On Masters of Scale, iconic business leaders share lessons and strategies that have helped them grow the world's most fascinating companies. Founders, CEOs, and dynamic innovators join candid conversations about their triumphs and challenges with a set of luminary hosts, including founding host Reid Hoffman (LinkedIn co-founder and Greylock partner). From navigating early prototypes to expanding brands globally, Masters of Scale provides priceless insights to help anyone grow their dream ent ...
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Join Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter, producer, actress, and philanthropist Alicia Keys as she discuss her latest endeavor. She’ll chat with Bob Safian, editor-in-chief of "Fast Company," and answer a few questions from the audience.
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Bonus: Angela Duckworth’s “No Stupid Questions” Podcast
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Masters of Scale guest, psychologist, and “Grit” author Angela Duckworth also hosts the podcast “No Stupid Questions.” With her co-host, entrepreneur and executive Mike Maughn, she takes up questions on deep issues like purpose and productivity. In this episode called “Do You Need a Routine?” Angela and Mike share notes from their personal lives, c…
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QuestBridge: Scaling College Access with Ana Rowena Mallari
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Imagine all the highly motivated, high-achieving students who can excel at the most challenging colleges but lack the financial resources to attend. Matching this type of talent with full funding from top-tier schools is the mission of QuestBridge. CEO Ana Rowena Mallari recounts the organization’s 30-year scale journey, during which the program ha…
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Rapid Response: Robinhood confronts a GameStop sequel, w/CEO Vlad Tenev
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How will the return of meme stocks like GameStop and day trading influencers like Roaring Kitty alter the fintech landscape? Robinhood’s co-founder and CEO Vlad Tenev, who was a lightning rod for controversy when meme stocks first surged in 2021, joins Rapid Response to explain what’s the same and what’s different this time around. Tenev also share…
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Meet “Reid-ish”: The Story of Cloning Reid Hoffman’s Voice
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Masters of Scale goes under the hood of powerful AI in audio, unveiling a full vocal clone for founding host Reid Hoffman. Our CEO Jeff Berman, the Masters of Scale staff, and Reid himself tell the story of creating a synthetic voice we call “Reid-ish.” The company Respeecher is behind the technology, and its CEO Alex Serdiuk walks us through the s…
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Rapid Response: What campus protests mean for business, w/Ken Frazier and Ken Chenault
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Amid college campus protests over Palestine and Israel, stark US political divides, and legal challenges to diversity initiatives, business leaders face new pressure on whether to speak out and take action on issues of our time. Ken Frazier, former CEO of Merck, and Ken Chenault, former CEO of American Express, offer their unfiltered advice, as boa…
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Success looks different for everybody. But author and psychologist Angela Duckworth has found that whether we achieve success, or even seek it, may hinge on a characteristic that she calls “grit.” Angela’s 2016 bestseller Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance quickly became a must-read for business leaders. On Masters of Scale she describes h…
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Rapid Response: Airbnb reimagined (Part 1), w/CEO Brian Chesky
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As Rapid Response begins a twice-weekly cadence, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky returns to reveal how the company’s new Icons initiative points toward a surprising new chapter ahead. Host Bob Safian gets Chesky to open up about the mental struggles of being a high-profile CEO, plus the inside story behind Airbnb’s recent ad campaign targeti…
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Trendspotting with Ron Shaich: Panera, Cava, and Beyond
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Some business leaders have a seemingly psychic ability to spot trends, and take them mainstream at just the right moment. Ron Shaich is one of those. As a pioneering force behind fast-casual dining, Shaich saw that a growing number of Americans craved higher quality food in a relaxed yet speedy setting. His first major company, Au Bon Pain, paved t…
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Rapid Response: Caitlin Clark and the new WNBA, w/Commissioner Cathy Engelbert
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We’ve reached a radical inflection point in the growth of women’s sports, particularly the WNBA. As college stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese enter the league, fans are clamoring for tickets and on social media, generating unprecedented excitement and business potential. WNBA Commissioner Cathy Engelbert joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian …
