Masters of Scale
Episodes
Rapid Response: "Neighbors are the frontline of support," w/Nextdoor's Sarah Friar
24 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
A neighborhood is more than just the people who share a common address, says Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar. It’s every space that makes up your daily lif...
Rapid Response: Build government back – better, w/Jen Pahlka (Code for America, USDR)
23 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the US, local governments are leading the response to COVID-19 – making decisions and gathering data at a speed and scale never before seen. And ...
Rapid Response: Remote teams as an intentional choice, w/Wences Casares of Xapo
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Many of us will be working remotely for a long time to come. So: How do you turn March's temporary scramble into a long-term benefit? Bitcoin pioneer ...
Rapid Response: Target’s Brian Cornell: “I want to see retail survive this”
20 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Every day in a pandemic is different, and that’s true for people and for corporations. CEO Brian Cornell has promised Target will keep its doors ope...
Rapid Response: TaskRabbit's Stacy Brown-Philpot: “A pandemic doesn’t see money.”
18 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
TaskRabbit remains open for business, says CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot. As the magnitude and severity of the pandemic became clear – and as workers acro...
Rapid Response: Lyft’s John Zimmer: How to keep an essential business running
16 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Everything starts with transportation, says John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft. And even though ride sharing is sharply down, transportatio...
Rapid Response: A playbook for when "there’s no playbook," w/CEO Ellen Kullman (Carbon, DuPont)
14 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you survive a crisis? You create your own trajectory, says Ellen Kullman. And she knows: In her former role, she became CEO of the chemical eng...
Rapid Response: Airbnb’s Brian Chesky: "Crisis is pushing us back to our roots"
13 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
As the pandemic hit, Airbnb was preparing for an IPO. Within a matter of days, everything changed dramatically, as travel worldwide screamed to a halt...
Rapid Response: Fast pivots for changing needs w/DonorsChoose Charles Best
07 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
People are altruistic – even more so in times of uncertainty. This is what Charles Best, founder and CEO of DonorsChoose, has learned through 20 yea...
Rapid Response: Relief funding & crowdfunding in a crisis w/Karen Cahn of IFundWomen
04 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What are your options for emergency funding in the US? Can you use the U.S. CARES Act to get financial assistance? Should you consider crowdfunding? W...
Rapid Response: Crisis data is the story of our times, says Crisis Text Line founder
02 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
"Anxiety," "grief," "mom”: These are the words surfacing at this extreme moment in time. That data comes from Crisis Text Line, whose online counsel...
Rapid Response: Hourly workers are a ‘hero class’ w/Cue Ball’s Tony Tjan
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hourly workers are the 'hero class,' says VC Tony Tjan. And the pandemic is wreaking havoc on their financial stability. At Boston’s Cue Ball Group,...
Rapid Response: First, be human – Thoughts on the crisis from Reid Hoffman
26 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Can you blitzscale when the world grinds to a halt? How do you do right by your team AND your investors? What will the entrepreneurial world look like...
Rapid Response: Danny Meyer on the wrenching decision to do layoffs
24 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, Danny Meyer laid off 2,000 people – that's 80 percent of staff at Union Square Hospitality Group, representing 20+ restaurants across the...
Rapid Response: Remote teams, w/WordPress/Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg
18 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The first in a series of special episodes with tools you need RIGHT NOW | Suddenly, many of us are remote workers. As companies radically reimagine th...
How to start a revolution, w/Bitcoin pioneer Wences Casares (Xapo)
27 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
What if your idea is so radical that people have trouble grasping what it is — or even believing it won't harm them? Every founder believes their pr...
Strategy Session: When to replace the founder, how to be a learn-it-all, when to take the "venture bet," w/questions from Endeavor Outliers and co-host Bob Safian, editor-at-large
20 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Growth vs. innovation, scale vs. stability, founders vs, CEOs? Entrepreneurs want to know! In this month's Strategy Session, high-performing scale-ups...
Be a platform, w/Shopify's Tobi Lütke
13 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
The secret to massive scale? Be a platform. Build a virtuous cycle where everyone wins, and you’ll emerge the biggest winner of all. This is what To...
Netflix’s Reed Hastings: Why culture matters
06 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Classic episode: You need a strong culture to build a company that will scale beyond the early days of start up. And strong company cultures only emer...
When to zoom in, when to zoom out, w/Josh Silverman (Etsy/eBay/Skype/Evite)
23 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When do you see the forest? And when do you see the trees? Building a company to scale requires a delicate balance of macro and micro focus – and th...
