LinkedIn to new users (never stopped working on this)
Really wanted something dynamic, even though it was before users had signed up
Hit on the idea of getting their company/school names and using that to show how many people from those places were already on LinkedIn
Didn’t really nail it, but it was a fun process and a rare opportunity to work directly with Reid on the design of a feature
Was great that Reid clearly understood the value of design but, unfortunately, design wasn’t always part of the conversation at the exec level

62. Fortunately, there was a key hire for UED in 2007 who was neither a designer or developer who helped solve that problem... Adam Nash
Led Product for home page, profile, and registration
Also became the manager responsible for the web developers and designers
Helped establish the UED team as a true unit
In fact, it’s after he arrived that we started to refer to ourselves as UED
Previously "the designers and WebDevs", "those jerks", "Benny and the Roids"
Helped us manage up, advocate for importance of design at exec level

63. Why WebDev in Product?
• Better communication, better results
• Horizontal unity in a vertical world
• Recruiting advantage
Helped solidify WebDev's position in Product
Starting in 2007, steady stream of Eng leaders came onboard wanting to bring WebDev into Engineering
We resisted; the partnership with design was very important to us
Felt it resulted in better work; people at both ends of the process (concept + execution) sat side-by-side, so you had checks/balances to see that features turned out the way we
had originally conceived them
"Horizontal unity in a vertical world"
Company had begun splitting into vertical teams around Product areas
We worked on those teams, but continued to work horizontally, too
Easier for us to keep the site in sync that way (at least, with a small team)
A recruiting advantage
Web developers who care about UX want to work closely with designers
Designers wanted to work closely with the person implementing their design
Not that we had anything against Engineering; as web developers, we were close to them too
But here, in UED, in Product, was where we felt we could produce the best results
It was an ongoing struggle and, if you like having a UED team that includes both design and development, thank folks like Adam and (later) SteveJ for helping preserve that

64. With our newfound identity, we doubled the size of the team in Summer of 07:
Jamie hired
Another PayPal hire
Played Wii bowling with Jamie during his interview (hired despite numerous gutter balls...)
Gina hired
First in a loooong line of Yahoo web developers
Lured her in with the promise of pony rides in our job description (finally fulfilled 4 years later)
Brad hired
Came from Shopping.com
Craig hired
Came from SimplyHired, still stinging from their defeat in Four Square
Kate hired
1st design manager (now design director at FB)
Helped grow the team
Unfortunately, Omar left soon after this
But on his last day, we visited a place that would soon become another traditional UED restaurant...

65. Benihana! (This is a photo from Omar’s going-away lunch)

66. Like Arby’s, the UED team would make many trips to Benihana (including a Christmas party)

67. Here’s the team after lunch on May 19, 2011 (IPO day).

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Closed out 2007 with another big redesign
Here’s the guest home page, back to a more static design, but has reg form inline

69. Another revamp of the global navigation; adding a persistent side rail with profile information
Menus on the top and side give quick access to all key areas
Lasts until late 2009
Redid the home page, too
Still emphasizes the various ways to build your network
Right modules prepare for launch of OpenSocial

70. End of 2007
5
Developers
5
Designers
17,000,000
Users
End of year stats for 2007
Hired Sarah just before the end of the year to even out the score and keep the team in double-digits overall

71. 2008and beyond...
Of course, the story doesn’t stop there...

72. And grow!
The team continued to grow...

73. And grow...

74. And grow...

75. And grow! (This is the team today.)

76. 0
26
52
78
104
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013
104
79
38
29
15
10
53211
Web Developers
Everyone at LinkedIn loves a curve that goes up and to the right. The WebDev team’s growth curve is no exception.
(Design team is similar but don’t have the numbers. Sorry.)

77. Q&A
Open the floor to some Q&A on the history of LinkedIn, UED, WebDev, whatever.