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Local veggies, national scale: Sweetgreen co-founders
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What started with three college friends looking for a healthy lunch in D.C. grew into Sweetgreen, a fast-growing restaurant business focused on salads and grain bowls. From a tiny 500-square-foot storefront to more than 220 locations nationwide, the Sweetgreen journey includes booking The Strokes for a "salad festival," adopting cutting-edge techno…
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Rapid Response: Meet your kid’s new AI tutor, w/Khan Academy founder and CEO Sal Khan
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Khan Academy first rocked the education world with online video. Now Khan Academy CEO and founder Sal Khan has gone all-in on AI, convinced that it has immense potential to democratize and improve education. Khan tells Rapid Response host Bob Safian how an early outreach from OpenAI led Khan Academy to create an AI assistant called Khanmigo, which …
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Rapid Response: Fighting media's reality distortion, w/Axios CEO Jim VandeHei
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Every day we’re inundated with news and opinion pieces about America’s hopeless division — but is this really true? Axios CEO Jim VandeHei joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to bust what he sees as myth, plus share his seemingly counterintuitive AI play. VandeHei also makes a case for why the era of business leaders speaking out on political issu…
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Preserve start-up spirit at scale: Techstars’ Maëlle Gavet
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Maëlle Gavet is the CEO of Techstars, a pre-seed investor focused on early-stage entrepreneurs. It boasts a market cap of $111.6 billion, and supports founders in programs that span from Tokyo to Lagos to Alabama. Maëlle champions hard work, gratitude, and a questioning nature, qualities her grandfather imparted while she was growing up in France. …
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Rapid Response: How Star Trek prospers against Netflix and Disney+, w/Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman
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The streaming wars have reached a new inflection, as Netflix and Disney+ jostle for position, and in the process disrupt post-strike Hollywood. Paramount+ invested heavily in blockbuster veteran Alex Kurtzman to turn Star Trek into a distinguishing franchise. Now Kurtzman talks with Rapid Response host Bob Safian about the future of streaming, the …
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How AI adds to human potential: (LIVE) with Scale AI’s Alex Wang and Intel’s Lama Nachman
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Generative AI is advancing at a breakneck pace, prompting questions on risk and opportunity, from content creation to personal data management. In a special live recording, we delve into the ways AI can augment human work and spur innovation, instead of simply using AI to cut costs or replace jobs. Host Jeff Berman joined a seasoned AI researcher, …
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Rapid Response: How optimism fuels the economy, w/U.S. Chamber of Commerce CEO Suzanne Clark
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Is the state of the U.S. economy good or bad right now? Stock markets have soared, but consumers remain wary. Are CEOs and investors deluding themselves? Or do Main Street Americans expect too much? Suzanne Clark, CEO of the US Chamber of Commerce, has uncommon insight into this perplexing dichotomy. She talks with Rapid Response host Bob Safian ab…
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The healthy, conscious capitalist, w/Whole Foods Market co-founder John Mackey
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John Mackey, co-founder and former CEO of Whole Foods Market, started in the grocery business as a Texas undergraduate seeking the keys to a happy life. The self-described “hippie” opened one natural foods store in Austin and scaled beyond imagination from there. In his 44 years as CEO, Whole Foods grew to more than 500 locations and to a $13.7 bil…
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Rapid Response: 2024 is the most significant time in human history, w/PBS host & futurist Ari Wallach
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We are biologically wired to focus on the near-term, and that’s often a good thing. But in this moment — with global conflict, fast-evolving tech, and climate change dominating our present — we need to also prioritize long-term impacts. Futurist Ari Wallach joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to dive into our biological and business motivations ar…
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Be an evangelist for authenticity, with tech veteran Guy Kawasaki
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With his trademark wit and wisdom, Guy Kawasaki shares lessons from his trailblazing journeys in tech and investing. He was “software evangelist” at Apple when the company launched its revolutionary Macintosh line. He went on to lead his own wide-ranging ventures, and today has reprised his role as “evangelist” at the graphic design platform Canva.…
