Daniel Hoffer

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 and head of revenue-generation during its non-profit phase,[5] and later became the 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 and Omidyar Network.[13][14]

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

In 2015, Hoffer became a Partner at Tandem Capital, a mobile-first 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]

As a managing director at Autotech, Hoffer has been 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.[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]