Pod Insights The Prof G Pod with Scott Galloway How to Scale Yourself, The Future of Prof G Media, and Scott’s Advice to Interns About this episode Scott offers advice to a physician looking to scale himself and expand his scope of influence beyond his practice. He then speaks about the future of Prof G Media, specifically whether there’s a succession plan in place. He wraps up with advice to an intern hoping to receive a return offer.
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Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
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1:00 Scott Galloway? Welcome to the Profty Pods Office Hours. This is the part of the show where we answer your questions about business, big tech, entrepreneurship, and whatever else is on your mind. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected] . Again, that's [email protected] . So with that, first question, I have not seen these questions.
1:18 Speaker 04 Hello, Scott. My name is James. Thank you for what you do every day. My question is simple but requires some background. How do I scale myself? What do you do when the product you're selling is you? As a physician with more than 20 years' experience in practice, I have some professional assets. The first is my work ethic. The second is my experience and expertise. The third is that I care. And the fourth is the integrity of my personal brand has been built upon all of the previous.
1:47 Speaker 04 I'm blessed to have a tocephal practice that draws patients from a surprising distance and for which I am very grateful. And over the years, people have asked me to expand my presence locally and beyond, but I've been unable to figure out a way to duplicate myself to make that happen. I have very many employees for decades and they depend upon me and they have made me who I am. So I don't want to do anything to risk my family's well-being or theirs. I've been reluctant to expand my influence or espouse my opinions through social media because I don't want to come off as an opportunist or a quack. But more and more, I feel like I have something to offer to a wider audience and I would like to get it out there. At least I feel I should try. If I can't clone myself to help people face to face, how do you think I could do it indirectly?
2:31 Scott Galloway? The first thing is to step back and just acknowledge you're building economic security for other people. It sounds like your employees, it sounds like, I don't know this, but I'm going to assume you're a good boss. So you're kind of riding like, you know, you're already, you're already on the medal podium. It's just a question of whether, you know, how many golds you collect, if you will. Look, I'm honestly, this is something I'm good at. I'm a good professor, I understand marketing, but the way I've been able to build this life is by quote unquote scaling myself and it all comes down to one statement. Greatness is in the agency of others. It's finding good people. If you have a practice, that means you can bring in other young, I don't know where you are, an orthopedic surgeon or a dermatologist, you can bring in other doctors and try and create a culture of excellence such that you can scale yourself. And when I go, you know, my friend is the top orthopedic surgeon.
3:16 Scott Galloway? When I hurt my knee, you know, I saw him for the first consultation, but then he passed me off to another very talented orthopedic surgeon to look at my knee. I ended up not getting surgery, but you've already kind of figured out that you scale with other good quality people and you can run a business and run a practice and try and create a good culture, try and, you know, try and instill loyalty by being good to people. The second thing is you kind of answer your own question when you're talking about social media. If you want to expand your sphere of influence, whether you like it or not, it's social media. I had lunch today with the woman who started, I think it's called Eight Greens, which is this really cool supplements company, you know, all that green shit you take in the morning. I take it every morning now and, and she runs a great business, but the reason,
3:59 Scott Galloway? or one of the reasons her business is so successful is not only because she's got a good product, but she's on, she's very attractive, very articulate. So The View and, you know, Oprah loved to have her on. And social media, if you really have desire to kind of scale yourself, unfortunately it involves YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, all that shit. And you can be more measured. You can be one of those doctors that is a little bit more, you know, measured. You don't have to say blueberries will cure your cancer. But I think doing stuff in an interesting, visual, arresting way. It's compelling talking about whatever your domain expertise is. You know, it's hard. It's a slow build and it's huge. About fifteen, maybe even 20 years ago, I thought, okay, I need to be, I'm as a,
4:43 Scott Galloway? you know, professor of strategy or brand strategy at Stern. I thought I want, I have bigger ambitions than this. Social media, I thought that's gonna be big. So I did a follower strategy. Every day I followed 200 people on Twitter, which is the max you could follow without getting, I don't know, locked out for whatever reason. And about 60 or 80 would follow me back. So over the summer, I got a thousand users and over the year I got 10, or a thousand followers. And by the end of the year, I had 10,000 followers. Now I've given up Twitter, but I had over a half a million when I stopped showing up, pulling up a seat to the Nazi porn bar. But I have not huge followings, but decent followings for a professor on all of these different platforms. I have somebody very talented.
5:23 Scott Galloway? George Hahn, who helps me with my social. I do about half the postings. He does about half. We take it very seriously. We film video. We have a firm we pay $10,000 a month to that does these mashups of my content or speeches and turns them into cool little 60 second videos that we then snake through LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram reels. You know, we hit all of these things. So I would say the thing that's missing here is thought leadership in social media. If you want to write a book, if you want to be known as the doctor that kind of gets this domain. But it probably starts with social and it requires some production values. You have to hire some people. The first video, the first thing you do will suck. You can release it or not. Just commit to Mr. Beasting it. What do I mean by that?
