YouSaid · the spoken record

David Rogier

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27
first
2019-04-26
most recent
2019-04-26
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1
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podcast

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  1. “It will be in every home in America. And then I thought we will go more internationally abroad. At every great organization has to rely on fundamental truths. And to me, the fundamental truth is that people want to improve their life and that a large percentage of people think that they can do that through education. And I think that's our fundamental truth. And so that's a truth that I hope we can impact the lives of tons of people that otherwise would not have had a chance to learn from the best.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “I think two of the most surprising things to me is I don't come from the world of stars or fame. And so I assumed once you meet these instructors that they weren't going to have to work hard anymore, right? These are people who are top of their field. They're able just to kind of relax and chill. I am consistently blown away at A, how hard these people work. And two, that a lot of them are still doubtful of their own skills and are insecure. And I think that is inspiring and it makes me feel better if I can be insecure about things and they are so insecure that that is normal. So I kind of wish I knew that years ago.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “There's one from Aaron Sorkin. He said, when you go to a doctor and you tell him my arm hurts, and then you say, I think it's because I twisted this and I have a torn rotator cuff here. I hope that the doctor ignores every word after my arm hurts. And the reason Wizard, the thing behind it is like there is tons of info that we get that's tied to facts. And then there's tons that are tied to opinions. And you have to become very good to pull those apart. And when I go to a doctor, it's a fact that my arm hurts. Everything else I say afterwards, I am inventing. And as a good doctor, but also as a good entrepreneur, which I think their parts are saying is you have to be good at figuring out what are the facts and then what is the noise. So that's one quote. I go back to a lot.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “One is that he is a genius. Two, I think what I learned from him, or one thing I learned from him, was how important a great board is. And I saw how he ran them or how he was involved in them. And for him, it was never about the battle. It was always about the long term. So it was never for about one call or one choice. It was, hey, I'm in this for the long haul. How can I ensure that we are on the right path? And I'm not going to fight or become mad about small things”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “That to fill in the opportunity gap. Your success here is often increased by what school you went to and who your friends are. And I actually like it to be more of an E and playing field.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “I just read Create Vitty Inc. It's the Tixar story. It is fantastic. It is one of the few books on how to lead an organization that combines both tech and creativity or tech and creative. It is just fantastic. I have learned tons in it and I think it changed my approach.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Yeah, I mean, you have to handpick this person. And it actually isn't about the cash. If you're doing well, you're going to have some choice. And for me, the most important thing was, is this person going to actually help us?”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “I actually pitched him for the A and Rick passed. I think his concern was how many people are actually going to buy this class, all these classes. And at the A round, that was still before lunch. And then after we launched, I stayed in touch with Rick because the first time I met with Rick, I loved him, but it was just that it was that one question. And after we launched our sales just took off and I pinged Rick and Rick then led our next round, I think it was like three months post launch. And that was because Rick and I already had a great bond. Him and I had talked a bunch. And so the only question that he had was going to be if people were going to buy it after he saw that he just jumped right in. So that was one where keeping that up and us to stay in touch proved great.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Things are always raising, it can consume all of your life. And as an entrepreneur, there are other things that you have to do to ensure that you don't run out of cash. It isn't just raise. You also want to build a great business. So I don't think you always need to be raising or always need to be putting in a tremendous amount of work. I think it is always smart to be spending 5% of your time on the relationship side. So that could mean at a dinner that you pretend that there's some folks there or other types of events. I don't think it's a tremendous amount of time. I think at least what our approach has been is it's always a small amount of time. It's especially helpful if you had an investor that you pitched last time and the person was a bit unsure about one aspect of it. So I will give you an example. So Rick Gang, who led our being around and is in a fantastic board member.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Yeah, and I think the kind of trick is not to be rude about it. So often, like the first one will ask for it, I'll just ignore that question. I'll respond to all the other things. So I'm trying to just avoid it because I think the trick is not to come off its root or as a pain in the ass.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I try everything I can to not do it. I can't think of one case where sent out a pitch deck before the pitch and the person then wanted to actually invest. I think it goes back to it's really hard to tell a compelling story inside the pitch deck, especially at like the C stage or the A stage. If the traction you're seeing is like Uber, then fine. But even at the seed stage, that was not what they saw. And so I will avoid it in any way I can because it's much more effective to do it live and in person.