Autobiography
I grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, as the son of European immigrants. Starting when I was very small, my parents took me traveling with them: first to the Caribbean, then to Israel, then to Europe, and then to China in 1987. I believe that being exposed to other cultures at a young age had a powerful impact on my perspective. Travel made me realize how large the world is and how many value systems and ways of living there are.
When I travel, I enjoy the thrill of discovery and of unique and new experiences. I prefer off-the-beaten path voyages in which I learn something different and exciting. Travel is a chance to expand my mind.
Given my professional background and academic training in business, my role at CouchSurfing.com is to make the organization run as smoothly and effectively as possible. Whenever possible, I seek to apply best practices that I have learned in management consulting and at Fortune 500 companies to CouchSurfing's operations. My passion is to make CouchSurfing as well-run as any leading for-profit institution.
Professional Biography
Daniel Hoffer has been working with online communities and the Internet since 1990, when he ran an online Bulletin Board System (BBS) and created a statewide educational program in Massachusetts to connect physically disabled patients with elementary and high school students online.
Daniel first worked closely with CouchSurfing co-founders Casey Fenton and Sebastien Letuan in 1999 at Fuxito Worldwide, a venture-backed international soccer website he co-founded. Since then, Daniel has worked full-time as a management consultant, in corporate strategy at NEC Corporation, and in sales and marketing at Siebel Systems.
Daniel has appeared on the cover of Inc. Magazine and been featured on the front page of the Boston Globe, on ABC Nightline, on national radio and in numerous magazines and newspapers around the world. He has also been a guest lecturer at Columbia Business School, the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley, Harvard Graduate School of Education/Harvard College, and MacWorld Expo. Daniel serves or has served on the Board of Directors of CouchSurfing International, the American Jewish Commitee, the Association for Strategic Planning, Chi Fountain, the Harvard Club of Silicon Valley, and on the Advisory Boards of Tangerine Wellness and Inner Circle Logistics.
Daniel received a BA from Harvard College in Philosophy and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