6:06 Scott Galloway? The second one, better lighting, better video, some visuals, topics, read the comments. Don't take them to heart because there's going to be bots and weirdos out there that are just angry. Also, I'm not sure I would go all in on any kind of big idea because, I don't know how old you are. You sounded like you're in your 40s or 50s. But if you're making good money with a practice, my suggestion would be to. You know, double down on that, make more money, invest in low-cost index funds, and just build a great life for yourself. And also start to experiment with thought leadership and hire someone to manage your social media and start allocating for two, four, eight hours a week for content that goes beyond yourself. Appreciate the question.
6:51 Scott Galloway? Best of luck to you. And again, congratulations on all your success. Question number two.
6:57 Speaker 05 Hey Scott, this is Barboros from Istanbul. Long time listener and reader. I have a question for you that you might not like answering, but I think you will appreciate it. So the other day I was reading the corporate lifecycle from Espa de Modern, which I got to know from your podcast. Thank you for that. And he was talking about how long-lasting businesses usually have a succession plan in place. They usually think about succession just in case, and they end up, you know, lasting longer. But then I can't help but notice that the podcasts that you release, like Profit Your Markets, Profit Your Podcasts, yes, they're based on your personal branding, but what
7:40 Speaker 05 happens if you decide to stop one day? Or if you decide to pass it over, you know, to Ed and the team? Does that mean you will have to rebrand? Or do you have a succession plan that you wish to share?
7:56 Scott Galloway? Barboros from Istanbul, that's a good question. It would be relevant, but I'm going to live forever. Yes, that's right. The midlife crisis arrested adolescence tour continues. New dates announced. Okay, enough of that. Yeah. This business is getting to the point where I need to be thoughtful about creating enterprise value. When it's just a group of a small number of individuals, you don't have a business or an enterprise, you have a practice, and people are too dependent upon one individual. I think about this a lot. Realistically, I'd like to think I have 20 good years in me. I know I have 10 good years left in me, but okay, still, a lot of people are making good money here. You want them to continue to make good money. And any business that's just dependent upon one business, you know, that's you need to be thinking the way you're thinking about succession strategy.
8:41 Scott Galloway? So what have I done? One, you noticed I've brought in Ed Elson and Ed is the co-host of markets. At some point soon, sooner, actually, I'd like it to be sooner. I want Ed to start co-hosting with guest hosts that aren't me such that over time, Prof G Markets is the brand, not Sky Galloway. I'm focused on getting us to 20 or 30 million revenue with 15 million in EBITDA. I think I can do that in the next three to four years. And then build a series of voices that I help foster, create good businesses, and slowly but surely reduce the dependence on my voice. I always start a job thinking, all right, I either need to have an exit for people or build something where they could have 10, 20, 30 years of real solid earnings and help build economic security.
9:26 Scott Galloway? And this isn't an obvious company that you sell, although to a certain extent, every four years you sell the cash flows and you can actually make tens of millions of dollars now if you're in a, we have three top 100 podcasts right now, which is exceptional. We're very good at what we do and we've also been very fortunate. So you can kind of every four years, we're in the midst of this now renegotiate a deal. And the way I try and build economic security is I give and also just selfishly to get, keep everyone engaged and acting like an owner is I give everyone, well, not everyone, but the majority of the full-time employees, a percentage of our revenues. And so the question is, how do you maintain those revenue flows after, you know, I start going Biden, if you will. And by the way, I do not run the business.
10:10 Scott Galloway? My partner, Catherine Dillon, has been running the business for the last few years. I have talented producers. So the risk is that I'm kind of the front end of the talent end and we're going to need to dilute and diversify away from that over the next three, five, 10 years. And we have a plan for that, but it's a, it's a correct question. Thank you for asking. A board strategy, a good fiduciary focuses on succession strategy. And that is, German companies demand that the CEO take at least four weeks off every year. And if the company goes to shit when they're gone, they fire the CEO because they need an enterprise, they don't need a practice. Thanks for the question. We have one quick break before our final question. Stay with us.
10:50 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Built. Most of us work hard to earn our keep, but usually there's no one around to hand you a cookie when you successfully pay your monthly housing bill. No one except Built, that is. Built has expanded from their original Rent a Rewards program, and they have a lot more going on for members now. For example, members can earn points on mortgage payments, too. Every housing payment gets you points that get you a lot more than baked goods, such as flights with top travel partners, including United and Hyatt, Lyft rides, Amazon.com purchases, and much, much more. Here's another benefit of Built membership. You also get access to what they call a neighborhood concierge. You can make restaurant reservations, book fitness classes, and find new local spots, all while rewarding you at more than 45,000 merchant partners. It's simple.
11:33 Scott Galloway? Being a renter and now owning a home feels a lot better with Built. You can download the Built app and join the membership for where you live at joinbuilt.com/profg. That's J-O-I-N-B-I-L-T.com/profg. Use our link so they know we sent you.