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “That was hard. That probably took like eight to 12 months. It was only possible because of that first half million. You know, if I didn't have that, I would not have been able to afford to spend all that time to try to pitch. And also because I didn't quite have an idea, I could use that money to kind of explore. I don't think a traditional investor would have been okay to spend a year on BizDev, basically, right? And that was a hard time, right? Because I kept talking, you know, am I actually going to be able to close anybody? I cold called, I sent out cold email. I tried everything I could. And then I remember the first time that we got our first yes was from Dustin Hoffman. I actually got tears in my eyes. I don't cry very often. That was a year of work. And finally got our first yes. And then I realized after we had three or four yeses, it became much easier because all of a sudden now you have a core group.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “I can use those test results in my pitches. An investor loves that, right? Because it shows that, hey, there actually are stats behind this. It also shows that the entrepreneur is scrappy. And so I think it does a great job, A, to help prove to yourself, but it also is a great thing to include inside a pitch.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “To see if people would actually try to buy the class. Remember, Harry, I didn't actually have these classes. So when somebody clicked to buy an error would pop up. But I could see the amount of people that could actually try or that would actually try. And then I also had a phone number on the site that actually went straight to my cell phone. So I could talk to these people and I could say, sorry, and I could give them a free gift card. But I wanted to test if people would actually do it. And the results from that test were like, oh my God, people really want these classes. Then the next step I had to figure out was like, hey, okay, look, people want these classes. Is a class if I get a world famous person to teach it? What is the impact of that going to be? Now that is much harder to actually test. So for that, I actually did polling. So, you know, basically each step of the way, I was trying to prove different hypotheses. Only after that, then did I decide to raise more money? And the other advantage of that is I'm more sure that this is going to be a great idea, but also”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Think you want to test as much as you can as soon as you can and before you raise this? Because this isn't about the impact to raise money, but this is for myself. I wanted to make sure that the thing I was going to spend a decade on was going to work. And so for us, I try to think through what are the things that I'm unsure about. So one thing I was unsure about is, are people going to buy classes that aren't just about like tactical skills? You know, there's already proof online that people were going to buy classes on how to use Excel, but were they going to buy classes on acting? And so how was actually going to test this? So what I decided to do was I created a fake website that had 100 different online classes that I did not have. I paid a firm in Argentina, I think, like 300 bucks actually helped build the site. I hired some people on Cast Rabbit to help write the class text inscriptions. And I bought ad traffic.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “The best thing to do is to get a great therapist. I think that is step one. I think step two is to find one advisor. So Ferrars, it was Merck Williamson, who anytime I have a question or I'm talking to something, I go to him. And the reason why I think it's important to find one is I think lots of first-time entrepreneurs have this inkling that I'm going to ask for lots of advice. And I'm going to ask a bunch of my friends and a whole bunch of people. One of the most important things at early stage is speed and by asking five people for their thoughts and advice, they aren't going to give the same advice. So then you're going to spend a whole bunch of time and you're going to have to debate it and think about it. And you're going to be much lower when actually option A and option B probably weren't life threatening and it was just about making a quick choice. So I think it's really helpful to have one advisor who”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “For the whole company, why in the world do I want an investor who is going to get so involved in such the wrong things that they are going to want to prove all press statements? And so these are just huge red flags. The other thing I've learned, I learned this from the CEO of Starbucks, Howard Schultz. Howard Schultz has a great trick to see if you're going to work well with an investor. The question that Howard Schultz asks is he proposes a scenario where things go badly. So he'll be like, hey, look, how would you handle the case where our cash burn is twice as bad as we predicted it was going to actually be? And he wants to see what their reaction is. And are they somebody who is a very rational person or somebody who's going to yell and scream? And so trying to decipher that first will save you tons of pain in the long run.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “I do a couple of things. One is I do a deep dive. I want to talk to entrepreneurs that they are on the board of and not the successful ones. I want the ones that it went badly. A test of somebody is not when things are great. A test is when things are bad. So I will backchannel them tons and tons. In that process, I'll be honest, Harry. I mean, you find things that you would have never expected. I found one where one, the investors we were thinking about who seem like a nice guy who was going to be chill. I found out once I talked to his entrepreneurs is that he often changes the terms of their term sheet right before A round closes. Well, that is a huge red flag. I found one that insists on approving all press releases.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “Have a lifestyle business. If you want to have a lifestyle startup, the worst thing to do is to raise venture. So I think that is one big risk. A next big risk, which I know people often talk about, is this investor who you bring on is going to be a large part of your life. You got to make sure that their approach to advise and help is actually one that you are aligned with. And that means both in the level of how involved they are going to actually be, it means to what are they going to prioritize over growth compared to actually cash burn and trying to understand that beforehand and how they work. Is this somebody who's going to yell a lot, right? Well, that's great if you also like to yell, but if you're somebody who does not like to yell, this is going to be pain. And so I think you really have to think hard about not only if you want money, but who is it that you're going to?”