A few weeks ago on Like or Dislike we asked guests if they’d pay $90 for acting classes from Emmy winner and TONYs host Kevin Spacey, or cooking classes from Hell’s Kitchen’s Gordon Ramsey, or writing classes from TV’s own Shonda Rhimes and the answer was a resounding YES! Everyone wants a part of the types of classes offered by MasterClass—whose mission is to democratize genius. And those especially chomping at the MasterClass bit are investors who have brought MasterClass funding up to over $57 million. With me today to discuss the success of MasterClass is CEO and co-founder, David Rogier.
DAVID ROGIER“I missed building stuff and I had someone who wanted to fund me.”
“I wanted to hear how people learn. The nugget we found was there’s knowledge found in the very best minds.”
“Imagine going back in time and taking a class with the Wright Brothers.”
“At first it was so hard getting these folks to teach. After you get to them, they were excited to teach.”
“I got a call on my cell phone and it was James Patterson. He wanted to teach a class. He was our second teacher. Now instructors come to us.”
“We do a lot of polling and qualitative tests to see who people want to teach.”
“I was so excited for Aaron Sorkin and it launched and the appeal was so huge. It appealed to business execs and actors, not just writers.”
“It’s not just fans who take these classes. It’s people who want to improve their lives.”
“We had to spend a lot of time thinking how we were going to prove that this business was going to work.”
“We filmed my mom and dad as our test shoot. My mom is a fiber artist and so she taught that and my dad is a divorce lawyer and gave tips.”
“Usher did a class on performance. I stutter and Usher said to admit your weakness. I admit it first and then I stutter less.”
“I would love a class with Elon Musk.”
Tiffany Pham is the founder & CEO of Mogul, a global media empire for women which encourages its audience to share ideas, solicit advice, and interact with other community members on the platform. Mogul was named a “Top NYC Startup to Watch” in 2015 by Entrepreneur, “Best Website for Finding Top Talent” by Inc. Magazine, and “Top Site for Marketing Your Company Online” by Forbes. And Tiffany was named one of Forbes “30 Under 30” in Media, and as Business Insider’s “30 Most Important Women Under 30” in Technology.
“Asking advice is such an important part of growing up. Humans hopefully will be the ones still offering that advice.”
“I’ve been so inspired by my family for many generations. They’ve been in the media for a long time. Especially my grandmother.”
“I grew up in Paris, France and then moved to Plano, Texas. It helped me build resilience early on.”
“Radio, TV, film helped me learn to speak English.”
“I was working so hard. I had gone to Yale and Harvard Business School. I worked with various media companies. And at night I had side hustles.”
“I was producing incredible films. I was behind the first film to ever feature a man with Downs Syndrome in a lead role.”
“When I was 14 I had the idea to start Mogul. I promised my grandmother I’d follow in her footsteps.”
“I started receiving letter from young girls around the world asking advice.”
“My personality is that I love to help so much I go overboard.”
“I started to realize that instead of doing one-on-one behind the scenes what if we all shared our advice with everyone on a certain platform.”
“I approach every conversation to learn from others.”
“People who are veterans of the industry have been championing Mogul since Day One.”
“Mogul is a platform when you log on you can see what’s trending in women’s minds around the world.”
“I’m amazed by our incredible users.”
“We have so many amazing supporters from around the world, from Silicon Valley VCs to celebrities.”
“I loved when Katie Couric was on.”
“I thought if I could teach myself to code I could get Mogul completed sooner than later. After a couple of weeks I had built the first iteration of Mogul.”
“Some of the best entrepreneurs start after age 40.”
“I think it was essential to know the technical aspects of Mogul.”
“By teaching myself to code I gave myself the confidence that I could be build Mogul.”
“I had installed all these different widgets to increase shareability.”
“If ever you needed something, in every conversation bring it up because you never know who will be able to provide it.”
“Writing is my most important skill.”
“I was in a LTR who made me choose between launching Mogul or marrying him and moving in. I chose Mogul and put up a post about it that got read 13M times.”
“I was a one-person team at first. I was working 24/7.”
“Mogul At Work provides jobs and internships to our user base.”
“Mogul Learning develops courses for girls worldwide.”
“Mogul Studios is where we partner with production companies to create entertainment and mobile content.”
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