Portfolio · EdTech
MasterClassA Dynamic Partnership Shaping the Future of Online Education
MasterClass needed to scale its engineering function and enhance its product in pursuit of an ambitious growth plan, but faced challenges sourcing local, talented ReactJS programmers. Rootstrap embedded teams to elevate front-end capabilities and drive change across product and organizational initiatives.
A Dynamic Partnership Shaping the Future of Online Education
MasterClass is a streaming platform that offers lessons from the world's best. With an annual membership, subscribers gain unlimited access to classes taught by world-class instructors spanning subjects including Arts & Entertainment, Business, Design & Style, Sports & Gaming, Writing, and more.
"We don't treat them like an outsourced team. They're part of our big team. They contribute to all our code initiatives." — Mandar Bapaye, VP of Engineering at MasterClass
Helping MasterClass Build New Features
MasterClass needed to scale its engineering function and enhance its product in pursuit of an ambitious growth plan, but faced challenges sourcing local, talented programmers in ReactJS — their front-end programming language.
Rootstrap emerged as the ideal partner, combining common values, deep technical and process expertise, and sufficient operating scale for MasterClass to be able to achieve its ambitious goals.
Elevating Front-End Capabilities for Ambitious Growth
Our team seamlessly integrated with MasterClass, working closely alongside their development and product teams. We began by addressing ReactJS and web development requirements and later expanded our collaboration, establishing new teams and expanding existing ones to handle multiple projects.
Throughout our partnership, we introduced insights based on our extensive product development experience, instituted new methodologies, refined working practices, and delivered designs that not only captivated users but also increased conversion rates.
We assisted MasterClass in modernizing its payment infrastructure and initiated strategies to amplify its reach and foster user growth and engagement. This included promoting peer-to-peer incentives to stimulate user recommendations.
In 2021, we supported MasterClass's globalization efforts by tailoring our product to resonate with diverse linguistic audiences, prepping it for a global stage.
Accelerated Growth During the COVID Pandemic
The COVID pandemic produced an exponential increase in demand for high-quality streaming content and presented MasterClass with a rapid expansion challenge during a global shortage of technical talent. As their partners, we doubled the size of an already-large team in less than two months, playing a crucial role in responding to unprecedented consumer demand, spearheading their global expansion, and introducing a new enterprise business strategy.
Key Technologies Used
- Mobile & TV: Native Android, Native iOS, Apple TV, Roku
- Web Development: ReactJS, NextJS, TypeScript
- DevOps: Heroku, AWS, Nginx
- Backend Development: Ruby on Rails
- Data Engineering: Segment, Optimizely
Outcomes
- 6+ years of trusted partnership, helping drive change across a wide range of product and organizational initiatives
- Doubled the size of an already-large team in less than two months during the COVID-driven surge in demand
- Delivered designs that captivated users and increased conversion rates
- Modernized payment infrastructure and supported globalization for diverse linguistic audiences