The Corporate Ladder Is On Fire: How David Rogier Built MasterClass and What He’d Build Now | E165
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's what we were told.
How did David Rogier’s grandmother’s story shape his view on education and purpose?
If you work hard, if you go to the right schools, if you get the right internships, you are going to climb. You're going to be safe forever and you're going to earn enough to have a house to send your kids to good schools. It's not true. It's just not true.
Today's guest literally gave access to the world's greatest minds. David Baudier is the founder and CEO of Masterclass. And David turned a $500,000 bet from his former boss into a global phenomenon.
It's a new world and the old ways of doing it are going away. So you gotta find new ways to show that you have that skill set.
How do you see the skills forming?
I think the most important thing is
Hey, I have a favor to ask. I decided not to put any ads on the show because I don't want to vouch for things or products I don't really, really believe in. But in order for us to continue to bring these amazing guests, all I'm asking is, if that's okay, just click that like, subscribe, download button. Those mean to us more than you can think. So is that a good deal? Let's dive in.
you
Welcome, welcome, David. This is going to be so fun.
I'm really excited to be here. It is an honor.
So, so, so, so cool. And just one more thing, everybody, you remember every week I do choose one question from our YouTube channel, Leap Academy with Zinlan Golan. And this week I saw a brilliant question from Poonam who is asking about basically, you know, I'm reaching out to my network and I'm asking for introduction, but it looks really crowded. What do I do? So we're going to answer this after this amazing conversation. David, your story is so, so, so inspiring. I'm going to have to take you back in time a little bit. Can I take you back in time?
Of course.
This is going to be so fun. So tell me, so first of all, I was so touched the first time I heard about your story with your grandma. Share a little bit, how did that, like, did you grow close?
What childhood challenges (stuttering, teasing) taught David resilience and confidence?
Like, how did that inspire you? I literally had tears in my eyes first time I heard this.
My grandma was my hero. She... I'm just gonna get a little emotional about it. She was everything to me. And we, you know, I'd stayed with her after school almost every day, we would travel together. Once I got older, we would talk all the time and do a lot, do a lot, go out for lunch. I used to go with her to work and just work at her office with her, you know, at a fabric company. She was my hero. She is my hero.
How did quitting his job and receiving a $500,000 check lead to the idea for MasterClass?
She's my hero.
And she told you a lot about like, what did she share? Did she share stories? Like, how did you come into this realization that education is so important?
So I was in second grade, I still remember this, and I finished school that day, and I came to her house, and my grandma always prepared for me a snack, which now sounds like a horrible snack, but I loved it as a kid. It was a bowl of apples and pickles. Sounds really gross now, but I don't know, apparently I really liked it. And I came home, and I came to her house, and I was crying. I had a rough day in school. And, you know, I was in second grade, so, like, you know, it wasn't really that rough. But it seemed like it was rough.
It feels rough, yeah.
Yeah. And my grandma told me that she has a story that she wants to tell me. And also in second grade, like, that's the last thing that you really want to hear. So when my grandma was 16, she was living in Krakow, Poland, and she went on a family vacation. Her dad decided to stay home a couple extra days to finish some work. While they're on vacation, the Nazis invaded. They killed her father and, you know, took everything. Her and her mom fled out of Europe to New York. And they were able to get there. And the only jobs that they were able to get were on a factory floor. So my grandma and her mom were working side by side. My grandma working in the factory decides that she wants to become a doctor. She applies by hand to every medical school in the state of New York, and she gets a no from every single medical school in the state of New York.
She keeps working the factory side by side with her mom, and the next year decides, I'm going to apply again.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:01
2
How did David Rogier’s grandmother’s story shape his view on education and purpose?
0:01–2:14
3
What childhood challenges (stuttering, teasing) taught David resilience and confidence?
2:14–2:53
4
How did quitting his job and receiving a $500,000 check lead to the idea for MasterClass?
2:53–5:15
5
What three conditions did David identify as necessary for MasterClass to succeed?
5:15–5:45
6
How did David hustle to convince top Hollywood instructors to join MasterClass?
5:45–8:03
7
What happened on MasterClass launch day and how did early traction evolve over the first week?
8:03–10:40
8
How will AI transform learning and which study showed 18 hours equaled 18 months of classroom progress?
10:40–55:47
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Leap Academy with Ilana Golan
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