Scott Cutler has held leadership positions at eBay, StubHub and the New York Stock Exchange. Now the executive is engaged in his next big career challenge: elevating StockX to new heights.
When the “stock market of things” announced it received $110 million in a Series C funding in June, the firm also introduced Cutler as its CEO. And upon arrival, lofty goals were set for StockX, with an emphasis on international expansion.
Roughly two months in, Cutler shared with FN the challenges StockX faces, how he will spend his time leading the company and why taking this job is the best decision he’s made in his career.
How I got here: “The founding of this company uniquely ties to my background and history. I’ve been a part of marketplaces now for 15-plus years. When this company started in 2016, it was the launch of a new marketplace that was patterned after some of the principals of the New York Stock Exchange, StubHub and eBay, all places that I have been CEO or had a senior management position. It was a unique serendipitous moment to see a marketplace that had been patterned after some of the places that I had spent my career.”
Big goals: “We had exceptional growth as a company in a very short period of time. As I look at our big goals for the future, it’s these: continuing to delight our customers every transaction, be able to continue to expand globally and internationally as much as we have here in the U.S., and solving the operational complexities of providing a trusted, authenticated experience with the physical goods in our marketplace.”
Key challenges: “It’s people and customers. On the people side, internally, that we have a culture within our company of entrepreneurship, a culture focused on growth, and that we as a company are developing products and services that meet the needs of a very excited, enthusiastic, passionate customer.”
Typical day: “It is a mix of those two things. On the people side, it’s working with our team to create a culture and environment and a strategy that supports our growth and vision. I spend most of my time meeting with our teams working on that, and a lot of that time I’m putting myself in the position of the customer and making sure our priorities and investments are aligned with the customer view. I’m a little more than 45 days into the job and my expectation is those are going to be my areas of focus.”
Best decision: “No question, it’s being the CEO of StockX. The reason that’s my best decision is that it’s the perfect combination of different places and different things that I’ve learned over the course of my career, all applied to one tremendous growth opportunity. It’s where everything that I’ve done has come together.”
Worst decision: “It was early on in my career in a particular place that I was at, and I won’t mention the name, but I wasn’t 100% committed to the job, I wasn’t all in. [And] it showed up in my work and my commitments. It was great to [experience] that early in my career because in all of the positions I’ve been successful in, I was 100% all in — gave it my best, gave it everything I had. That, to me, is the best way to succeed.”
Career mentors: “I’ve had the opportunity to interact with leaders from around the world in my career — presidents, prime ministers, CEOs — and I’ve learned tremendously by watching them. One of the great leaders that I had the opportunity to work with was the CEO of the New York Stock Exchange, Duncan Niederauer, who I worked with from 2008 through 2015. I saw somebody that brought that all-in commitment combined with a set of values that I respected. He is a person who lived by principal and value.”
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