Scott Cutler reflects on the evolving trends and strategies to keep StockX at the center of hype culture.
By Diane Brady, Forbes Staff
To operate as a CEO of a global company these days, Scott Cutler believes you have to be fit. Really fit. Cutler has run marathons, completed nine stages of the Tour de France and crossed the Alps, among other things.
“It requires incredible endurance, incredible fitness to handle the travel schedule around the world,” says Cutler of the CEO role. “I also personally am a real believer in personal development and so I try to push myself in the areas I enjoy ... to challenge myself to grow.”
Since leaving eBay to join StockX as CEO in 2019, Cutler has had the challenge of making the self-described “current culture marketplace” the platform of choice for people reselling sneakers and streetwear worldwide. His first major challenge came less than a year into the job, when the global pandemic cut into clothing and footwear sales, followed by an inflation-fueled recovery and a Nike lawsuit over counterfeits and NFTs.
While international sneaker sales have helped the company stay in growth mode, Cutler says the pandemic did permanently change his leadership style.
“I had to show up differently: not so transactional, a lot more empathetic as a leader,” he says. Now, he’s incorporated practices like personal check-ins and biweekly all-hands meetings to build on that. “Being accessible and transparent has been really important as we’ve expanded globally.”
“It’s a nuanced relationship”
Still, as with any resale site, there’s a perennial tug of war with brands like Nike, which benefit from the extra buzz that listings can generate but resent how resellers use bots or other tricks to snap up a disproportionate share of products intended for real fans.
“It’s a nuanced relationship,” says Cutler. “The initial decision about how much product to release is a key strategy that many brands are using to drive scarcity, to drive brand value, to drive heat, to drive interest. That decision determines ultimately what the aftermarket value of a product can be. That’s something we don’t control.”
Click on the video above for the full interview.
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