Alright, alright.  I know I’m not supposed to be posting about LinkedIn on my personal blog.  But sometimes, the news is really big, and worth sharing with friends & family who read this blog.

So, before you read it in tomorrow’s newspapers, you might want to catch the blog post by Dan Nye, our CEO, on the LinkedIn official blog.  Dan did a great job with the intro:

One of our fundamental beliefs at LinkedIn is that the company you keep is one of the most credible reflections of who you are and what you have to offer.

Like individuals, successful companies are also built on strong networks of relationships, and LinkedIn continually strives to create the right partnerships to help us build a great service for our members, and advance our business.

Today I am happy to announce that LinkedIn has raised additional funding from our original investors and added another world-class investor to our team. Bain Capital Ventures joins our existing group of investors – Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners, and Bessemer Ventures – and leads this round of investment at a total of $53 million.* (LinkedIn has previously raised $27 million).

The (*) is the footnote that the investment implicitly values the company at over $1 Billion in total.

As a result, there is a lot of press already published, and a lot more to come I expect.  Reading through comments already in the blogosphere, I’m definitely seeing a “Goldilocks” theme to the comments:

• This bear thinks the price is too high
• This bear thinks the price is too low
• This bear thinks the price is *just* right

But I think Dan’s post reflects the true issue with an investment like this – we have a great new partner joining the LinkedIn team who believes in the vision and the value we are creating with the company and its products and services.  More importantly, it’s a reminder that investors are placing millions of dollars in trust with the LinkedIn team to fulfill this vision, and create a business of extraordinary value.  Our users also invest in us every single day with their time, their effort, their passion, and their careers.

So, I’m going to bow out of any debate on valuation, and focus on the real challenges ahead.  I’m hoping that our actions and efforts in the coming months and years will speak louder than words (or numbers, in this case).

Let me leave you with some thoughts on LinkedIn from our investors: