Linkedin Company

Almost as soon as Guang-Yu Xu was laid off from his engineering post at a Silicon Valley Internet company last month, he visited LinkedIn.com and updated his job status from "current" to "past." Through their interconnected contacts, he soon heard from headhunter Robert Greene, one of more than 530,000 recruiters trolling the professional networking site for job candidates. Within a few weeks, Xu had three offers. He started at Mint.com, a personal finance website, two weeks ago.

Internet whiz kids Marc Andreessen, Josh Kopelman and Joe Kraus share something besides the jackpots they reaped during the dot-com boom. All three have invested in LinkedIn, an online networking service that connects people with common friends and work interests. In 18 months, LinkedIn has built a following with an invitation-driven service that encourages members to share their Rolodexes to help find jobs, fill jobs and increase sales. That the Mountain View, Calif.