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Masters of Scale

Chobani & Patagonia CEOs break down where values meet profit

27 min episode · 2 min read
·
Hamdi Yulukaya,Ryan Gellert,David Gellis

Episode

27 min

Read time

2 min

Topics

Relationships, Investing, Startups

AI-Generated Summary

Key Takeaways

  • Strategic activism boundaries: Patagonia limits public statements to areas where they have authentic expertise and fifty-two years of credibility—environmental issues and business perspectives—rather than performative commentary, especially during politically retributive administrations.
  • Growth redefined: Patagonia prioritizes growth in impact over revenue growth, deliberately restraining distribution expansion and refusing partnerships with ideologically misaligned retailers or Amazon, proving modest revenue growth can coexist with outsized mission impact and employee engagement.
  • Founder commitment intensity: Chobani achieved billion-dollar sales within four and a half years by having the founder live in factories for the first five years, never leaving for six to seven months during new facility launches—demonstrating extreme operational commitment during hypergrowth phases.
  • Employee ownership structure: Chobani made every employee, including factory line workers, refugees, and immigrants, company shareholders, creating alignment between workforce and long-term company success while maintaining independence from traditional investors who might compromise values.

What It Covers

Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and Chobani CEO Hamdi Ulukaya discuss maintaining corporate values during political turbulence, balancing profit with purpose, navigating White House relationships, and how independent ownership enables values-driven business decisions.

Key Questions Answered

  • Strategic activism boundaries: Patagonia limits public statements to areas where they have authentic expertise and fifty-two years of credibility—environmental issues and business perspectives—rather than performative commentary, especially during politically retributive administrations.
  • Growth redefined: Patagonia prioritizes growth in impact over revenue growth, deliberately restraining distribution expansion and refusing partnerships with ideologically misaligned retailers or Amazon, proving modest revenue growth can coexist with outsized mission impact and employee engagement.
  • Founder commitment intensity: Chobani achieved billion-dollar sales within four and a half years by having the founder live in factories for the first five years, never leaving for six to seven months during new facility launches—demonstrating extreme operational commitment during hypergrowth phases.
  • Employee ownership structure: Chobani made every employee, including factory line workers, refugees, and immigrants, company shareholders, creating alignment between workforce and long-term company success while maintaining independence from traditional investors who might compromise values.

Notable Moment

Hamdi Ulukaya describes receiving death threats and boycott campaigns after announcing plans to hire refugees, yet proceeded anyway, demonstrating how values-driven decisions require ignoring legal and communications advisors when doing what aligns with core principles.

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Episode Transcript

If you're focused on scaling your business, you know that complexity kills efficiency, which is why Freshworks is here to give you uncomplicated service software. Fresh Works builds intuitive tools that make work easier and deliver real ROI today, not someday. Their AI doesn't replace your people. It unlocks their potential. If you wanna increase your team's efficiency and uncomplicate your business, try Freshservice for IT and Freshdesk for customer support. Learn more at freshworks.com. Does it ever feel like you're paying for 20 platforms to do the job of what really should be just one? That's not software as a service or SaaS. It's SAD, software as a disservice. Replacing your stitched together tech stack with one platform for all your departments? Well, that's rippling. Rippling eliminates the bottlenecks and busy work of legacy tools and point solutions by uniting your global HR, IT, and spend teams on just one platform. And right now, you can get six months of Rippling free when you sign up at rippling.com/scale. That's rippling.com/scale. Don't get sad. Get Rippling. Terms and conditions apply. What you might describe as speaking out, I just think is telling the truth about what's going on in the world right now. A healthy planet, thriving communities depends on a functioning democracy, and I have real concerns about the future of something I took for granted for the vast majority of my fifty three years. We got debt threats and, you know, boycotts. You gotta do the right thing regardless of, you know, what lawyers and communication experts will say. Every challenges we face, we don't want it. But when that happens, it's an opportunity to make things better than ever before, and that excites me. That's Patagonia CEO Ryan Gellert and Chobani CEO Hamdi Yulukaya recorded live at the Masters of Scale Summit in San Francisco on October 8. In this special episode, Ryan and Hamdi talked about the intersection of values and commerce, moderated deftly by New York Times reporter and author David Gellis. The two CEOs share their different strategies for dealing with an activist White House, the pressure for what David calls anticipatory compliance, and how they grow their businesses while also prioritizing causes like environmental conservation and immigration. Along the way, there are personal stories, advice, and, yes, even a few f bombs. So let's get to it. I'm Bob Safian, and this is Rapid Response. Patagonia and Chobani are two companies that have long been defined by their purpose as much as their products. But both of your companies are showing up in very different ways at a moment when it can be hard or even dangerous to say what you really think. So we're gonna get into all that and more, and I wanna start with you, Hamdi. Shivani, you've always cared about more than just profits. For almost twenty years now, the company has been doing this work and been committed to more than just making great dairy products and all …

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