Masters of Scale

Latest Episodes:

The future of crypto, with Coinbase’s Emilie Choi Nov 13, 2025

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When Emilie Choi first left Linkedin to go work at a crypto company called Coinbase, her old colleagues thought she made a big mistake. But after surviving a crypto winter, she’s become a key figure in the rise of the company – and the industry. Now Coinbase President and COO, Choi talked with host Reid Hoffman about the operating lessons that enable hyper-scaling and the future of money. This conversation was recorded live on stage at the Presidio Theatre as part of the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit.

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How to get funded now: VCs Reid Hoffman, Aileen Lee, and Stacy Brown-Philpot, with Van Jones Nov 11, 2025

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Reid Hoffman, Stacy Brown-Philpot, and Aileen Lee are three of the most successful, legendary leaders and investors in Silicon Valley. (The term “unicorn” for a startup valued at a billion dollars? Well, Aileen coined that.) This power trio sat down with journalist Van Jones live onstage at the 2025 Masters of Scale Summit, October 8 in San Francisco, to share candid snapshots of the investor’s mindset during this time of rapid change. Learn why VCs have dramatically shifted the way they invest in entrepreneurs this year, how companies can stand out in the crowded AI space, their personal green lights or red flags, and how players on all sides can adapt.

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Remarkable People: David Chang is 'Steve Jobs with a knife" Nov 08, 2025

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What happens when a world-class chef learns that success doesn’t taste like he imagined?

David Chang—the culinary force behind Momofuku and author of Eat a Peach—joins Guy Kawasaki to talk about ambition, burnout, scaling the unscalable, and learning to trade Michelin stars for family time. From plumbing disasters to poetic revelations, Chang opens up about the messy, beautiful art of creating something worth tasting.

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From billion-dollar brand to blank slate: Bobbi Brown’s comeback Nov 06, 2025

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She built her first company, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, into a billion-dollar brand. But when things soured between her and her parent company, Estée Lauder, she had a choice: retire from the industry, or reinvent herself with a new brand. Brown joins host Jeff Berman to reveal the lessons she learned from scaling – and leaving – her first company. She’s leveraging those decades of insights now in her new venture: Jones Road Beauty.

Still Bobbi: https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Still-Bobbi/Bobbi-Brown/9781668082171

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Branding truths and tariff myths, with Autodesk’s Dara Treseder & Flexport’s Ryan Petersen Nov 04, 2025

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In a special episode of Rapid Response, we feature two fast-paced, lively conversations from Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco. Autodesk CMO Dara Treseder breaks down branding and marketing lessons from the most high-profile campaigns of 2025. Treseder shares her unvarnished read on Sydney Sweeney, Cracker Barrel, Taylor Swift, and more. In the second half of the episode, Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen assesses the five biggest myths around trade and tariffs today, advises about avoiding jail, and what he calls "dumb competition."

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When ‘genius’ becomes a trap, with author Ryan Holiday Oct 30, 2025

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For everyone from Superbowl-winning coaches to CEOs, Ryan Holiday’s writing has made the timeless wisdom of ancient Stoic philosophers accessible and relevant in a modern age. He joins host Jeff Berman to reveal how he scaled his audience at The Daily Stoic and why the four Stoic virtues (courage, discipline, justice and wisdom) feel more important than ever.

Wisdom Takes Work: https://store.dailystoic.com/products/wisdom-takes-work-learn-apply-repeat

Ryan also recommends: https://www.thepaintedporch.com/products/biography17

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How Anastasia Soare built a beauty brand worth billions Oct 29, 2025

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Anastasia Soare is responsible for how everyone from Oprah to Kim Kardashian shape their eyebrows. Soare started as a Romanian immigrant in a single room salon in Beverly Hills, and decades later, her beauty brand peaked at a valuation of about $3 billion. She joined host Jeff Berman to reveal the lessons she has learned building a global beauty empire, how listening to her daughter helped the brand leverage the influencer economy, and why she never wants to retire.

You can find more lessons from Anastasia's scale story in her new memoir, Raising Brows: My Story of Building a Billion-Dollar Beauty Empire.

Read a transcript of this episode: https://mastersofscale.com

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Chobani & Patagonia CEOs break down where values meet profit Oct 28, 2025

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In these volatile times, how do we navigate the intersection between values and commerce? Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya join the New York Times’ David Gelles on stage at Masters of Scale Summit to reveal their different strategies for dealing with an activist White House, the pressure for what David calls "anticipatory compliance," and how they grow their businesses while also prioritizing causes like environmental conservation and immigration. The pair also share personal stories that mark key inflection points for their companies, and what most gives them hope for the future.

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Andrew Ross Sorkin: How to make sense of today’s market Oct 23, 2025

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Is the stock market in an AI bubble? What happens if it bursts? To understand our current economic moment, it’s essential to understand history. That’s why journalist and author Andrew Ross Sorkin joined host Jeff Berman onstage at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco in October. His new book is 1929: Inside the Greatest Crash in Wall Street History–and How It Shattered a Nation. Sorkin explains the lessons we can learn from this historical moment – and how they provide cautionary tales.

The book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/665634/1929-by-andrew-ross-sorkin/

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The New York Times ‘will not be cowed’, with CEO Meredith Kopit Levien Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

From attacks by President Trump to active lawsuits against Microsoft and OpenAI, The New York Times is engaged in a fierce fight to preserve the future of independent journalism. It also keeps building a multi-faceted, excellence-obsessed brand with more users for games, recipes and podcasts than ever before. President and CEO Meredith Kopit Levien joins Bob Safian live on stage at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco to explore The Times business model, how news coverage relates to the organization's fast-growing lifestyle products, and the impact of AI as a threat and a tool.

Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/

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