SCALING INTELLIGENCE: LEADERSHIP LESSONS FROM BUILDING A 400-MILLION-USER PLATFORM

Honored to give a presentation to Fox & Hounds, a local executive networking group of curious lifelong learners.

ABSTRACT: What does it take to scale a platform from startup origins to one of the world’s largest connected ecosystems? In this session, Mark Benson, CEO of SmartThings at Samsung Electronics, shares leadership insights from guiding the company’s ongoing evolution from a small startup to a global platform serving more than 400 million users. Mark explores the intersection of technology, people, and culture in a high-pressure, globally distributed environment. He highlights how leaders can balance speed with sustainability, autonomy with alignment, and innovation with interoperability. Drawing from the SmartThings journey that now connects millions of devices across both consumer and commercial markets, he offers practical lessons on scaling teams, simplifying complexity, and leading through constant transformation. This session gives CEOs a rare inside look at how to manage rapid growth without losing clarity, how to build systems that learn and adapt, and how to develop teams that consistently deliver under pressure while keeping the human experience at the center of technological progress.