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Rapid Response: Bracing for a possible TikTok ban, w/fitness entrepreneur Cassey Ho
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If the U.S. government bans TikTok, a generation of content creators and brands who have built businesses on the platform will be radically disrupted. With 17 million social followers — 3.5 million of which on TikTok — fitness and lifestyle entrepreneur Cassey Ho is in the heart of that storm. Founder of athleisure brands Blogilates and POPFLEX, sh…
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How to score $200M: Angel City’s playbook for women’s soccer
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The high-flying Angel City Football Club is rising to a historic valuation in professional women’s soccer, nearing $200 million. When the Los Angeles team started four years ago, franchises in its league went for as little as $2 million. Co-founders Kara Nortman and Julie Uhrman reveal the game-changing strategies behind this seismic shift, created…
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Rapid Response: Riding the Ozempic wave, w/RO's CEO Zach Reitano
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Rabid demand for weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy is altering US society and transforming the healthcare industry. Rapid Response host Bob Safian guides us through the upheaval and lessons, talking with CEO Zach Reitano of Ro, a telehealth platform that has ridden the wave to a $7 billion valuation. Reitano shares why he chose obesity-trea…
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Leading across great divides: Ian Bassin, Protect Democracy Executive Director
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Just like private companies, many not-for-profit organizations begin when a founder sees a gap in the market and makes something new to fill it. Ian Bassin is a lawyer, former White House counsel and not-for-profit leader who saw a need to better protect and preserve the building blocks of America’s democratic systems, and steer things away from au…
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Rapid Response: Who really won The Oscars, w/The Black List's Franklin Leonard
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The Oscars aren’t just Hollywood’s biggest night. The ceremony and the scrutiny around it captures the trends and evolving values of American culture. Rapid Response host Bob Safian digs into the business implications of the Academy Awards with incisive Hollywood observer Franklin Leonard, founder and CEO of The Black List, an independent platform …
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Rapid Response: Landing on the moon, with Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines
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In tackling our own moonshots, few businesses can offer inspiration like Intuitive Machines. When the company’s Odysseus lander touched down on the moon on February 22, Intuitive Machines became the first private enterprise ever to reach the moon — and the first U.S. presence on the surface in 52 years. CEO Steve Altemus joins Rapid Response host B…
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Reid Hoffman & Jeff Berman on why the future needs re-founders
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Reid Hoffman thinks visionary leaders should pursue a "re-founder" state of mind. In this episode he welcomes the newest host of Masters of Scale, Jeff Berman, for a dialogue that digs into a re-founder's mission: evolving an organization while staying true to core values. As the re-founder of WaitWhat, the media company that brings this podcast to…
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Reid Hoffman on OpenAI’s $7 trillion plan, Apple’s Vision Pro, and AI traps
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Will OpenAI’s new text-to-video tool Sora revolutionize content creation? In this episode of Masters of Scale, Reid Hoffman joins Bob Safian to discuss Sam Altman’s fundraising, Meta’s dramatic resurgence, and three catalysts driving the recent tech layoffs. In this rapidly evolving world, Reid makes a case for how AI is redefining the game of scal…
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Rapid Response: Battling cyber attacks and deepfakes with AI, w/Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson
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Cyber war is raging, and the culprit is AI. Poppy Gustafsson, CEO of cybersecurity firm Darktrace shares new, proprietary info about how cybercrime has become professionalized across the Dark Web, and why deepfakes could soon find their way into your Slack or Zoom calls. But AI is also a powerful new weapon against attackers: Poppy tells Rapid Resp…
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Reid Hoffman opens up, w/On Being's Krista Tippett
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Krista Tippett and our friends at On Being welcomed Masters of Scale host Reid Hoffman for an inspiring conversation about all things philosophy, AI, and technology’s impact on the human condition. We loved the episode so we’re sharing it with our listeners too. Reid opens up about his progressive upbringing and the power of friendship throughout h…
