We are at the intersection of engagement, of education, and inspiration: MasterClass CEO

David Rogier, MasterClass CEO, joins The Final Round to discuss the company's latest funding round for $100M and the rise of remote learning in the wake of COVID-19.

Video Transcript

- Well, if you're looking to learn, or for a way to learn, from top business leaders, entrepreneurs, and other prominent figures-- names like Robin Roberts, Anna Wintour, and Steph Curry-- well, there's actually a way to do it. It's a series of lessons through the online streaming platform, MasterClass. And for more on this, I want to bring in MasterClass Co-Founder and CEO, David Rogier.

And David, thanks so much for taking the time to join us this afternoon. Your platform really makes it possible for anyone to learn from the best in various fields. You just raised $100 million in your latest round of funding. First, walk us through how MasterClass works and, then, what the additional funding will enable you to do.

DAVID ROGIER: Yeah. So the idea is that, for the first time, you have a chance to learn from the absolute best, if that's Bob Iger, if that's Steph Curry. And so, how it works is you pay $180, and you get access to every single class for a full year.

- So you get access to that for a full year. Just break down exactly how much it costs and, then, also what kind of impact you have seen recently, whether you've seen a spike in demand because of coronavirus. People are inside their houses. They don't really have many options to do anything outside, so has that actually helped your business?

DAVID ROGIER: Yeah. So, first, it costs $180 for the entire year. So you have access for all cla-- for every single class. And yeah, I mean, across the spaces of education and entertainment, you have seen large spikes in-- in consu-- in demand. We have seen it depends on the week, up to 10x year-over-year increase in interest and also sales.

MYLES UDLAND: And I guess, David, so, you know, kind of along the lines of Shonna's question-- because everyone's at home and everyone has a computer, I think some people might feel compelled to sort of do a similar presentation, right, to what a MasterClass might be. But it seems to you, like, there's still something in the MasterClass experience that consumers want that is different than just an informal, kind of, I turned on my Instagram Live. Like, so, what is it, I guess, about the MasterClass experience that you think is still connecting with people when there is this abundance of, I guess what I would call, like, celeb access at home kind of content right now?

DAVID ROGIER: Yeah, I mean, we are at the intersection of engagement, of education, and inspiration. That is the ven-- that is the circle of change. If you can get in the center of those three things, that is how you change. And that is where people learn and grow. And I think how we do it is, one, it's the absolute best in the world. So this isn't somebody who's just a friend of yours or somebody who works up the street. This is somebody who, you know, has won an MVP award, has won four Oscars, has won, you know, tons of awards. So these are the absolute best in the world, number one.

Number two, these aren't, like, an everyday, you know, live feed. This is something that we have worked on and filmed for, you know, six months. So this is almost like you're watching a movie that, you know, at that level of depth and how good it looks, but it's just to learn about the tips and the tricks and the skills and the wisdom that one of the best in the world has achieved.

- David, I'm curious to get your thoughts on how you think traditional education models have shifted or the thinking towards them has shifted as a result of this pandemic. There's a lot of high school seniors right now that are looking to September thinking, are my classes going to be online? Is it worth paying $50,000, $60,000 a year for that? And is that ultimately the value for your education I get if it's not the full experience? What do you tell them?

DAVID ROGIER: There is still a tremendous amount that you learn in school. And it's not just in the classroom, but it's also from everybody else in the classroom and your peers. And a lot of things you learn happen outside the classroom as you're trying to do work and you're trying to learn an idea or concept. What I think you'll see, though, happen is two big shifts. One is, this is a huge push, or a huge kick, in the EdTech space for people to really improve not just the actual tech behind the classes, but the content itself.

And so, it can't just be a live feed. You want-- you want to make a classroom as compelling as watching a movie. And so, I think that's going to be one big shift that happens. The other shift that's going to happen is, in most of our lives, we have set times of the day that are to learn or to be entertained. We go to school for a certain time of day. We then come home and watch something for fun.

That line is starting to blur. And we see-- and we see it, too, that instead of just trying to learn in the beginning of the day or at the end of the day, you now learn all throughout the day. And I think that intersection of entertainment and education is going to become more and more blurred.

RICK NEWMAN: Hey, David. Rick Newman here. I'd like to shoot like Steph Curry. I think that 180 bucks would be a bargain if there was a money-back guarantee or something like that. But I also want to know, what's in it for the experts? Are you paying them a lot of money? Does this, you know, help-- allow them to promote their brand, social media credibility? How do you get them?

DAVID ROGIER: Yeah, so let me talk on the first part first. So first, if you sign up and you do not like-- you do not like it, you don't love it, you have a month to say, I want my money back. And we don't ask any questions, and we give it back to you. Right? Because the idea is, I want you to-- I want you to love-- we really want you to love-- to really love the classes.

Two is, I don't measure our success of a class based on how much somebody views or the grades they get or a certificate or likes or shares. What we measure is impact. And what we ask them-- and it's one simple question-- we ask everybody who takes our classes is, did you learn something that changed your life? And if the answer is yes, that means that we did a great job. If the answer is no, it means I've got some more work to do.

Your second question you asked was about how we get these people to teach. I'll be honest. You know, we started five years ago. It was really hard. I don't come from this world, so it was cold calling and grinding. But we now say no to 9 out of 10 folks. And the reason why people want to teach is because they actually want to give back. There was somebody in their life that changed their life that they want to now give that gift back. If it was just about the cash, there are lots of other places in the world that they could, you know, do an ad and get paid tons more.

- All right. David Rogier, MasterClass co-founder and CEO, it's great to have you on. Thanks so much for taking the time today.

DAVID ROGIER: Thanks, guys.