Masters of Scale

Masters of Scale is a business podcast and media brand owned and produced by WaitWhat, the media company founded and led by former TED executives June Cohen and Deron Triff. In 2017, Masters of Scale launched as a business and leadership podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, the co-founder of LinkedIn and partner at Greylock Partners. Masters of Scale aims to “democratize entrepreneurship” and has since extended into multiple podcasts, a learning app (Masters of Scale Courses), a book., and events, including the Masters of Scale Summit.

Podcast guests have included President Barack Obama, Airbnb co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, Huffington Post & Thrive Global founder Arianna Huffington, and Ariel Investments co-CEO Mellody Hobson.

History
Executive producers Deron Triff and June Cohen approached Reid Hoffman with the idea for the podcast, pitching it as a way of "sharing his ideas on scale in a way that could, well, scale." The first episode of Masters of Scale, featuring Airbnb CEO and cofounder Brian Chesky, aired on May 3, 2017.

In 2018, Masters of Scale was the first American media program to commit to a 50/50 gender balance for guests. Hoffman told Quartz: "Silicon Valley prides itself on being a meritocracy, but the data shows it's not. [Masters of Scale] launched with and maintained our commitment to a 50/50 gender balance of guests on each season. It's important to not just talk about this topic, but to take action ... set an example."

In March 2020, the team behind Masters of Scale launched a spinoff podcast, Masters of Scale: Rapid Response, on the Masters of Scale feed, to cover the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the business community. Hosted by Bob Safian, former Editor of Fast Company, the series has expanded beyond covering the pandemic, offering guidance from business leaders making decisions in turbulent situations. These podcast episodes tackle such issues as managing through crisis, the challenges of rebuilding, and changes to leadership.

In 2021, the Masters of Scale Courses app launched. The courses are rooted in the experience and insights of Reid and well-known entrepreneurs and leaders. Also in 2021, the Masters of Scale Complete Interviews became available exclusively to members in the app.

In September 2021, the Masters of Scale book was published.

In October 2022, the inaugural Masters of Scale Summit was held in San Francisco, California.

Podcasts
Each classic episode of Masters of Scale is rooted in one of host Reid Hoffman's counterintuitive theories on how companies scale. Over the course of each episode, guests share their scale journey alongside insights and additional analysis from Hoffman that support the theory statement. Each episode is scored with original sound design.

A typical episode of Masters of Scale features the scale story of a founder or co-founders. The story is further contextualized through additional cameo guests. These cameo guests come from a wide spectrum of backgrounds, and have included Nobel Prize-winning economist Daniel Kahneman, Hall of Fame sportscaster Dick Stockton, National Geographic explorer Andrés Ruzo and Olympic runner Natasha Hastings.

Masters of Scale: Rapid Response episodes track real-time insights from business leaders who are navigating fast-changing situations, such as global health crises, political unrest, and economic uncertainty. In each episode, host Bob Safian, editor at large of Masters of Scale and the former Editor of Fast Company, interviews a guest with extensive experience and insights related to the topic at hand. Episodes have featured guests such as award-winning chef José Andrés, Las Vegas Raiders' President Sandra Douglass Morgan, Delta CEO Ed Bastian, and Moviepass founder Stacy Spikes.

App
The Masters of Scale Courses app features exclusive courses, podcast episodes, and bonus content for subscribed members.

The Masters of Scale courses are short-form audio courses aimed at building an "entrepreneurial mindset." According to the website, each course covers an overarching core business topic, e.g. branding, pivots, mission, and consists of multiple Daily Practices. All Daily Practices are approximately 10 minutes long and include relevant excerpts from an interview with an industry leader, along with new additional commentary and insights from Reid Hoffman. At the end of each Daily Practice, an Action Item is provided so that learners can apply what they learned from the course to their own work.

In 2022, the app received a Webby Award for Best Education & Reference App.

Book
Released in September 2021, Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World's Most Successful Entrepreneurs is based on the podcast and contains anecdotes and learnings gleaned from the hundred plus podcast interviews. The book aims to "tease out and distill the essential attributes of people who start and grow businesses." A review published by Business Insider notes that while translating from a podcast to book should lead to "unsatisfying" results, the book "manages to work" due to the "combined impact of the stories." It became a Wall Street Journal Bestseller in October 2021.

Event
The inaugural Masters of Scale summit was held in San Francisco, California from October 18–20, 2022. The audience, who attended in person or via livestream, consisted of a wide range of companies in all stages of growth, leaders across industries, executives of non-profit and cultural organizations, investors, artists, and the media. Stage sessions centered on themes such as, the art of pivoting, technological revolutions, creative innovations, holistic wellness, humanity & culture, diversity & inclusion, and disruption, and “the discussions ranged from the power of psychedelics to the joys of rural life.” The sessions included interviews, presentations, and group conversations, as well as featured live performances by a variety of performing artists. Speakers included 15 Percent Pledge founder Aurora James, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew, Tyler Perry Studios founder and CEO Tyler Perry, Turning Red film director and Pixar animator Domee Shi, Microsoft co-founder and Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Bill Gates, and Imagine Entertainment co-founder Ron Howard.

Awards
As of January 2023, Masters of Scale has won a total of 32 podcast industry nominations, including 13 wins. The wins include the 2018 Webby Award for Best Business Podcast, the 2023 Signal Award for Best Commute Podcast and the 2022 Webby Award for Best Individual Episode, for the episode with President Barack Obama.