Masters of Scale

63. Be a painkiller AND a vitamin, w/Clara Shih (Hearsay Systems)

Some products are vitamins and some are painkillers – the best, though, are both. This is what Clara Shih, founder and CEO of Hearsay Systems, learned in the early years of her software startup. To survive, she needed to shift her platform from a nice-to-have into a can’t-live-without. And in doing so, she learned a secret to scale: Solve your customers’ urgent needs now ... while looking ahead to their future wishlists. Cameo appearances: Shellye Archambeau (MetricStream), Gary Alexander (<a href="https://www.myimprov.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">MyImprov driving school</a>).Read a transcript of this episode at <a href="https://mastersofscale.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mastersofscale.com</a>Subscribe to the Masters of Scale weekly newsletter at <a href="https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://mastersofscale.com/subscribe</a>See Privacy Policy at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy</a> and California Privacy Notice at <a href="https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info</a>.

Award-winning business advice from Silicon Valley and beyond. Iconic CEOs, from Nike to Netflix, Starbucks to Slack, share the strategies that helped them grow from startups into global brands — and to weather crisis when it strikes. On each episode of our classic format, founding host Reid Hoffman — LinkedIn cofounder, Greylock partner and legendary Silicon Valley investor — and a stellar lineup of guest hosts prove unconventional theories about how businesses scale. Guests share their stories of entrepreneurship, leadership, strategy, management, fundraising. You’ll hear the human journey, too — failures, setbacks, learnings. From our Rapid Response format, you can expect real-time wisdom from business leaders in fast-changing situations. Hosted by Bob Safian, past editor-in-chief of Fast Company, these episodes tackle crisis response, rebuilding, diversity &amp; inclusion, leadership change and much more.