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Rapid Response: Super Bowl ads (Lessons from Beyoncé, J. Lo and Taylor)
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The on-field Super Bowl went down to the wire, but the TV ads battle was a rout. That’s what one of the ad world’s most influential leaders, Autodesk chief marketing officer Dara Treseder, tells Rapid Response host Bob Safian, arguing that when brands spend $7 million for a 30-second slot, it’s winner-take-all. She also explains how the Super Bowl …
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5 leadership lessons from gaming with Reid Hoffman
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Some of the most vital and overlooked entrepreneurial resources might just be stored away in your family games cupboard… It’s no secret that host Reid Hoffman is a lifelong game fanatic. But this admiration extends beyond just a hobby. Games are one of the biggest influences on Reid as a business leader. In this special episode of Masters of Scale,…
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In the entrepreneurial journey, facing rejection is not just a possibility, but a certainty. However, it's the ability to perceive these rejections not as setbacks, but as stepping stones, that sets apart the most successful entrepreneurs. Each 'no' offers a unique opportunity to refine an idea, sharpen a pitch, and foster resilience. It can even b…
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Inside Reid Hoffman’s meeting with President Biden
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President Biden is the first president to face the full force of the AI revolution. In this special episode, Reid Hoffman joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian for an exclusive inside look into the closed-door meeting between Reid and President Biden. From regulation and economic impact to the potential dangers of AI in the wrong hands, Reid and Bid…
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Rapid Response: What’s wrong with the remote vs. in-office debate? w/Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar
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The backlash against remote work is in full swing, with 90% of CEOs reportedly rewarding in-office workers with more promotions and raises. But to Scott Farquhar, co-CEO of Atlassian, that’s a big mistake — and in a just-released study, he’s got hard numbers to back him up. Scott talks with Rapid Response host Bob Safian about how the 10,000-person…
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Start with a story, cook up success, w/Chef Marcus Samuelsson
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Telling a clear story about your product is a basic entrepreneurial skill. But to build enduring impact, you need to help amplify other stories — those that surround you in your community and your customers. Marcus Samuelsson has done just this with beloved restaurants such as Hav & Mar and Red Rooster, and through his media group that celebrates t…
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will.i.am & Austin Russell: Mute the hype, amplify the product
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One of the biggest strikes against the tech industry is too much noise and not enough signal. But does it always pay to "show, not tell," — even about the most innovative of products? Austin Russell of Luminar Technologies believes so. At just 17 years old, Austin created revolutionary tech that would unlock autonomous driving in the future, and ma…
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As we settle into 2024, the Masters of Scale team reflect on their favorite moments from the past year during which host Reid Hoffman sat down with inspiring and iconic leaders across the business world. They explored numerous entrepreneurial lessons including how to make your networking more impactful, evolving your creative process, and keeping i…
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What great founders do at night, w/Arianna Huffington
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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. Few know this better than Arianna Huffington, who dramatically scaled the Huffington Post – and then experienced profound physical burnout. Her venture, Thrive Global, scales the idea of balance acro…
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Rapid Response: 5 memorable lessons from 2023
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There’s no better way to prepare for 2024 than to look back at the year that was. 2023 offered a slew of challenges and opportunities, from AI mania to inflation to Taylor Swift obsession. In this special episode, Rapid Response host Bob Safian shares the most impactful business lessons from the year, exploring the importance of an experimentation …
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Rapid Response: Inside Intel’s AI ambitions, w/CEO Pat Gelsinger
