Background: Building 0 to 1 and Beyond

I joined MasterClass as the sole designer on MasterClass at Work, the company's B2B product, and built it from 0 to 1. Early on, the priority was straightforward: reach feature parity with enterprise competitors, on the assumption that closing those gaps would unlock deals. We shipped a full admin suite and the table stakes features enterprise buyers expected. But sales didn't move the way the roadmap assumed they would. Parity wasn't the same as differentiation, and we needed a real answer for why a company should choose us in a crowded L&D market.

My Approach

I partnered with research to reframe the problem, not what admin features we were missing, but what would make MasterClass distinct as a learning platform. I shaped a vision for the admin and learner experience built around engagement rather than feature checklists, then took that vision to Directors and the Chief Product Officer.

With a clearer set of initiatives in hand, I moved into a management position and added two designers to the team, staffing each to a work stream tailored to their career goals: one on learner experience, the other on growth experiments. I stayed in a player-coach role myself, picking up the IC work on admin so my designers could stay focused on their tracks.

Impact

The CPO presentation didn't just get a nod, it changed the roadmap. The team's focus shifted from matching competitors feature for feature to building a differentiated position in the market, and the vision I'd shaped became the foundation the new team built on.