Daniel Hoffer
Born
Brookline, Massachusetts United States
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma materHarvard University (AB)
Columbia University (MBA)
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, executive, venture capitalist
Known forCo-founder and former CEO of CouchSurfing
managing director of Autotech Ventures

Daniel Hoffer is an American entrepreneur and venture capitalist, known for his role as Co-Founder and previous Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the hospitality exchange service, CouchSurfing.[1][2][3] Presently, Hoffer serves as Senior Vice President, Corporate Development at technology startup Hayden AI.[4]

Background

Daniel Hoffer was raised in Brookline[5] and started his first dot-com company at age 15.[2] Since 1990 he has been actively involved in various Internet-related communities and businesses .[6] While in high school, Hoffer managed an online Bulletin Board System and an educational program designed to connect physically-challenged individuals with their peers in a digital environment.[6]

Hoffer earned an A.B. degree in Philosophy from Harvard University and an MBA from Columbia University.[2]

Career

Hoffer co-founded Fuxito Worldwide, a venture-backed soccer website, where he hired Casey Fenton and Sebastien Letuan in 1999. Representing the company, he was featured on the cover of Inc. Magazine in January 2000.[6]

Hoffer's professional experience includes roles as a strategist at NEC Corporation, in sales at Siebel Systems,[6] and in product management at Symantec.[5] He later served as Head of Product for TripIt (and several associated product lines) at Concur.[7][8]

CouchSurfing

CouchSurfing was co-founded by Hoffer, Sebastian Letuan, and Casey Fenton.[6] The company was initially registered as a non-profit in 2003.[9] Hoffer served as CouchSurfing's Chief Operating Officer during its non-profit phase,[5] as well as Chairman of the Board.[10]

In 2010, after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) denied CouchSurfing's application for 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, Hoffer assumed the role of CEO. He subsequently joined Benchmark Capital as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence and transitioned CouchSurfing into a for-profit certified B corporation.[11][12]

In 2011, under Hoffer's leadership, CouchSurfing raised $7.6 million in Series A venture capital funding, led by Benchmark Capital with participation from Point Nine Capital, Gil Penchina, Michael Birch, and others.[13][14]

Hoffer resigned as CEO of CouchSurfing in 2012, with Tony Espinoza succeeding him in the role.[11]

Other ventures

In 2015, Hoffer became a Partner at Tandem Capital, a seed venture capital fund based in Silicon Valley.[7] Later, in 2018, he was appointed as a part-time General Partner at Speedinvest, an Austrian venture capital fund.[15]

After Tandem Capital, Hoffer joined Autotech Ventures as a Managing Director, where he was involved in the company's investments in SWVL, a private transit start-up with headquarters in Dubai and Cairo that later went public on Nasdaq;[16] BusUp, a shuttle platform in Barcelona;[1] and Bus.com, a charter bus service in Montreal.[17] These ventures in the bus industry have led to Hoffer being nicknamed "The Bus King."[1] Hoffer left Autotech Ventures in July 2023 to join Hayden AI, an Autotech portfolio company with whom he had worked closely.[4][18]

In 2017, Hoffer participated as an angel investor in the $30 million funding round for SpotHero, an online parking marketplace.[19] In 2020, he was also involved in the $10 million funding round for Preply, an online learning platform.[20]

Hoffer has shared his expertise as a guest lecturer at institutions such as Harvard Business School, Columbia Business School and UC Berkeley Haas School of Business.[6]

Personal life

Hoffer has contributed articles to Forbes and TechCrunch.[21][22] In his leisure time, he is a licensed martial arts instructor and enjoys teaching martial arts. Hoffer currently resides in Menlo Park, California.[12]

Board positions

  • CouchSurfing International[6]
  • Trucklabs

References

  1. 1 2 3 Bergman, Ben (2021-12-23). "A VC known as 'the Bus King' explains how he found an undiscovered industry and made a lot of money". businessinsider.com. Insider. Archived from the original on 2021-12-23 – via archive.today.
  2. 1 2 3 Green, Penelope (2007-09-20). "Surfing the World Wide Couch". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Fedorov, Andrew (2021-09-15). "Paradise lost: The rise and ruin of Couchsurfing.com". inverse.com. Input.
  4. 1 2 "Daniel Hoffer joins Hayden AI as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development". www.businesswire.com. 28 September 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2023.
  5. 1 2 3 Latimore, Ashton. "Couch Agent". www.harvardmagazine.com. No. November–December 2007. Harvard Magazine.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Zittrain, Jonathan (2009-04-08). "CouchSurfing: What one website reveals about the future of the net". cyberharvard.edu. Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University.
  7. 1 2 Taylor, Kate (2015-04-29). "This Mobile Seed Fund Just Added Two More Partners". entrepreneur.com.
  8. ↑ "Concur Technologies, Inc. : TripIt Introduces an Easier Way to Communicate Travel Plans On the Go, By Making Specific Trip Plans and Flight Status Alerts Shareable | MarketScreener". www.marketscreener.com. 2014-01-06.
  9. ↑ Moran, Gwen. "How CouchSurfing Got its Start, and Landed VC Millions". NBC News.
  10. ↑ Baedeker, Rob (2010-06-21). "Building community, one couch at a time". SFGATE.
  11. 1 2 Lapowsky, Issie (2012-05-29). "Couchsurfing Dilemma: Going for Profit". inc.com. Archived from the original on 2013-06-29 – via archive.today.
  12. 1 2 "Dan Hoffer | Managing Director – Autotech Ventures". Forbes Councils.
  13. ↑ Lacy, Sarah (2011-08-05). "CouchSurfing Raises $7.6 M; Will Users Cry "Sell Out"?". techcrunch.com.
  14. ↑ Moran, Gwen. "How CouchSurfing Got its Start, and Landed VC Millions". NBC News.
  15. ↑ Ohr, Thomas (2018-01-31). "Speedinvest launches new €50 million fund "Speedinvest x" to invest in European marketplace technologies". eu-startups.com.
  16. ↑ "SWVL debuts on Nasdaq, sets initial offer price at $9.95 per share". Wamda. 2022-03-31.
  17. ↑ Czikk, Joseph (2019-06-27). "Bus.com raises $19.5 million, will hire lots of people". montrealintechnology.com.
  18. ↑ Vartabedian, Marc (2019-09-26). "Autotech Ventures Navigates Quickly Evolving Transportation Sector". wsj.com. The Wall Street Journal.
  19. ↑ "SpotHero Secures $30 Million to Accelerate Market Expansion, Business Partnerships and Product Innovation". www.businesswire.com. 2017-07-18.
  20. ↑ "Preply Raises $10 million as Online Language Learning Comes Into Its Own". markets.businessinsider.com. 2020-03-30.
  21. ↑ Hoffer, Dan (2023-02-07). "Council Post: Rightsizing The Capital Runway For Takeoff". Forbes.
  22. ↑ Hoffer, Daniel (2022-09-28). "The unbearable lightness of being asset-light". TechCrunch.
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