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The AI boom in 2023 left Intel chasing rival Nvidia, whose chips — and shares — have been in high demand. Like other laggards amid this year’s AI mania, Intel is now fighting back, announcing the first-ever AI PC. Intel’s CEO Pat Gelsinger sits down with Rapid Response host Bob Safian to discuss how the company is working to re-establish itself — a…
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Find co-creators everywhere, w/Exploding Kittens' Elan Lee
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What lessons can business leaders learn from the games industry? Elan Lee, co-founder of Exploding Kittens Inc., joins Reid Hoffman to discuss how Exploding Kittens became one of the most successful Kickstarter campaigns of all time. Elan shares how creativity and diverse expertise were essential for scaling a potential one-off success into a proli…
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There's no perfect process for achieving your goals. Accepting that the rules you play by need to be constantly tweaked, hacked or reinvented will open you up to new ways of innovating. Instilling this attitude throughout your organization will help you be boldly differential in your experimentation. Ed Catmull literally wrote the book on creating …
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Rapid Response: Navigating a leadership crisis, w/Web Summit CEO Katherine Maher
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How do you restore confidence after a high-profile leadership uproar? Web Summit’s new CEO Katherine Maher joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to discuss taking over after the sudden, forced resignation of founding CEO Paddy Cosgrave. With echoes of the drama at OpenAI, Maher describes how she navigated the tumult, calming partners like Amazon and…
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Remix: Scott Harrison & charity: water, 5 years later
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In the five years since Scott Harrison’s first appearance on Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman, the nonprofit organization he founded, charity: water, has scaled 5 times over. In this episode, he and host Bob Safian reflect on that journey by revisiting some of the stories and lessons from his original episode, and Scott shares new lessons of scal…
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Bumble’s Whitney Wolfe Herd: Small changes with big impact
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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 Wolfe Herd. She rebounded from one dating app start-up (that you may have heard of) with a brilliant idea for a whole new way of connecting. Hear how the small tweaks along the way helped her move int…
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Sam Altman: Customer love is all you need
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The true seed of scale is customer love, which you can’t buy, hack, or game. Sam Altman, former president of Y Combinator, scaled countless start-ups by focusing on this one idea: Finding 100 users who love you is better than 1 million who kinda like you. As CEO of OpenAI, Sam leads the creation of genuinely useful AI products. He shares timeless i…
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Rapid Response: GaryVee wants your attention, w/VaynerMedia’s Gary Vaynerchuk
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In our attention economy, what does it take to capture the cultural zeitgeist? VaynerMedia’s Gary Vaynerchuk – or GaryVee – joins Rapid Response host Bob Safian to preach the need for widespread empathy and fearless leadership, and he uncovers the secrets to his new platform’s unconventional scale. Plus, Vaynerchuk shares why he is the only person …
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Tap into collective genius, w/Reshma Saujani, founder of Girls Who Code & Moms First
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What happens when you tap into the collective genius of a diverse group? Does the cross-pollination of ideas let you create something greater than the sum of its parts? The real magic happens when you create a network of changemakers: people united by a common cause who will drive impact and innovation. Doing this will vastly improve your odds of f…
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Rapid Response: Your pandemic business takeaways are wrong, with co-authors Joe Nocera and Bethany McLean
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Kick the conventional wisdom. In this episode of Rapid Response, Bethany McLean and Joe Nocera sit down with Bob Safian to discuss their book, The Big Fail: What the Pandemic Revealed About Who America Protects and Who It Leaves Behind. The pair faced blowback for their damning investigation of business leadership in the wake of COVID. They share h…
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Reid Hoffman confronts the AI critics, w/WaitWhat CEO Jeff Berman
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Are AI’s harshest critics causing irreversible harm to humanity? How far should leaders lean into AI? And just what would Reid sound like speaking Chinese with a British accent? Reid Hoffman sits down with CEO of WaitWhat and longtime friend Jeff Berman to tackle these pressing questions and more. Join them in an unguarded exploration of how the AI…
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