Biography of Jeff Hoffman

Jeff has been a keynote speaker at major conferences and symposiums in over 40 different countries, and is currently writing a much-anticipated book on how companies can use new techniques in Innovation and Idea Harvesting to become world leaders in their field. 

Most recognized for his role in the creation of Priceline.com, Jeff is an Internet pioneer who has spent his life building companies and motivating business leaders and their employees all around the world, has successfully built and sold a number of start-up companies, while traveling around the globe and adding to his knowledge base of emerging trends and new competitive requirements for tomorrow’s business landscape.  .  

Jeff started his first software company while still a student at Yale, as a means to finance his college education, and has been launching and building companies ever since.  Today Jeff serves as a Mentor to many new companies, whether in his role as Entrepreneur in Residence at the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech, or his role as Business Coach in the Kaufman Institute’s FastTrac Entrepreneur’s program, or as a Judge in the Business Launch Competition sponsored annually by the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG).  Jeff has participated in similar programs at such institutions as MIT, Pepperdine, and others.

Jeff’s first startup was a software company in the travel industry named CTI, a company that quickly became the industry leader in technology for the travel and tourism industry, and was later acquired by American Express. For his achievements, Jeff was named one of the industry’s 25 Most Influential Executives.  Hoffman was also a founder of early e-commerce pioneer Virtual Shopping, Inc., which developed patented, proprietary software and hardware for online retailing on the Internet, and was later acquired by Europe’s Wallenberg Group. 

More recently, Jeff was a founder and CEO in the Priceline.com family of companies, where Jeff held two CEO titles and led the development and launch of Priceline’s consumer-to-consumer company.  Hoffman also served as an executive and investor in Walker Digital, the parent company of Priceline and one of the country’s most innovative creators of intellectual property and new business models.

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Today Jeff serves as Managing Partner of Smith-Hoffman Capital, a private equity firm investing in early and growth stage companies in a wide array of industries, including consumer products, health care, and technology. Jeff also serves on the executive and advisory boards of a number of other companies, including InteleHealth, PB Nation, Simcraft, and digital entertainment retailer BurnLounge, among others.

Outside his technology ventures, Hoffman is an independent film producer, having executive produced such successful independent films as CABIN FEVER, and has also produced concerts and music events including such recording artists as Elton John and Britney Spears.  Hoffman was recently elected Chairman of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, which is a non-profit organization serving to bring sports and school sports leagues to disabled children all across the country.

Speaking Topics

• Innovation and How to Inspire It
• Managing Change in a Fast-Paced World
• The Art and Science of Branding
• New Rules of Business Leadership
• Digital Distribution and How to Use It
• Web 2.0 – What Does It Really Mean?
• The Digital Entertainment Revolution
• Entrepreneur’s Boot Camp – Ten Keys to Success
• Commitment to Excellence – No One Ever Asks Who Came in Second
• eDreams and eRealities – Tales of Success in the Internet Business
• Ready, Set, Go! – Reinventing Yourself and Relaunching Your Career
• Energy and Attitude – Motivation to Achieve Your Dreams