Thread 512918120

I've tried using it to dig up info on interesting topics. This one marketing company looks shady so I wanted to dig up a bit on it. With a proper prompt it spat out decent info.

Here’s a compact “company dossier” on MasterClass, with sources for the key facts.

Company overview
Legal/brand: MasterClass (Yanka Industries, Inc.). Consumer subscription video courses with celebrity instructors.

HQ: 660 4th St. #443, San Francisco, CA 94107, USA.
HR Grapevine

Founders: David Rogier (CEO) and Aaron Rasmussen (co-founder; later founded Outlier.org).

Business model: Annual, all-access membership; frequent gifting and “2-for-1” promos; B2B offering (“MasterClass at Work”).
PR Newswire
CFO.com
TechCrunch

Leadership (selected)
David Rogier — Co-founder & CEO. Leads company strategy & fundraising.

Valen Tong — Chief Financial Officer. Oversees finance and capital strategy.
MasterClass

Len Amato — Chief Content Officer. Runs content slate & instructor relationships (Amato previously led HBO Films).
MasterClass

Melanie Steinbach — Chief People Officer. Leads HR/talent.
PR Newswire

David Schriber — Chief Marketing Officer. Longtime brand marketer (MasterClass announced him as CMO in 2019).

Notes: MasterClass doesn’t publish a static org chart; titles can change. The items above reflect roles referenced by the company or reputable business listings.

Funding, valuation, investors
Series E ($100M, 2020) to expand content & product; coverage lists investors incl. Fidelity and others.

Series F ($225M, 2021) led by Fidelity (press coverage notes existing and new institutional investors).

Earlier rounds: $80M Series D in 2018 (IVP-led) reported by major business outlets.
Contrary Research
TechCrunch

>(Privately held, so valuation figures vary by source and round; the company hasn’t filed public annual reports.)

>Revenue & scale (what’s public vs. estimated)
>Public filings: None (private company no 10-K/annual report).

>3rd-party estimates: Industry trackers publish directional revenue/subscriber estimates, but these are not audited. Treat them as >ballpark, not facts. (Examples: Tracxn/Growjo estimate ranges.)

>Operations & recent news
>MasterClass at Work (B2B) — enterprise licenses for employee learning.
>TechCrunch

>Cost/price positioning — marketed as premium “edutainment”; priced as an annual bundle; heavy use of gift memberships and >time-boxed promos.
>PR Newswire
>CFO.com

>Workforce — the company confirmed a ~20% workforce reduction in mid-2022 amid a wider tech slowdown.
>IMDb

>Go-to-market & marketing practices (what they actually do)
>Celebrity-led courses as the product moat. The brand promise is “access to top talent,” which doubles as acquisition creative (trailers cut like movie teasers). Media analysis describes this as selling aspiration/status as much as instruction.
>TechCrunch

>Always-on promos & gifting. “Gift” and “two-for-one” offers function like referral loops and price discrimination without permanently lowering list price.
>PR Newswire
>CFO.com

>B2B expansion. Enterprise licenses diversify revenue away from pure DTC, smoothing seasonality and CAC.
>TechCrunch

>Heavy digital ad spend. Ubiquitous social/YT trailers; celebrity PR cycles around course launches (press drops, interviews, and owned newsroom posts).

pic related

>Funding & valuation snapshots

>May 2021 — Series F, $225M (led by Fidelity). Multiple outlets reported this round; Axios said the pre-money valuation was about $2.5B, which implies ~$2.7–$2.8B post-money.