Strategy Session: When not to blitzscale, how to persuade your board to let you slow down, and: Are you in a Glengarry Glen Ross market? w/questions from Endeavor and co-host Youngme Moon of HBS
17 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
When's the right time for hypergrowth? Should you take investment when you don’t need the money? How do you deal with an exhausted team? Global...
Bonus: A Meditative Story from Reid Hoffman
13 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
How do you find joy in your life? Our host, Reid Hoffman, finds it through friendship, and the genuine, honest, and intimate conversations it brings. ...
What's the hidden business behind your business? w/Rent the Runway's Jenn Hyman
09 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Rent the Runway co-founder Jenn Hyman knows: Behind every successful business is another business backstage, one you might not expect. Rent the Runway...
How to find your big idea w/Spanx's Sara Blakely
03 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
To find your big idea? Look for it. And look for it. And be ready to act. Spanx founder Sara Blakely was actively seeking a business idea when she tho...
How to solve an impossible challenge, w/Megan Smith (US CTO, Google, shift7)
13 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Faced with an impossible challenge? Don’t reinvent the wheel. Look for someone who’s already solved the problem, and lift them up. Megan Smith cal...
LIVE! Find your Trojan horse, w/Robert F. Smith
05 Dec 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Recorded live at Summit LA: Every great founder has a second purpose — something outside their main business they're trying to get done in the world...
Ray Dalio: How to embrace conflict
26 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Want to improve any idea? Find someone who disagrees with it. This is something legendary investor Ray Dalio knows. But there’s a difference between...
Raise more money than you need, w/Minted's Mariam Naficy
21 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Think you've raised enough money for your startup? Think again. You have to run through a minefield of unexpected expenses as an entrepreneur. And you...
How to set the drumbeat, w/LinkedIn's Jeff Weiner
15 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Every leader has to set the drumbeat for their company — the culture, mission, and values that get the entire team in sync. And the rhythm has to be...
Bill Gates: How to accelerate history (Part 1)
07 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How did Bill Gates scale BOTH a global business and a global philanthropy? He spotted an inflection point in history — and accelerated it. What does...
Make it epic, w/will.i.am
31 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
What can entrepreneurs learn from a genre-crossing, multi-platinum musician? How to take a big opportunity — and leverage it into something epic. Fr...
LIVE! Patience or speed? Both. w/Tory Burch
17 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Tory Burch built a billion-dollar business from the ground up, by speeding forward when others might have hit pause, and showing watchful patience whe...
Keep humans in the equation, w/TaskRabbit's Stacy Brown-Philpot
10 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You may think that to scale you need to cut humans out of the equation. The opposite is true. You can harness the power of the "human cloud" to solve ...
Strategy Session: How do you gain your users' trust? How do you build a team and company culture at the same time? w/questions from Entrepreneur First and co-host Jason Feifer of Entrepreneur magazine
26 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
How can I scale during a downturn? Should my company be a pirate or the navy? Reid Hoffman answers questions from early-stage entrepreneurs all over t...
How to build your company to last, w/Fiat's John Elkann
12 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Forget being a unicorn. Learn to be a phoenix. Your company can last 100+ years — but you'll need the resilience to rise and fall, and rise again. F...
Take on Goliath — and win, w/Dropbox's Drew Houston
05 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When Drew Houston founded Dropbox, he knew he faced some fierce competition (hello, Google, Apple and Microsoft). But he didn’t back down. Why? Beca...
Bonus: Recharge your brain with a Meditative Story by Arianna Huffington
06 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
As an entrepreneur, you have to find a way to recharge. This new podcast, from the creators of Masters of Scale, is designed to create calm amid an al...
23andMe's Anne Wojcicki: Embrace the gatekeepers
01 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
When Anne Wojcicki co-founded 23andMe, she carved out a brand-new space in personal health -- helping people become experts on their bodies right down...
The Big Pivot w/Slack's Stewart Butterfield
26 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In your company’s darkest moment, remember: You CAN pivot from failure to success. But only if you slash and burn everything that isn’t working. S...
Small changes with big impact w/Whitney Wolfe Herd of Bumble
18 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Often a small tweak, a rethink of a feature, is what helps your product break out of the pack. Just ask the founder of the Bumble dating app, Whitney ...
Entrepreneurship as a second act, w/Gwyneth Paltrow
02 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
It’s never too late to join the entrepreneurial party. We've heard all the stories of young geniuses, but plenty of influential entrepreneurs founde...
