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David Rogier. He\u2019s the CEO of MasterClass where he leads the company\u2019s vision of redefining digital learning by leveraging the expertise of world-class experts with the cutting-edge technology platform. David created MasterClass after seeing how the online education space was offering low-quality content and an unfair advantage of students.

Famous Five:

• Favorite Book? \u2013 The Science of Shopping
• What CEO do you follow? \u2013 Jeff Bezos
• Favorite online tool? \u2014 Doodle
• How many hours of sleep do you get?\u2014 Average 6
• If you could let your 20-year old self, know one thing, what would it be? \u2013 David would tell himself that entrepreneurship will be the hardest thing he\u2019ll ever do

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Time Stamped Show Notes:

• 02:05 \u2013 Nathan introduces David to the show
• 03:05 \u2013 MasterClass offers classes from the absolute best in the world
  • 03:14 \u2013 Online classes are offered both pre-recorded and live, both price at $90
• 03:31 \u2013 Students can study anytime they want and they have access forever
• 04:04 \u2013 Prior to MasterClass, David worked for a VC fund in the Bay area
  • 04:21 \u2013 David worked for Michael Dearing of Harrison Metal
  • 04:50 \u2013 Michael wrote David a check for $500K to start his idea for his business
  • 05:03 \u2013 David tried almost everything to get an idea until he remembered his grandmother\u2019s story
  • 05:49 \u2013 His grandmother applied for medical school while working in a factory
  • 05:55 \u2013 She was rejected by almost 50 medical schools
  • 06:20 \u2013 The reason she was rejected was because she was a woman, foreigner and Jewish
  • 06:27 \u2013 One school accepted her and she became a doctor
  • 06:53 \u2013 She told David that education is the only thing that people can\u2019t take away from him
• 07:04 \u2013 David thought of getting into the education space and studied it
• 07:53 \u2013 MasterClass was launched in May of 2015
• 08:00 \u2013 Total capital raised was around $50M
• 08:35 \u2013 The fund goes to expanding the team as well as production so they can shoot more classes
• 08:42 \u2013 Team size is currently 68 and will be 100 at the end of 2017
• 09:04 \u2013 Year One: number of students
• 10:13 \u2013 When they started, David was expecting a 10X increase in sales daily
  • 10:38 \u2013 David cried after their first day of sales
• 11:18 \u2013 Reid Benson who is part of David\u2019s sales team and was formerly with Netflix, wasn\u2019t even scared after the launch
  • 11:58 \u2013 Reid told David that their CAC was amazingly low
• 12:34 \u2013 The first 3 classes were led by Dustin Hoffman, James Patterson and Serena Williams
• 13:06 \u2013 The CAC for different subjects was actually close to each other
• 13:43 \u2013 Paid ads spent on Day 1 were less than $100K
• 14:14 \u2013 Paid advertising on different channels works well for MasterClass
  • 14:22 \u2013 Instructors are also promoting their classes
• 15:00 \u2013 David can\u2019t disclose the deal they have with the instructors
  • 15:13 \u2013 Most instructors teach because they really want to teach and not just to earn from it
• 15:51 \u2013 David shares how they handle instructors who don\u2019t want to teach, but want to share their knowledge
  • 16:10 \u2013 Classes are designed by how instructors want to share their own craft
  • 16:14 \u2013 Instructors have complete control over their class
  • 16:28 \u2013 David shares what a class looks like for Serena Williams
• 17:24 \u2013 MasterClass partners with the instructors in their classes
• 18:17 \u2013 David shares why he won\u2019t share the deal with the instructors
  • 18:38 \u2013 James Patterson teaches with MasterClass because of his own reasons
• 21:00 \u2013 David shares why instructors pick MasterClass over LinkedIn, which is more popular
• 21:50 \u2013 There are now 20 classes in MasterClass
• 22:07 \u2013 The number of classes should double, year over year
• 22:52 \u2013 Half to 80% of their first students haven\u2019t taken any online classes before
• 23:10 \u2013 Not all students are fans of the instructors
• 23:43 \u2013 David won\u2019t sell MasterClass for $300M
• 25:15 \u2013 The Famous Five

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3 Key Points:

1. Never miss an opportunity being offered to you, it was offered to you for a reason; so trust yourself and go for it.
2. Most successful people in their field want to share their craft through any way possible.
3. Education is one thing that people can\u2019t take away from you.

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Resources Mentioned:

• Simplero \u2013 The easiest way to launch your own membership course like the big influencers do but at 1/10th the cost.
• The Top Inbox \u2013 The site Nathan uses to schedule emails to be sent later, set reminders in inbox, track opens, and follow-up with email sequences
• GetLatka - Database of all B2B SaaS companies who have been on my show including their revenue, CAC, churn, ARPU and more
• Klipfolio \u2013 Track your business performance across all departments for FREE
• Hotjar \u2013 Nathan uses Hotjar to track what you\u2019re doing on this site. He gets a video of each user visit like where they clicked and scrolled to make the site a better experience
• Acuity Scheduling \u2013 Nathan uses Acuity to schedule his podcast interviews and appointments
• Host Gator\u2013 The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for the cheapest price possible
• Audible\u2013 Nathan uses Audible when he\u2019s driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5-hour drive) to listen to audio books
• Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives