Masters of Scale

John Furner started working in a Walmart garden center 33 years ago. Now, as CEO, he’s leading one of America’s largest companies at a critical moment. He talks with host Jeff Berman about how the influential retailer is transforming its business in the age of AI. This conversation was recorded live as part of Masters of Scale Summit in October 2026 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Free streaming and prestige-quality makeup at drugstore prices both sound like they must come with a catch. For Tubi and e.l.f. Beauty, that skepticism became the opening. Recorded live at Masters of Scale Summit, this conversation brings together former Tubi CEO Anjali Sud and e.l.f. president Kory Marchisotto, two leaders who took brands once written off as downmarket to 110 million monthly users and 30 straight quarters of growth. The pair dig into their unconventional Super Bowl plays, from Tubi’s cowboy-hat spot and free Super Bowl stream to e.l.f.’s Jennifer Coolidge and Melissa McCarthy ads. They explain how TikTok Live and “zero distance” let fans steer product and programming, and why e.l.f. built its “So Many Dicks” campaign around boardroom diversity. Two weeks after this recording, Anjali announced she’s taking the helm at SiriusXM, a move that underscores what she built at Tubi.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Would you hand a stranger your bank passwords, your private messages, and control of your personal information? That’s the ask when the stranger is an AI agent, like Meta Muse, Claude Duet, or OpenAI Dots. In this special episode from Open to Debate, recorded live at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on October 22, 2026, Jeff Berman, co-host of Masters of Scale, moderates a debate on the question: should we stop trusting AI agents with our information? Arguing yes, Meredith Whittaker, president of Signal, says the convenience comes at the cost of our privacy, since agents need sweeping access that could undermine encryption, expose personal data, and create new vulnerabilities for hackers. Arguing no, Neil Chilson, head of AI policy at the Abundance Institute, counters that existing laws, competition, and targeted safeguards can manage the risks without giving up the productivity gains. So how much control is too much?Follow Open to Debate on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@OpentoDebate) This episode originally ran Friday, November 6th on the podcast “Open to Debate.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Google DeepMind co-founder and chair Demis Hassabis says the world is not ready yet for what’s next in AI. He joins Reid Hoffman to talk about how to effectively govern frontier AI, why a more diverse group of experts need a seat at the table, and more.This conversation was recorded live as part of Masters of Scale Summit in October of 2026 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco. Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A decade ago, Bob Safian wrote about Generation Flux, the people built to thrive amid constant change. Today, he says, we all belong to it, whether we want to or not. In this live segment from Masters of Scale Summit 2026, Safian gathers leaders from across business, tech, and media to work out what that takes, in real time. Former U.S. Chief Data Scientist DJ Patil opens with a double pendulum and a lesson in chaos theory. Raina Kumra, who now manages a team of 12 AI agents, explains why there is no keeping up, only keeping calm. Upwork’s Hayden Brown makes the case for leading like a pioneer, Baratunde Thurston tries not to become a machine, and Watch Duty’s John Mills explains why speed and haste are not the same thing. Then Autodesk’s Dara Treseder and her husband William, a Marine Reservist and co-founder of Arkenstone Defense, share how they juggle glass balls and rubber balls across career, marriage, and family, and keep score with a family NPS. Candid, surprising, and brimming with lessons about turning chaos to your advantage.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

After nearly 30 years building Netflix, co-founder and former chairman Reed Hastings stepped down from the board of directors this past June. His departure came at a tumultuous time in Hollywood and at Netflix itself. On top of the fallout from its failed bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery, Netflix has also been struggling with stagnating engagement and slowing revenue growth, prompting a big C-Suite shakeup and a mass layoff earlier this month. In this episode of On with Kara Swisher, Swisher talks to Hastings live on stage at Masters of Scale Summit 2026, discussing Netflix’s future and why Reed remains bullish on AI’s future, especially when it comes to education.  Follow On with Kara Swisher on YouTube (http://youtube.com/@onwithkaraswisher) or your favorite podcast app (https://pod.link/1643307527).This episode originally ran Monday, October 26 on the podcast “On with Kara Swisher.” See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When truth is under attack, how do you fight back? Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist Maria Ressa has spent years confronting disinformation and political pressure through her news organization, Rappler. In conversation with Reid Hoffman and Aria Finger, Ressa explores the crises facing truth, accountability, and democracy, and what we can do to help defend them.Her new book is The Fight Back: A Citizen's Guide to Standing Up to Dictators. This conversation was recorded live as part of Masters of Scale Summit on October 21, 2026 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The AI race between the US and China is the defining competition of our age. Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, advisor to the Pentagon, and current CEO of Relativity Space joins Rapid Response live from Masters of Scale Summit to give his most unvarnished assessment yet. He reveals that the gap he once estimated at two years has narrowed to six months. Schmidt also takes on the open source question that’s keeping Silicon Valley up at night, explains why kicking China’s best PhD students out of the country is one of America’s dumbest own goals, and shares the one thing he believes could keep this from becoming a zero-sum game — even if the current political environment makes it nearly impossible. This conversation was recorded live as part of Masters of Scale Summit on October 22, 2026 at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Few companies have as much influence over AI’s trajectory as OpenAI. Reid Hoffman sits down with CFO Sarah Friar to understand the precipice of the moment we are in and the decisions that could shape what comes next for each of us.This conversation was recorded live as part of Masters of Scale Summit on October 21, 2026, at the Presidio Theatre in San Francisco.Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