Bonus: 10 New Rules for Big Career Changes (The Graduation Episode) w/Jordan Harbinger
21 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
On Masters of Scale, we talk a lot about how businesses grow. But we also talk about how people grow: How key decisions (and happy accidents) can shap...
Bringing a culture back from the brink, w/Uber's Dara Khosrowshahi
05 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Early-stage startups are a lot like pirate ships – they need a buccaneering spirit to survive. But every startup needs to shed its pirate nature at ...
The case for bootstrapping, w/Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut
21 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
You can bootstrap your business to scale, but you'll have to make your own luck. Nobody knows this better than Mailchimp's Ben Chestnut. He used a DIY...
Open or closed? The answer is both, w/Joi Ito
30 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
No organization that’s entirely closed — or entirely open — can scale as successfully as an organization that combines both. Yes, it invites a b...
Take bigger risks, w/Shellye Archambeau
26 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If you try to avoid risk, you actually risk total failure. Or worse: mediocrity. Take it from Shellye Archambeau. She led the most stunning Silicon Va...
Check your blindspot, w/Sallie Krawcheck (Ellevest)
12 Mar 2019
Contributed by Lukas
If your company's dominated by one type of person, you run the risk of tunnel vision. You might move fast — but you'll often drive straight into tra...
The Reid Hoffman Story (Part 2): Make everyone a hero
26 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We’re back with Part 2 of our special turn-the-tables episode with Reid Hoffman. In this episode, we follow Reid through PayPal, LinkedIn, the Micro...
The Reid Hoffman Story (Part 1): Make everyone a hero
22 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
In this special episode, we turn the tables on host Reid Hoffman. He’s the guest and we tell his story, while proving a theory that’s perfect for ...
Let your customers be your scouts, w/Eventbrite's Julia Hartz
08 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
That constant roar of customer feedback? Be thankful for it. It holds all the secrets to your success, if you learn how to read the signs. Listen to w...
To scale, you must master the skill of storytelling, w/Charity: Water's Scott Harrison
18 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You need a great story to build a great company. And great stories are unwaveringly true. No one embodies this principle more fully than Scott Harriso...
The Millennial Episode, w/Brit + Co's Brit Morin
19 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You can marshal the power of millennials to grow your company, but you have to redefine your concept of loyalty. To keep millennials as users (and emp...
The elusive formula for great hiring, w/Workday's Aneel Bhusri
05 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Your first hires are your cultural cofounders. And it’s worth your time to get every one right. That's why Workday CEO Aneel Bhusri personally inter...
When to ignore conventional wisdom, w/Shake Shack's Danny Meyer
22 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To revolutionize an industry, you have to cast off received wisdom. Shake Shack’s Danny Meyer knows this well. When he opened his first high-end res...
What great founders do at night, w/Arianna Huffington
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To survive your entrepreneurial journey, you have to learn to recharge. Knowing when to turn the lights out may be the only way to keep the lights on....
How to build trust fast, w/Spotify's Daniel Ek
19 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Normally, trust = consistency + time. But when you're scaling fast, you have to find shortcuts to trust, with your partners and your users. Spotify CE...
Instagram's Kevin Systrom: Keep it simple while scaling big
06 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You can scale big with a simple idea (and a tiny team!) — but only if you catch the prevailing winds. That's what Kevin Systrom did when he co-found...
How to make the star employees you need, w/Marissa Mayer
08 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Can't find the star employees you need? Then make them. That's what Marissa Mayer did when she founded the Associate Product Manager program in the ea...
How to kill your bad ideas, w/Zynga's Mark Pincus
25 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
To succeed, you have to be relentless about pursuing a big opportunity — and ruthless about killing your own bad ideas along the way. Zynga founder ...
Keep humans in the equation, w/TaskRabbit's Stacy Brown-Philpot
11 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You may think that to scale you need to cut humans out of the equation. The opposite is true. You can harness the power of the "human cloud" to solve ...
How to find your big idea, w/Spanx's Sara Blakely
21 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
How to find your big idea? Look for it. And look for it. And be ready to act. Spanx founder Sara Blakely was actively seeking a business idea when she...
How to do good and do good business, w/Starbucks' Howard Schultz
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You can make your social impact and your bottom line work hand-in-hand. But you'll have to be as creative and innovative about your company's values a...
Bonus: The 10 Commandments of Startup Success w/guest host Tim Ferriss
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Guest host Tim Ferriss shares advice you’ll want to etch into stone: the Ten Commandments of Startup Success. We teamed up with Tim’s own podcast,...
