Scaling White-Glove Service: Sweetwater's $2 Billion Success Story with Mike Clem
February 19, 2026
What if scaling a business didn't require sacrificing the human relationships that made it successful?
In this episode of Humanity at Scale, host Bruce Temkin speaks with Mike Clem, CEO of Sweetwater, about building a near–$2B business without sacrificing trust, care, or relationships. Mike shares how Sweetwater scales through human connection, disciplined growth, and culture designed into systems, not slogans. From white-glove service and deep listening to thoughtful use of AI, this conversation shows why leading with humanity isn’t soft; it’s a serious competitive advantage.
What if scaling a business didn't require sacrificing the human relationships that made it successful?
In this episode of Humanity at Scale, host Bruce Temkin speaks with Mike Clem, CEO of Sweetwater, about building a near–$2B business without sacrificing trust, care, or relationships. Mike shares how Sweetwater scales through human connection, disciplined growth, and culture designed into systems, not slogans. From white-glove service and deep listening to thoughtful use of AI, this conversation shows why leading with humanity isn’t soft; it’s a serious competitive advantage.
Here are some of the topics that Bruce and Mike explore:
- How to build a scalable business model on relationships, not transactions
- Why controlling growth pace is a competitive advantage, not a limitation
- The "Solve the Customer, Solve the Problem, Solve the System" framework
- How to embed culture through design, not slogans.
- Why leaders must stay close to reality by listening directly
- How AI augments human expertise instead of replacing it
Mike Clem is the CEO of Sweetwater, the largest online retailer of musical instruments and professional audio equipment in the United States. With a background in engineering and early ecommerce technology, he has spent over two decades at Sweetwater, growing the company from a $4 million website in 2003 to approaching $2 billion in revenue.
Episode Resources:
Humanity At Scale: Redefining Leadership is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so