April 10, 2021

How Do You Create a School for the Rest of Your Life? | David Rogier on Business Casual with Kinsey Grant

Check out the Business Casual Episode Page & Show Notes

We tend to have the crazy belief that education stops once schooling stops
Education is the only thing that no one can take away from you
“The true gift is the learning, not the grades” Kinsey Grant
So much of our life is built around seeking praise from others
- To create a startup you have to believe in something other people think is impossible
  - You have to go against the grain and unlearn your craving for praise
  - In the process, you build confidence and learn about yourself

David Rogier (@drogier) is the Founder and CEO of Masterclass
Host: Kinsey Grant (@kinseyrgrant)
In this conversation, David Rogier talks about how Masterclass is changing education, and shares the story of how he started the company

We tend to have the crazy belief that education stops once schooling stops
- In the past, what you learned in school would serve for your entire life
- Today, what you learn in school can’t prepare you for the rest of your life
What does a school that prepares you for the rest of your life look like?
- It shouldn’t feel like traditional school
- It should be something you enjoy doing
  - At the intersection of education and entertainment
Masterclass allows you to learn almost any subject from the best in the world
- You can take a singing class from Christina Aguilera, a basketball class from Steph Curry, or a filmaking class from Martin Scorsese
David started Masterclass by cold calling and emailing potential teachers
- It took him over a year to sign his first “teacher”, author James Patterson
  - This was a very tough time for David
  - He benefited from working with a psychologist during this time
- Now, they only accept 1 out of 10 experts who apply to teach on Masterclass

Education is the only thing that no one can take away from you
- It is correlated with higher life expectancy and income
Traditional education forces us to pick lanes, emphasizing specialization
- As an addition to traditional ed, Masterclass allows you to explore a wide variety of topics
- Interacting with and learning from people in different fields sparks creativity
  - The Academic paper, The Strength of Weak Ties discusses this at length
“The true gift is the learning, not the grades” Kinsey Grant
- Our education system focuses too much on grades
- Masterclass measures its success in terms of how many people’s lives were changed by taking on of their classes

The pandemic only accelerated the trend of increasing consumer adoption of online classes
The biggest change that David saw with the pandemic was investors’ interest in the industry, which rose dramatically
- In the past, paid online videos were seen with skepticism

So much of our life is built around seeking praise from others
- This usually means doing what other people want and conforming to society’s standards
  - Going to a good school
  - Striving for great grades
To create a startup you have to believe in something other people think is impossible
- You have to go against the grain and unlearn your craving for praise
- In the process, you build confidence and learn about yourself
For these reasons, starting a company can be extremely tough on founders
- Working with a psychologist can be extremely useful

Education, learning, startups
Notes By Giorgio Parlato