11:51 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Upwork. Trying to scale your business? At some point, you're probably going to hit a point where you need some help. Sometimes the best way to break through that is bringing in the right talent at the right time. Upwork can help. Upwork is a one-stop platform where you can find, hire, and pay expert freelancers across more than 125 categories. Whether you need specialized skills for a single project or extra support to keep up with demand, it's easy to connect with experienced professionals, review their work, and find the right fit. You can move faster without taking on the commitment of full-time hires. And for businesses that need the very best talent, Upwork Business Plus provides access to the top 1% of freelancers on the platform. AI-powered matching connects you with qualified candidates in under six hours, cutting down the time spent searching. Upwork also takes care of contracts, payments,
12:36 Scott Galloway? and other administrative tasks, so you can spend less time managing logistics and more time focused on what's next. Visit upwork.com/profg right now and post your job for free. That's upwork.com/profg to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's U-P-W-O-R-K.com/profg. Upwork.com/profg.
13:01 Scott Galloway? Support for the show comes from Vanta. As AI adoption grows, so does your company's security risks and requirements. New frameworks, audits, and vendors keep piling on, but your team isn't getting any bigger. Most compliance tools promise automation, but you're really stuck doing all the work by hand, chasing screenshots, validating controls, and playing catch-up when audit season comes around again. Vanta works differently. The regentech trust platform is built to scale with you, not slow you down. With over 1,400 automated tests across 400-plus integrations, Vanta collects evidence and monitors your controls year-round, cutting your audit prep by 82%. Plus, you can access the Vanta agent everywhere you work, whether your team is in Vanta every day or living in tools including Claude
13:44 Scott Galloway? or Cursor. Want proof? Over 16,000 fast-growing companies like Ramp, Ryder, and Harvey save time and resources while scaling fast with Vanta. Learn more at vanta.com/profg and get $1,000 off. That's spelled V-A-N-T-A dot com slash profg for $1,000 off.
14:10 Scott Galloway? Welcome back. Question number three.
14:12 Speaker 06 Hey ProfG, my name's Jack. I'm attending Georgia Tech right now, pursuing my undergraduate in industrial engineering, and I'm 19 years old, which makes me an infant in your eyes, I know. I recently landed a big-wig consulting internship at a tier-two firm, which I'm pretty stoked about. But as someone who has no experience at a corporate job, I want to make the most of my time there. What can a lowly intern like me do to increase my chances at a return offer? Thank you, Prof, for your insights and dick jokes, and for making the professional world more navigable for a young man like me. And a big thank you to my dad, who put me onto your pod and who makes me a smarter, stronger, and funnier young adult every day. Love you, Dad.
14:48 Scott Galloway? Jesus, I'm like still there. If my son at 19 was at Georgia Tech and this thoughtful, and then took the time to like say something nice about me on a podcast, you're a wonderful young man. So, well done to your dad and your mom. As it relates to your actual question, okay, the easy stuff. Listen more than you speak, you know, offer, offer ideas when people ask you, but when you're in meetings, just trying to do a really good job of listening, taking notes. Show up 10 minutes before everyone else, stay at least 10 minutes after everyone. FaceTime, it sounds stupid, but you want to show that you're there to play, that you came to play. Come up with ideas every week, trying to at least have one or two ideas and say to someone, can I help you do this?
15:33 Scott Galloway? Or I was thinking of putting together a list of potential clients or outreach, or I was thinking about putting together. Show initiative and they might say, no, that's a bad idea. Don't do that. But see if you can't come up with some ideas that aren't a part of your job description and then ask people, would it help if you did something? If you can save, if you can spend four, six, eight hours making someone senior to you, save them at 30 or 60 minutes, they're going to want you back. People are selfish. This kid gave me an extra hour every week, right? Hire him. So you're going to get the easy stuff, right? You're going to listen a lot, you're going to be very personal, very nice, very supportive of other people. Whenever any, you work on anything, immediately thank other people for their help. You're going to show up early, you're going to stay late and you're going to try and find
16:15 Scott Galloway? little projects that might help other people and it's going to be your idea and you're going to pitch them to people. What if I put together a date about, now I'm in technology, I understand sites. It would have made sense for me to look at the technology that our site is built on. Can I do a project on how AI is impacting our, our business and come back to you in a couple of weeks for the presentation? You want to be the guy that was to get off your heels and on your toes, right? You want to walk into offices or send people an email saying, would you be willing to have coffee with me? Would you be willing to have lunch with me, right? So you're going to network, you're going to show up early, you're going to stay late, you're going to come up with new ideas, you're going to focus on attention and detail around your work. The work doesn't have to be breakthrough or even right, but it has to be professional. No typos, right?
16:58 Scott Galloway? Attention to detail and just keep doing what you're doing. You're obviously a very successful young man and the fact that you understand the importance of relationships is like you're just so far ahead of the game. So I'm like, Jesus Christ, it's like, will you coach me? You have, you have your shit sewed together at 19 that it's encouraging and inspiring. But again, congratulations on your success today. That's all for this episode. If you'd like to submit a question, please email a voice recording to [email protected] . Again, that's [email protected] .
17:42 Scott Galloway? This episode was produced by Jennifer Sanchez and Caroline Shageran. Drew Burrows is our technical director. Thank you for listening to the Prop G Pod from the Vox Media Podcast Network. We will catch you on Saturday for No Mercy No Malice, as read by George Hahn. And please follow our Prop G Markets Pod wherever you get your pods for new episodes every Monday and Thursday.
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