>That same round was widely summarized as ~$2.75B valuation (CNBC via Wikipedia’s round-up; CNBC’s figure is often quoted in trade press).
>Wikipedia

>May 2020 — Series E, $100M (also led by Fidelity). TechCrunch covered the investor mix (Fidelity, Owl Ventures, 01 Advisors, NEA, IVP, Atomico, etc.). Total funding at the time hit ~$240M.
>TechCrunch

>Earlier context: In 2020, Bloomberg reported MasterClass was seeking capital at a valuation of ~$800M, which helps explain the jump to the 2021 multi-billion valuation during the pandemic ed-tech surge.
>Bloomberg

>Who invested in the big 2021 round?
>Alongside Fidelity, reporting listed Baillie Gifford, Balyasny, Eldridge and existing backers (IVP, NEA, Owl Ventures, Javelin, 01 Advisors, Atomico, NewView Capital, etc.). This is compiled in post-round coverage.
>Pulse 2.0

>Executives’ personal investments

>There’s no reliable public record that MasterClass executives (e.g., the CEO) disclosed material personal investments into corporate rounds. Founders typically hold equity; outside rounds are led by institutions. If an exec invests personally, it’s rarely itemized in press or filings for a private company.

>Partnerships & “social media” tie-ups

>MasterClass markets primarily via celebrity-led courses and brand promotions, but deal terms aren’t public. Press occasionally notes that instructors receive an upfront payment plus a revenue share, but precise percentages are not disclosed by the company and vary by talent. (Trade press discusses this model at a high level, not with hard numbers.)

>MasterClass Funding Rounds & Valuations
>Series E — May 2020
>Amount raised: $100 million

>Lead investor: Fidelity Management & Research Company

>Other investors: Owl Ventures, 01 Advisors, NEA, IVP, Atomico, NextEquity Partners

>Reported valuation: Bloomberg and TechCrunch reported it "puts valuation at $800M", based on Bloomberg's coverage; CEO David Rogier declined to confirm but said it was “way above that.”

>Total funding to date (post-Series E): Approximately $240M.

>Series F — May 2021
>Amount raised: $225 million

>Lead investor: Fidelity (again)

>Other investors: Baillie Gifford, Balyasny Asset Management, Eldridge, IVP, NEA, Javelin, Owl Ventures, Atomico, Bonnier, Cleo Capital, Dan Capital, NewView Capital, NextEquity Partners, Outlier Ventures, Powerhouse Capital, RPS Ventures, Family Office of Ronald Lauder, UTA.

>Valuation reported: ~$2.75 billion (post-money), as reported by CNBC (and cited on Wikipedia). Bloomberg‑backed GlobalVenturing noted it “more than tripled” from the prior $800M valuation.

>Source Verdict
>Axios reported the Series F raise at a $2.5B pre-money valuation (implied post-money ≈ $2.7–$2.8B).

>CNBC and others summarized as $2.75B valuation.

>The Series E and preceding rounds are well-documented with investor lists and rough figures.

>>512918440
Nice

This isn't anything that you couldn't have gotten out of their own investors publications and the EDGAR search engine.
I would wager that this is nothing more than an overview of their own publishings and a few news articles.
And since AI hallucinates, you can't trust any of it.

retarded slidethread. all that info is in their wiki.
what's shady about it? you found nothing useful.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MasterClass

>Large institutional & crossover investors
>Fidelity Management & Research Company (FMR / Fidelity Investments) — Boston-based asset manager (mutual funds, ETFs, 401k, etc.). AUM in the trillions across Fidelity; the FMR unit often leads late-stage growth rounds (as with MasterClass).
https://01a.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com


>Baillie Gifford — Edinburgh-based partnership, long-only growth investor well known for late-stage/privates exposure (e.g., U.S. tech). Firm AUM publicly reported on its site (hundreds of billions).
https://www.javelinvp.com/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

>Balyasny Asset Management (BAM) — Multi-manager hedge fund (Chicago HQ; global offices). Runs pods across equities, macro, credit, etc.; increasingly does privates/growth crossover.
https://owlvc.com/news-owl-ventures-fund-v.php?utm_source=chatgpt.com

>Eldridge — Diversified holding company founded by Todd Boehly (media, sports, fintech, insurance; stake in Chelsea FC via Boehly’s consortium separate from Eldridge). HQ Greenwich, CT / Beverly Hills.
https://powerhouse.vc/about/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

>Large venture platforms
>NEA (New Enterprise Associates) — One of the biggest VC firms globally (multi-stage, tech & healthcare). Public materials and Form ADV filings indicate ~$20–$25B+ under management (varies by vintage). HQs in Menlo Park/Chevy Chase.
>United Talent Agency

>IVP (Institutional Venture Partners) — Later-stage VC focused on growth rounds (consumer, enterprise). IVP cites multi-billion “committed capital” on its site. HQ Menlo Park/SF.
>United Talent Agency

>Atomico — London-based VC founded by Skype co-founder Niklas Zennström; pan-EU focus, multi-billion total AUM across funds.

>Owl Ventures — San-Francisco VC specializing in edtech (K-12, higher-ed, workforce). Described as the world’s largest dedicated edtech VC; manages multiple funds and growth funds (firm communications & industry profiles).
>Bonnier Capital

There are sources >>512918922

can easily tell it's a liberal company. multiple blacks on the homepage.

>Newer/growth & sector specialists
>01 Advisors — Growth-stage VC founded by former Twitter execs Dick Costolo & Adam Bain (operators later-stage software/fintech/consumer). HQ San Francisco.
bailliegifford.com

>NewView Capital (NVC) — Growth investor spun out in 2018 (founder Ravi Viswanathan, ex-NEA). Strategy blends primary growth rounds and GP-led/secondary portfolio buys. HQ Burlingame, CA.
ivp.com

>NextEquity Partners — Menlo Park growth-equity firm formed by former Elevation Partners principals; invests in late-stage tech/media. (Elevation was the Bono-associated PE firm; several partners continued at NextEquity.)
>NextEquity Partners
>Wikipedia

>Outlier Ventures — Web3/crypto accelerator & venture platform (base in London; global programs like Base Camp). Focus on infrastructure, DePIN, AI/crypto tooling, etc.
ivp.com

>Powerhouse Capital — LA-based early-stage investor focused on media, gaming, audio, and the “attention economy.”

>RPS Ventures — Growth VC founded by Murali “MG” Gopalakrishnan (ex-Sequoia). Focus on enterprise software/India-U.S. ecosystems; multiple funds announced since 2018.

>Javelin Venture Partners — SF-based early-stage VC (software/consumer/infrastructure). Multiple funds raised since 2008.
>Private Equity International

>Bonnier (Bonnier Ventures) — VC arm of Swedish media group Bonnier AB; invests in Nordic digital media/marketplaces/SaaS.
nvc.vc

>Cleo Capital — Seed fund led by Sarah Kunst; invests at pre-seed/seed (B2B, future of work, commerce). HQ San Francisco/NYC (studio/Scout program).
>NextEquity Partners

Next part is where it gets interesting

>Dan Capital — Ambiguous: there are several similarly named firms globally (e.g., DAN Capital/DanCapital/Capital DAN). If you can share a link or geography, I can pin down the exact entity.

>Family Office of Ronald S. Lauder — Private family office (((Estée Lauder heir; longtime media/Israeli-American philanthropy figure))). Family offices generally don’t disclose AUM or detailed holdings publicly; investments often surface via deal press or regulatory filings tied to specific assets. Public profiles confirm his business/philanthropy footprint, but granular portfolio data is intentionally opaque.

>UTA (United Talent Agency) / UTA Ventures — Beverly Hills-based talent agency; also operates a venture arm that does early-stage and strategic investments with/for creators & IP. Exec leadership includes CEO Jeremy Zimmer; UTA Ventures leadership has been covered in trade press (e.g., hires like Clinton Foy).

>Fidelity Management & Research (FMR LLC) — giant, privately held by the Johnson family & employees; SEC-registered; runs mutual funds/SMAs.

>Fidelity Management & Research (FMR LLC / Fidelity Investments)
>Overview
>Founded: 1946, originally created by Edward C. Johnson II as the investment adviser to Fidelity Fund
bailliegifford.com
bailliegifford.com
>Private Equity List
>Fidelity

>Assets: As of March312025, manages $15 trillion in assets under administration and $5.9 trillion in discretionary assets
>Fidelity

>Leadership & Ownership: Abigail Johnson serves as Chairwoman, CEO, and President. She holds about 40% ownership, representing the Johnson family’s stake

>>512918120 (OP)
do the same thing for hermann eduard von holst, who his friends were, why exactly he was exiled from several countries, his and his friends involvement in coups, and heres the big one what were the actual contents of his manifesto [its written in a dead language and no one has translated it]

>>512919575
Thanks, you may have just saved me from a major fuck up with some deep faked media.

