LinkedIn co-founder billionaire: 3 traits for entrepreneurial success—No. 1 is 'insanely great ambition'

Self-made billionaire Reid Hoffman knows what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur.

In 2002, the 57-year-old co-founded LinkedIn in his living room and served as its CEO for most of the following decade. Today, the professional networking platform has over 1 billion users and was acquired by Microsoft in 2016 for $26.2 billion.

Hoffman has served on the board of directors at tech companies such as PayPal, Airbnb, and Microsoft. He founded Inflection AI, a machine intelligence company, in 2022. According to a recent podcast episode of "The Diary Of A CEO," Hoffman believes that three traits are most important in a promising business owner: ambition, resilience, and awareness.

"When selecting a founder to invest in, Hoffman is attracted to someone who possesses an "insanely great ambition" and has a mindset of "I'm aiming for the stars" and "If I succeed, I will revolutionize the industry.""

The determination to succeed can lead to unwavering effort to make your ideas successful, even in the face of challenges, as entrepreneur and investor Barbara Corcoran stated on a 2023 episode of Barstool's "Chicks in the Office" podcast.

When contestants present their ideas on ABC's "Shark Tank," she looks for the first thing.

Highly sought-after soft skills

Understanding yourself, others, and your business more effectively is the key to awareness, as Hoffman stated.

Hoffman ensures that a startup's leadership has a plan for transforming the industry and recognizes that entrepreneurship is a team effort, not an individual pursuit.

Resilience, or the ability to adapt and recover from stressful situations, is another "very important" trait that successful entrepreneurs share, according to Hoffman.

Startups often experience a 'valley in the shadow' moment, where they question the viability of their idea," he observed, citing his experience at LinkedIn, PayPal, and Airbnb. "Resilience can help you overcome these challenges and stay focused on your organization's long-term goals.

A performance coach named Steve Magness, who has trained both business executives and professional athletes, wrote for CNBC Make It in 2022. Magness suggested a technique supported by psychology: Instead of using first-person pronouns when speaking to oneself, use second- and third-person pronouns.

According to Magness, using first-person pronouns in our inner dialogue creates a self-immersed world, which may not always be beneficial.

Instead of suggesting, try telling yourself: "You can do 20 pushups" or "[Your name] and her team can finish this presentation. They're all so talented."

Creating psychological distance expands our perspective of the world. We can detach emotionally, gaining clarity on the world's reality, rather than being consumed by it.

CNBC has the exclusive rights to air "Shark Tank" off-network.

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