MasterClass

• 1. Introduction

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  MasterClass lets subscribers watch pre-recorded lessons from Serena Williams, Gordon Ramsay, Martin Scorsese, and Neil deGrasse Tyson. The concept began with David Rogier, who developed it together with Aaron Rasmussen. This documentary asks how that early idea grew into a company worth billions, and how it handled a scandal involving one of its own instructors.

• 2. Founding At Stanford

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  David Rogier was still a student at Stanford University when he registered the business behind MasterClass under the name Yanka Industries. He asked Aaron Rasmussen to join as co-founder and chief technology officer, and Rasmussen also worked as creative director. Rasmussen left the company in January 2017, and Rogier has continued serving as chief executive officer since.

  The website went live under the MasterClass name on the 12th of May 2015, opening with just three instructors. That handful of classes was about to expand fast, and the company was about to take on the funding needed to make it happen.

• 3. Growing The Catalog

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  Twelve new classes joined the MasterClass catalog in 2017, expanding well beyond the original handful at launch.

  In late 2017, an acting class taught by Kevin Spacey was pulled from the platform after multiple sexual assault allegations became public against him.

  By late 2018, the platform had grown to roughly 50 classes and 1,000 lessons in total. Mobile devices had already gained official support in April 2018, ahead of that milestone.

  David Schriber joined as chief marketing officer in June 2019, as the company kept building out its offerings. Behind all this growth sat a rapidly expanding balance sheet, one that funding records track round by round.

• 4. Funding And Retreat

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  MasterClass began with $4.5 million in initial funding, plus two seed rounds that added $1.9 million more.

  A $15 million round followed in 2016, then $35 million arrived in 2017, and $80 million came in 2018.

  In May 2020, the company raised $100 million in a Series E round led by Fidelity Investments, pushing total funding to about $240 million.

  In May 2021, a Series F round brought in $225 million, valuing the company at $2.75 billion according to CNBC reporting.

  In June 2022, MasterClass laid off 20% of its staff, citing a worsening macroeconomic environment. That belt-tightening followed years of rapid expansion, and it landed on a company whose classes all followed one particular format.

• 5. How A Class Works

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  MasterClass classes cover subjects like writing, sports, and cooking, each taught by someone well known in that field.

  As of 2019, the company was expanding into new territory, adding classes on politics, economics, and video game design.

  Instructors give live demonstrations when a topic is easy to show visually, while those teaching writing simply lecture.

  Classes are sold through an annual subscription and are typically not interactive. At least one course had students act out scenes with each other, either in person or over Skype. That single interactive exception raised a question reviewers would return to: how much a recorded class can really teach.

• 6. What Critics Noticed

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  Reviewers pointed out that some courses, especially those tied to the performing arts, assume students already have basic proficiency.

  High production values behind each class drew notice, along with each class's ability to inspire students to keep pursuing a subject.

  Access to well-known instructors was cited as a draw on its own, exposing students to celebrities within their fields.

  The Verge observed that subscriptions originally lasted a lifetime, though replay value differed by class. The publication also noted the challenge of keeping students on the site for additional courses. Those same courses would go on to collect recognition well beyond reader reviews.

• 7. Awards And Recognition

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  In 2019, chef Dominique Ansel's class on French pastries won a James Beard Foundation Broadcast Media Award. The honor came in the Online Video, Fixed Location and/or Instructional category.

  MasterClass won two Webby Awards in 2020. One was for Education & Reference in the Apps, Mobile & Voice category, and the other was for Media Streaming in the Web category.

  In 2021, the company won two more Webby Awards, along with a Webby People's Voice Award. Those trophies sat alongside a faculty list that kept growing, one recognizable name after another.

• 8. Faces Of The Faculty

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  Christina Aguilera, Margaret Atwood, and Jane Goodall all appear on the instructor roster, alongside directors like James Cameron and Werner Herzog.

  Musicians such as Herbie Hancock and Yo-Yo Ma teach there too, alongside political figures like Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, and Condoleezza Rice.

  Garry Kasparov, Diane von Fürstenberg, and Cornel West are among the names filling out a faculty that keeps reaching into new corners of expertise.