There are affiliations with BlackRock which is interesting

>Other Leadership in Fidelity International:

>Niamh Brodie‑Machura — CIO, Equities;

>Andrew Wells — CIO, Fixed Income/Multi‑Asset/Private Assets;

>Steve Ellis — Global CIO, Fixed Income; plus strategic leads like Christian Staub and Stuart Warner
fnlondon.com
fidelityinternational.com
fnlondon.com

>Additional Notable Executive:

>Kathleen (Kathy) Murphy — Former President of Fidelity Personal Investing; a board member at BlackRock since April2025
>Wikipedia

>Structure & Regulatory Registration
>Fidelity Investments (FMR LLC): Operates various SEC‑registered RIAs and broker-dealers.

>Fidelity International (FIL): Semi-autonomous unit with its own global leadership; registrations include FCA in the UK and US adviser filings
>Wikipedia
fnlondon.com

>There was a historic Massachusetts figure—Melvin Maynard Johnson (1871–1957)—also descended from Captain Edward Johnson. He was among the most prominent Masons in America, serving as Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Massachusetts, and even Sovereign Grand Commander in the Scottish Rite.

>1. Captain Edward Johnson (1598–1672)
>A founding figure of Woburn, Massachusetts, Edward Johnson came to America with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He documented early New England history and helped map much of the Massachusetts territory.

>His descendants are well-documented; many family trees trace Edward C. Johnson II and Abigail Johnson back to him. Genealogical records, such as "History and Genealogy of One Line of Descent from Captain Edward Johnson, together with his English Ancestry, 1500–1914," provide deep coverage

>2. Reverend Isaac Johnson (1601–1630)
>Elderly cousin to Captain Edward Johnson, Isaac was a wealthy Puritan patron who helped name Boston, Massachusetts. He died during the early colonization effort.
>While not a direct ancestor to Abigail Johnson, he is notable in the extended lineage of Johnsons in Massachusetts

>>512921089
I need more juice, like pictures or a document if you have anything

>Broader Search Findings on Hermann Eduard von Holst
>1. University of Chicago Special Collections (Primary Source)
>A detailed collection exists at the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, comprising:

>Correspondence, journals, notes, and a letterbook from the German Patriotic Aid Society (1870–1871), where vonHolst served as secretary along with Theodor F.C. >Petrasch.
>Wikipedia
>The University of Chicago Library
Encyclopedia.com

>The society was focused on aiding soldiers and war orphans during the Franco-Prussian War—not a coup or conspiratorial group.

>There is no mention of any "manifesto in a dead language," nor involvement in coups or esoteric societies.

>2. Maryland Historical Magazine (Historic Secondary Source)
>An article from 2011 references a letter about the formation of a “conspiratorial secret”—not in the sense of coups but in organizing immigrant aid. This aligns with involvement in the German Patriotic Aid Society.
>Maryland Historical Society

>3. Broader Historiography & Academic Sources
>Beyond standard references (Wikipedia, Encyclopedia.com), other academic treatments—including JSTOR articles and university theses—continue to view vonHolst as a scholarly historian and critic, not a political operative or insurgent.
>Ranker
>JSTOR
Encyclopedia.com

>4. No Supporting Evidence of a "Dead-Language Manifesto"
>Despite a wide search—including finding aids, blogs, magazine archives, and JSTOR databases—no text or manuscript in an archaic or cryptic language surfaced, nor any mention of a manifesto. All his published works are in German or English, aimed at constitutional and political history.

>Membership Confirmed: Von Holst was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society on October 21, 1882.

Intereting

Shut the fuck up sar

>Mini family tree (high-confidence nodes)
>Parents: Valentin Karl Heinrich von Holst (Baltic German official/landed family) & Marie Lenz.

>Hermann Eduard von Holst (1841–1904) — historian.

