Masters of Scale LIVE makes its west-coast debut at Summit LA19

Investor and philanthropist Robert Smith — who took on the entire student loan debt of Morehouse College Class of 2019 — joins the podcast's Host Reid Hoffman at the closing performance of the Summit Series flagship event. 

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ - Following its sold-out debut performance in Boston this July, the award-winning Masters of Scale podcast will bring its live show to the Summit LA conference on Sunday, Nov. 10. More than an on-stage interview, the live show encompasses the signature elements for which the podcast is known — immersive storytelling, original music, multiple guests, and a sense of humor, in addition to the main interview.

Robert F. Smith, founder of Vista Equity Partners and one of the country's most successful investors, will join a conversation with host Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and himself a legendary investor with Greylock Partners.

Through Master of Scale's signature live format, Hoffman and Smith will set out to prove a theory: that every great founder has a second agenda: something outside their main business they're trying to get done in the world, and that a successful company is like a Trojan horse, carrying that other purpose forward. Smith, one of America's few African-American billionaires, will unpack how this theory has played out in his own life.

Earlier this year, Smith made headlines during a commencement address at Morehouse College, a historically black college, by telling the entire class of 2019 that he and his family would pay off their student debt.

The event will also feature a cameo appearance by education expert Sir Ken Robinson, who gave the most popular TED Talk of all time, and is best known for his work helping schools understand the role of creativity. 

The evening will feature a technology-powered crowd exercise, bringing the audience into the conversation — and inviting them to articulate their own 'second purpose.' The exercise will be powered by Thoughtexchange, a disruptive platform that helps leaders crowdsource answers to questions in real time.

This live recording will become an episode of the popular podcast series Masters of Scale; subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcast or Spotify to be notified when it goes live.

Listeners have described Masters of Scale as "the best masterclass in building companies and scaling them," "like sitting through an MBA program," and said of Reid's interview style: "His thought process is so crystal clear that it makes you want to be like him."

Robert F. Smith is the Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Vista Equity Partners. He directs Vista's investment strategy and decisions, firm governance, and investor relations. Vista manages equity capital commitments of over $52 billion and oversees a portfolio of over 60 software companies that employ more than 70,000 people worldwide. Smith is the founding director and President of the Fund II Foundation, dedicated to preserving the African American experience, safeguarding human rights, providing music education, preserving the environment while promoting the benefits of the outdoors, and sustaining critical American values. He is the Chairman of Carnegie Hall and the Chair of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. In 2017, Smith was named by Forbes as one of the 100 Greatest Living Business Minds.

Reid Hoffman is the host of Masters of Scale, co-founder of LinkedIn, and a partner at the venture capital firm Greylock Partners. As an entrepreneur and executive, Reid has played an integral role in building many of today's leading consumer technology businesses, including LinkedIn and PayPal. He possesses a unique understanding of consumer behavior and the dynamics of viral businesses, as well as deep experience in driving companies from the earliest stages through periods of explosive, "blitzscaling" growth. He serves on the boards of Airbnb, Apollo Fusion, Aurora, Coda, Convoy, Entrepreneur First, Gixo, Microsoft, Nauto, Xapo and a few early-stage companies still in stealth. In addition, he serves on a number of not-for-profit boards, including Kiva, Endeavor, CZI Biohub and Do Something. Prior to joining Greylock, he angel invested in many influential Internet companies, including Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, and Zynga. Reid is the co-author of the recent book Blitzscaling and best-selling books The Start-up of You and The Alliance.

Masters of Scale is an original podcast hosted by Reid Hoffman, co-founder of LinkedIn and a legendary Silicon Valley investor at the Boston-born Greylock Partners. In each episode, Reid shares a key theory about how companies grow, testing his conclusions in conversation with some of the most iconic business minds on the planet – famous founders and leaders who've built world-changing companies from a single great idea. Guests have included Bill Gates, musician and founder will.i.am, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, Netflix head Reed Hastings, Stacy Brown-Philpot of TaskRabbit, Marissa Mayer of Yahoo!, Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber, Spanx's Sara Blakely, Shake Shack's Danny Meyer, Daniel Ek of Spotify, Caterina Fake of Flickr/Etsy, as well as Arianna Huffington, Barry Diller and Tim Ferriss. Voted the winner of the 2018 People's Voice Award Webby for best business podcast, Masters of Scale was the first American media property to commit to equitable gender representation among guests. Masters of Scale is an original series from WaitWhat, a media invention company founded by June Cohen and Deron Triff, based in New York.

Thoughtexchange helps leaders crowdsource answers to questions in real time. AI and machine learning ensure everyone's response gets considered by others. Powerful analysis tools instantly surface valuable insights into key areas of agreement and disagreement. Leaders can find common ground, inspire trust and use data to make decisions that get immediate support. Everyone contributes and everyone learns, without bias.

Millions of people in communities, schools, fast-growth startups and iconic brands are using Thoughtexchange to learn what matters most, so they can scale, grow, connect and innovate.

Details:

Masters of Scale Live at Summit LA 19 happens on Sunday, November 10, 5:30–6:45pm Pacific time. The event is part of the week-long Summit LA 19 conference. The conference is sold out, though there is a waitlist.

To be notified when Robert F. Smith's episode goes live on the Masters of Scale podcast, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen, and follow @MastersofScale on Twitter.

Discover more about how Thoughtexchange brings people together at www.thoughtexchange.com and @thoughtxchng on Twitter.

SOURCE Thoughtexchange