REI has been around for 88 years. Mary Beth Laughton wants to make sure it’s around for 88 more. The CEO of America’s largest consumer co-op joins Rapid Response to talk about what it actually takes to revive an iconic business — without shareholders, without quarterly earnings calls, and with 26 million members who hold you to a higher standard than any Wall Street analyst ever could. She explains why her first act as CEO was to publicly break ties with a Trump cabinet secretary, and how the co-op structure gives REI a kind of clarity that most retailers can’t buy. Plus lessons drawn from Nike, Sephora, and Athleta on what it really means to lead a mission-driven brand when the values are battle tested, not just stated.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Rich Roll’s popular podcast recently passed 1,000 episodes. He sat down with host Jeff Berman to discuss his growing podcast network, why he’s ignoring the algorithm, and his tumultuous path from addiction to wellness and endurance athletics. Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Renee Wegrzyn spent her career building the future of American science — including ARPA-H, the White House agency created to accelerate health breakthroughs. Then the Trump administration showed her the door. Wegrzyn co-founded Transfyr to tackle what she calls one of the most overlooked issues in science: the magic hands problem. She joins Rapid Response to explain why fixing this unglamorous bottleneck is the prerequisite for everything AI promises to deliver in medicine, what the federal funding cuts are really costing science, and why she can feel the next Sputnik moment coming — even if she can’t quite name it yet.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Thibault “Tibo” Sottiaux is OpenAI’s head of Product & Platform, making him responsible for the AI tools used by more than a billion users worldwide. Rana el Kaliouby spoke with Tibo on Pioneers of AI about why he’s “proud” OpenAI delayed its latest Astra model over safety concerns, the new suite of agentic products released at DevDay, and what it’s like to lead inside a frontier AI company in this extraordinary moment in history. Learn more about Pioneers of AI: http://pioneersof.ai/Follow Pioneers of AI on all channels: https://linktr.ee/pioneersofai See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Alyssa Ravasio loves using ‘coyote trickster energy’ to get more people to put down their technology. Her camping marketplace, Hipcamp, has grown into the largest source for booking campsites on public and private land. She talks with host Jeff Berman about scaling the company, learning to prioritize your health as a founder, and more. Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Prediction markets incentivize truth. Everything else incentivizes clickbait. That's the core argument Luana Lopes Lara makes for Kalshi — the prediction market platform she co-founded that has gone from $5 billion to $22 billion in valuation in under a year, and is now being sued by New York's attorney general for $36 billion. Luana joins Rapid Response to make the case that Kalshi is fundamentally different from DraftKings — even though 75% of its volume is sports — explain why George Santos got banned for trying to trade on his own congressional attendance, and share what Kalshi's data actually says about the midterms. Plus the Timothée Chalamet dentist-chair ad, what ballet taught her about running a company, and what it's actually like to become the world's youngest self-made female billionaire.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Jennifer Ferro is the former board chair of NPR and president of Southern California’s iconic public radio organization: KCRW. Ferro talks with host Jeff Berman about how nearly two decades as the founder’s deputy taught her to lead, why she thinks we deserve a better internet, and how the best defense of getting ignored is simple: Don’t be boring. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The second a brand like Hershey stops being culturally relevant, says its CEO Kirk Tanner, you should be worried. He joins Rapid Response to explain exactly what he's doing to make sure that never happens. Tanner also reveals why GLP-1 users are actually good for the candy business, how AI is now routing Hershey's sales force in real time through Target and Walmart, and why the Reese's Oreo collaboration (which generated $100 million in its first five months) is the model for how iconic brands find new energy. And with a major Hollywood film about Milton Hershey coming this fall, he talks about whether this is Hershey's Barbie moment. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Own or be owned. That's Codie Sanchez's ultimatum for anyone serious about their financial future. The founder of Contrarian Thinking and author of the new book Own or Be Owned returns to Rapid Response to make her most impassioned case yet for why buying a small business is the most reliable path to wealth that most people are too scared to take. She breaks down what "cowboying" your business is costing you, and why AI isn’t a shortcut for everyone, but instead an accelerator for what's already inside you. Plus, the industries she'd invest in right now, and why most small business owners are solving the wrong problems.Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

When Jess Smith became employee number one for the Bay Area’s WNBA expansion team, the future was a blank slate. Now, the Golden State Valkyries brand is boasting a unicorn valuation in just its second season. Smith talks with host Jeff Berman about building the brand from scratch, the rise of women’s professional sports, and why so many women in the C-Suite are former athletes. Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The world has never faced so many humanitarian crises at once, and the systems built to respond to them are fraying. Tjada McKenna, CEO of Prosper Global — the organization long known as Mercy Corps — joins Rapid Response during UN General Assembly week to share what she's seeing firsthand from Syria to Sudan to Ukraine to Gaza, and why she rebranded a 40-year-old institution in the middle of a funding crisis rather than in spite of one. She explains how the Strait of Hormuz conflict is quietly writing next year's food shortages into fragile countries right now, why Russia's playbook of attacking civilian infrastructure has spread to conflicts around the world, and what she's asking AI companies to do that no one has figured out yet. Visit the Rapid Response website here: https://www.rapidresponseshow.com/ See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.