It seems to me that monetizing a LinkedIn competitor would mainly be accomplished by selling advertising of some kind: -engagement ads of some kind (exposure t

It seems to me that monetizing a LinkedIn competitor would mainly be accomplished by selling advertising of some kind: -engagement ads of some kind (exposure to your business in general, banners, etc.) -leads for job ads and contracts -general job ads searchable by candidates But for a potential direct replacement (and selling the related ads), I think it's hard to justify building out a social networking platform when there are so many robust options already available. Unless you're going to really bring something new to the table there, why rewrite FB/LI/etc? In terms of selling access to candidates and job ads, lots of companies are starting to get this right in their particular vertical without having to include a social component (in software, see Angel.co, SO Careers, Hired.com, etc.). Just my 0.02 dollars, certainly not an expert here.