Never underestimate your first idea, w/Twitter/Medium's Ev Williams
21 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Never put a limit on your first idea. It could span your entire career. Ev Williams, co-founder of Twitter and Medium (and before that: Blogger), shar...
How to price your product to scale, w/ClassPass' Payal Kadakia
14 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The price that bleeds your business could also save it. When you invent something innovative, you can’t know how to price it on day one. First, get ...
How to build your company to last, w/Fiat's John Elkann
07 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Forget being a unicorn. Learn to be a phoenix. Your company can last 100+ years — but you'll need the resilience to rise and fall, and rise again. F...
Build a more human internet, w/Caterina Fake (Etsy, Kickstarter, Flickr, "Should This Exist?")
24 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whatever you are when you're small gets amplified when you grow. So if you're starting any kind of online community (social media, ecommerce, cro...
Learn to unlearn (Part 2) w/Barry Diller
13 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To move from one success to another, you have to learn to unlearn. Take everything that helped you win the first time, then discard it and learn a new...
The infinite learner, w/Barry Diller (Part 1 of our interview)
06 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Tinder. Top Gun. Roots. The Simpsons. What do they have in common? Media icon Barry Diller. Barry is what we call an "infinite learner." He’s only i...
The Big Pivot, w/Slack's Stewart Butterfield
15 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In your company’s darkest moment, remember: You CAN pivot from failure to success. But only if you slash and burn everything that isn’t working. S...
Look for the ideas that come at you sideways, w/Diane Greene of Google, VMware
10 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Business plan not entirely clear? Not sure how you’ll make enough money or find your users? That's OK. Really. The most scalable ideas often come at...
Escape the competition, w/PayPal's Peter Thiel
08 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you want to grow your business, your goal isn’t to beat the competition — it’s to escape the competition altogether. No one knows this better...
Bonus: Seven lesser-known laws of leadership
26 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Masters of Scale team brings you a special blend of leadership tips from Season One guests — including clips we haven’t aired yet. In this bon...
Let fires burn, w/Selina Tobaccowala of Gixo
19 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the early days of your startup, it feels like everything's on fire all the time. Real talk: if you try to put out every fire, every day, you’ll o...
The next Silicon Valley is...? w/Endeavor's Linda Rottenberg
12 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
What’s the secret to Silicon Valley's thriving startup scene? And can that kind of ecosystem happen anywhere else in the world? Linda Rottenberg, CE...
Bonus: The 10 Commandments of Startup Success w/guest host Tim Ferriss
05 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Guest host Tim Ferriss shares advice you’ll want to etch into stone: the Ten Commandments of Startup Success. We teamed up with Tim’s own podcast,...
Why culture matters, w/Netflix's Reed Hastings
28 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Strong company cultures only emerge when every employee feels they own the culture — and this begins even before the first job interview. CEO Reed H...
Your plan B needs a plan B, w/Crisis Text Line founder Nancy Lublin
14 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
To succeed, entrepreneurs need a good idea, timing, money, luck. But more than anything, they need the ability to generate an endless supply of Plans ...
Innovation is managed chaos, w/Eric Schmidt of Google/Alphabet
07 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Google has succeeded by innovating again and again. Their secret? They don’t tell their employees how to innovate; they manage the chaos. Eric Schmi...
Lead, lead again, w/Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg
31 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In just 6 years, Facebook grew to 2 billion users and 14,000 employees. How? Well, first, they hired COO Sheryl Sandberg. And she knew that to lead a ...
Imperfect is perfect, w/Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg
24 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you’re Steve Jobs, you can wait for your product to be perfect. For the rest of us, If you’re not embarrassed by your first product release, yo...
Learn from every "no," w/Walker & Company's Tristan Walker
17 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The best business ideas often seem laughable at first glance. So if you’re hearing a chorus of “No’s” — it may actually be a good sign! Goog...
Raise more money than you need, w/Minted's Mariam Naficy
10 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Think you've raised enough money for your startup? Think again. You have to run through a minefield of unexpected expenses as an entrepreneur. And you...
Airbnb's Brian Chesky in Handcrafted
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you want your company to truly scale, you first have to do things that don't scale. Handcraft the core experience. Get your hands dirty. Serve your...
Coming Soon: Masters of Scale
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Coming May 3rd, Reid Hoffman, legendary Silicon Valley entrepreneur and investor, explains how famous founders take their companies from zero to a gaz...