Masters of Scale

Luis von Ahn, Co-founder and CEO of Duolingo and inventor of CAPTCHA, talks AI limits and why his viral memo sparked controversy. He explains Duolingo’s 2026 pivot to chase users over revenue. He discusses making learning playful, freemium tradeoffs and ad limits, expanding beyond languages, and how AI can help yet still falls short in creativity and reliability.

Todd Graves, founder and co-CEO of Raising Cane’s, built a national chicken-fingers chain with a culture-first approach. He recounts hustle-funded beginnings, why they kept a tiny, scratch-made menu, and the choice to favor company-run stores over heavy franchising. He also covers supply-chain redundancy, guerrilla marketing stunts, and bringing in a co-CEO to strengthen leadership.

Mellody Hobson, Co-CEO of Ariel Investments and seasoned corporate director, shares why she leans into market chaos and sees volatility as buying opportunity. She explains the firefighter investing mindset, the mantra that math has no opinion, and why financial literacy matters. She also makes a bold case for women's sports as a generational investment.

Sarah Ball, editor-in-chief of WSJ Magazine, and Janice Min, CEO of The Ankler and former Hollywood Reporter editor, revisit why The Devil Wears Prada felt so real. They dig into fear-driven bosses, shifting fashion power, body-image pressure, evolving assistant roles, Fashion Week’s reinvention, and why Miranda Priestly’s world would clash with today’s workplace norms.

Allison Ellsworth, Poppi co-founder and brand storyteller, joins Stephen Ellsworth, Poppi co-founder who helped scale operations and growth. They talk about turning a kitchen remedy into a breakout soda brand, getting early validation from Whole Foods, using Shark Tank and TikTok to fuel momentum, making a last-minute Super Bowl ad bet, and navigating the road to Pepsi’s nearly $2 billion deal.

Maria Sharapova, five-time Grand Slam champion turned investor and entrepreneur, talks about her leap from tennis to business. She gets candid about early Nike negotiations, building and shutting down Sugarpova, serving on Moncler’s board, and why saying no matters. There’s also a fun look at fashion as competitive armor and how rivalry can evolve into sharing deal flow.

Reed Hastings, Netflix co-founder and former CEO, joins for a wide-ranging chat on AI’s next act. He digs into how AI could reshape entertainment, why human storytelling still matters, and what it may mean for jobs, wages, and global power. The conversation also turns to education, AI tutors, safety guardrails, and why emotional skills may matter more than ever.

Eric Ryan, serial entrepreneur behind Method and Olly, shares how ad agency problem-solving shaped his brand instincts. He talks about finding ideas in foreign grocery aisles, turning cleaning products into lifestyle statements, and using design to unlock retail doors. He also digs into culture, creative rigor, and rebuilding after selling a company.

Mauro Porcini, Samsung’s President and Chief Design Officer and acclaimed industrial designer, shares the company’s AI-era design blueprint. He gets candid about Samsung’s rivalry with Apple. He explores the shift from hardware to human experience, AI’s role in devices and interfaces, ethical boundaries for AI, and why future products may feel more personal, expressive, and fashion-like.

Byron Deeter has spent two decades at the epicenter of tech as an investor with Bessemer Venture Partners. His portfolio includes some of the most innovative companies in the world, from Anthropic to Waymo to Canva. He talks with host Jeff Berman about his advice for both founders and investors in this moment of AI transformation, why CEOs need to think more like athletes, and more.Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter: https://mastersofscale.com/subscribeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.