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “It's a really great question. I think it does a few things. It allows you to do things that you otherwise could not do. So, for example, we had raised approximately $5 million before launch. That is rare. But the reason is because we had a film classes and that was going to cost money. And so if I hadn't raised that funding, if Fedger did not exist, this type of company would never exist because this requires a significant amount of fixed cash up front. And so I think it allows you to do things like that. It also allows you to go much faster. And so I think there are huge pros. The cons are if you bring an investor on board, the expectations that they have might not be aligned with you. And so I have a bunch of friends that have raised funds and they just wanted to have.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Is it I need to prove now that can be proved to ourselves that this is a key part or it could be I have to prove this to actually raise the next round”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “I never think about it in terms of time. I think about it in terms of what I need to achieve. So what are the hypotheses that I have to prove right? And then how much money is it going to cost me to actually prove those things right? Now each of those takes time, right? So if I said, hey, look, one of the things I need to prove is that I can make great classes, right? The people are going to like the classes. How many classes am I going to have to make in order for me to think I have a really great shot that I can improve enough that I can make them great? And then what is the cost to make those classes? And then I always times it by two. Because however fast and efficient you think you're going to be, everything when you actually work on it just takes more time and just costs more. So I actually don't think about it in terms of I don't start with time. I start with first one.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “Dive into the meat of the episode today, though, because when we chatted before, you've said to me that as a founder you have one job, so David, what is the one job in your eyes? Let's start with that. I have one job. That job is to make sure that we never run out of money. The only thing that can kill a startup is running out of cash. And so every single day.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Up the phone on her. She goes back to the floor. She keeps working in the factory. She applies again the next year and she gets into one school and becomes a doctor. And I mean, I'm there. I'm sitting. I'm eight years old. I'm sending her. This is heavy shit to be hearing at age eight. And all because I complained about how much math homer I had. And she goes, David, the point I'm trying to make you is education's the only thing that someone can't take away from you. And I realize, Harry, that, you know, if I had this one shot to try to build something, I wanted to build something that other people could not take away from others. And that was kind of the start of masterpass. Well, you know, David, I think I've had 800 founders on the show now, and I don't think I've ever had such an inspiring aha moment creation of a company. So that is incredible to hear. And I actually suggested that question by Alex at Javelin who said it was such an inspiring story. So I'm thrilled we got to touch on that. I do want to...”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Stayed home to finish some work. And while they're on vacation, the Germans attacked and they invaded and they killed her father and she fled. So she then arrived in New York City. And the only job that she was able to get was in a factory. And so she was working on the floor. And she decides while there that the thing that she wants to do is become a doctor. And she flies to every school that she can and she gets a no from every single school. She goes back to the factory and she keeps her to the floor. She applies again to every single school. She gets a no from every single school and she starts calling the deans of admissions and asking why am I not getting in? They all hang up on her except for one who says, I'll be honest with you. You have three strikes against you. You are a woman, you are a foreigner, and you are Jewish.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “And I don't want to mess it up. And so I tried tons of approaches. I tried, I'm going to think of trends and see how I can address trends. I'm going to think of personal needs and try to figure out how I can quell those. And then when it came down to me is there's one thing that has changed the life for me and my family. And that was education. And I actually recall I was eight or nine years old at the time and I was in part raised by my grandmother. And I remember I went to her house after school one day and I was complaining to her about all of the math homework I had, which obviously did not have a lot because I'm like eight or nine. And she told me that she had a story to tell me, which as an 80 or 9 year old is the last thing that you want to hear. And so my grandmother started to share that when she was 16 years old, she was living in Cloudhouse and she went on family vacation. It was her and her mom and her dad.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “So I went to grad school and I met a guy by the name of Michael Deering, and he is a genius and runs a fund here in the valley. And I went and worked with him and I was investing and I actually missed building. So I went to him one day and I said, hey, Michael, I actually want to go build. But I am not sure what. And he's like, why don't you propose a plan? And so I proposed a plan and he basically invested half the million and told me to go think of an idea. And all of a sudden, I had funds and I now had tons of pressure to go try to think of a great idea. That might seem like a really amazing chance. It actually is really, really hard. And it is a lot of pressure because I knew this was the only time in my life I'm going to get this chance.”

    2019-04-26 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Why Startup Founders Have One Core Job, How To Reduce Risk & Increase Probability In Your Startup & Why You Should Not Send A Pitch Deck Pre-Investor Meeting with David Rogier, Founder & CEO @ Masterclass · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source