>Son: Hermann Valentin von Holst (1874–1955) — architect; worked in Chicago; interacted with the Frank Lloyd Wright circle.

>Russian, German, and American political ties (what we can actually document)
>Russian Empire: As a Livonian (Baltic German) subject who criticized imperial policy, he left under threat in 1866; there is no credible scholarly record of clandestine activity—his politics are visible in print, lectures, and journalism.

>German states/Empire: Held a German professorship (Freiburg) and published in German scholarly presses; positioned in liberal constitutional historiography of the Gründerzeit/Wilhelmine era.

>United States: High-profile Chicago appointment; American intellectual networks (journal editors, historians, university presidents) via correspondence and society memberships.

>What I mapped (and what we know)
>Hermann Eduard von Holst (1841–1904) — Baltic-German/American historian; studied at Heidelberg; professor at Freiburg; first chair of >History at the University of Chicago (1892); wrote the multi-volume Constitutional History of the United States and a Calhoun biography; briefly in St. Petersburg where he wrote on James Buchanan and was expelled soon after (1866–67).

>Family core

>Parents often cited in reference works: Valentin Karl Heinrich von Holst and Marie Lenz.

>Son: Hermann Valentin von Holst (1874–1955) — an architect in Chicago who operated in the Frank Lloyd Wright orbit (he helped manage Wright’s practice while Wright was abroad).

>Civic/learned affiliations

>Grand Duchy of Baden First Chamber (Herrenhaus) — member in the 1870s/80s.

>American Antiquarian Society (AAS) — listed as elected (19th-c. proceedings note his name); a standard honor for scholars of American history.

>>512918120 (OP)
I want to own this fertile female human.

>Works: Constitutional and Political History of the United States (7 vols) + constitutional lectures.

>Parents: Valentin K.H. von Holst; Marie Lenz. Baltic-German setting tied to Reval/Tallinn (Russian Empire).

>Architecture branch (his son)

>Hermann Valentin von Holst (1874–1955) ran Frank Lloyd Wright’s office (1909–11), worked with Marion Mahony Griffin & George Grant Elmslie, part of the Prairie School; designed Condell Memorial Hospital (1928); practiced in Chicago.

>University of Chicago cluster

>Core institutional node with William Rainey Harper (founding president), Albion W. Small (sociology), J. Laurence Laughlin (economics), and University of Chicago Press.

>Contextual philanthropy surface (dashed): John D. Rockefeller, Sr., Ryerson, Hutchinson, Marshall Field—relevant to UC’s creation; these are institutional, not personal claims about von Holst.

>Where to mine next (already placed as dashed “hooks”)

>AAS Proceedings entry for his election (names of proposers often appear—can add them as new confirmed nodes once retrieved).

>Baden First Chamber rolls for exact dates/seat basis.

>UC faculty records (1890s–1904) for appointment letters, courses, committee work, and colleague interactions.

>Prairie School patron lists and Chicago project files for the son’s network.

>Baltic-German and Imperial Russian administration registries for the family’s earlier positions.

Is there a name for these massive time wasting info dumps that never lead anywhere or have anything useful in them? In a debate you would call this gish gallop but what is it in this context?

>>512918120 (OP)
fake thread by indian jeet deepstate pence board slider

>>512921089
This is definitely an awesome research tool, check this out. Its pretty awesome what you can find instead of digging through tons of useless information
>>512925368


>>512925499
I want to figure out how these marketing companies are able to get people to make them money, it also doesn't make sense how these companies exist and their purpose. Maybe just a cash grab but I would like more info, hence im posting random things

>>512925499
Also just posting about how we can use AI to make node graphics to see connections based on various research that were interested in, could be anything from economics, wars, politics and religion based on all our infographics and memes which have been made over the past decade

>>512925499
jd vance aligned "forum sliding"
https://www.quora.com/What-is-forum-sliding

>>512925734
you are an indian operated llm

Its definitely useful for making charts and stuff, map out info etc

>>512918120 (OP)
>singularity

>>512927171

Yea the AI will be the helper of the antichrist, lucifers right hand man will be the singularity

>>512927599
cool chart