Masters of Scale: Surprising Truths from the World’s Most Successful Entrepreneurs | Reid Hoffman - June Cohen - Deron Triff

What can you learn from a Silicon Valley legend and a pantheon of iconic leaders? The key to scaling a successful business isn’t talent, network, or strategy. It’s an entrepreneurial mindset—and that mindset can be cultivated.

“If you’re scaling a company—or if you just love a well-told story—this is a book to savor.”—Robert Iger, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Ride of a Lifetime

Behind the scenes in Silicon Valley, Reid Hoffman (founder of LinkedIn, investor at Greylock) is a sought-after adviser to heads of companies and heads of state. On each episode of his podcast, Masters of Scale, he sits down with a guest from an all-star list of visionary founders and leaders, digging into the surprising strategies that power their company’s growth. In this book, he draws on their most riveting, revealing stories—as well as his own experience as a founder and investor—to distill the secrets behind the most extraordinary success stories of our times.

Here, Hoffman teams up with Masters of Scale’s executive producers to offer a rare window into the entrepreneurial mind, sharing hard-won wisdom from leaders of iconic companies (including Apple, Nike, Netflix, Spotify, Starbucks, Google, Instagram, and Microsoft) as well as the bold, disruptive startups (such as 23andMe, TaskRabbit, Black List, and Walker & Co.) that are solving the problems of the twenty-first century.

Through vivid storytelling and incisive analysis, Masters of Scale distills their collective insights into a set of counterintuitive principles that anyone can use. How do you find a winning idea and turn it into a scalable venture? What can you learn from a “squirmy no”? When should you stop listening to your customers? Which fires should you put out right away, and which should you let burn? And can you really make money while making the world a better place? (Answer: Yes. But you have to keep your profits and values aligned.)

Based on more than a hundred interviews and including a wealth of new material never aired on the podcast, this unique insider’s guide will inspire you to reimagine how you do business today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“[Hoffman] seizes on traits that might otherwise be missed . . . [and] earnestly contends that, through careful attention to leadership and culture, the propulsive drive to grow can be disentangled from the toxic behavior so often associated with explosive expansion. It feels like the triumph of hope over experience.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Whether you’re at a startup or working to drive change within a large organization, the business principles in this book will help you deploy your strategy with creativity, integrity, and realism.”—Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft Corporation

“Think of this book as a mentorship in ten chapters, with stories and advice from people you might already admire, as well as people whose journeys are just starting. You'll come away with at least a couple of new mantras and a new understanding of the how and why of building your business.”—Franklin Leonard, founder of The Black List  
 
“Reid Hoffman has a talent for getting right to the heart of a business case and turning it into an unforgettable lesson. If you’re scaling a company—or if you just love a well-told story—this is a book to savor.”—Bob Iger, executive chairman, The Walt Disney Company

“[Reid Hoffman] shows how any company of any stripe can bake generosity and social good into its DNA, and how making a positive contribution to the world can be the driving force that helps your company scale.”—Daniel Lubetzky, executive chairman and founder of KIND and New York Times bestselling author of Do the KIND Thing
 
“A book to take with you into battle as you build a company or a career. It’s full of enjoyable stories, but the killer feature is the sharp insights that Hoffman draws out—specific, memorable, and actionable mindsets.”—Reed Hastings, co-founder and co-CEO, Netflix

“To lead with vision and heart, start by listening and learning from others. Using stories to teach lessons, this book is full of solid (and sometimes surprising!) advice that will help accelerate your journey.”—Angela Ahrendts, former CEO, Burberry, and former head, Apple Retail

“What if, instead of learning from one entrepreneur at a time, you could distill the lessons of many of the greatest founders of our time? This book combines memorable stories with actionable insights from world-class leaders to help you turn your biggest, boldest ideas into reality.”—Adam Grant, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Think Again and host of the TED podcast WorkLife

“The advice in this book is both principled and creative, rooted in true stories from a broad group of leaders at many stages of success and across many fields. . . . A generous roadmap and framework for thinking more wisely about your own growing business.”—Shellye Archambeau, author of Unapologetically Ambitious

“There is no such thing as an overnight success, but you can avoid making some of the same mistakes as those who have walked before you. I highly recommend this book as an insightful and inspiring guide to anyone embarking on an entrepreneurial journey.”—Tory Burch, founder of Tory Burch LLC and Tory Burch Foundation

About the Author

Reid Hoffman is the co-founder of LinkedIn, a partner at Greylock, and widely viewed as one of the most successful investors of all time. A founding board member of PayPal, he is now a board member at Microsoft as well as other companies and nonprofits. He’s the host of WaitWhat’s award-winning podcast Masters of Scale and the bestselling author of The Startup of You, The Alliance, and Blitzscaling.

June Cohen and Deron Triff are the executive producers of the podcast Masters of Scale and co-founders of WaitWhat, the media company behind the hit podcasts Masters of Scale, Meditative Story, and Spark & Fire. Previously, they led TED’s media enterprise, growing TED Talks from its initial concept to an audience of 1 billion.