Sep 6, 2017 · 25m · top-founders
774: CreativeLive's Chase Jarvis: If Linkedin Offered You $200m Do You Take It?
0:00 / 0:00
gold bands on the timeline = statements, start to end. Hover to read, click to jump. CC turns on captions
Photographer and CreativeLive founder Chase Jarvis joins host Nathan Latka to discuss lessons from early tech failures, the freemium economics of scaling an online education powerhouse, and the conviction required to turn down massive acquisition offers.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Nathan holds 35.8% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Nathan as informed peer 4.3 Guest teaching 4.0 Guest disagreement 1.8 Nathan pushing back 3.0
speaking balance: gold is Nathan, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 17:15 Jarvis takes direct aim at MasterClass
Jarvis dismisses rival education platforms, criticizing MasterClass for using celebrities like Serena Williams who do not care about teaching.
Hardest push from Nathan ▶ 19:17 Latka poses $200M buyout dilemmaLatka challenges Jarvis directly on whether he would accept a hypothetical $200M buyout offer from LinkedIn/Microsoft.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 8:40 Jarvis details developer lock-in mistakeJarvis educates listeners and the host on how owning IP is meaningless if developer accounts and server credentials are not held by the founder.
Nathan holds their own ▶ 15:58 Latka provides firsthand instructor proofLatka leverages his own direct experience having courses on CreativeLive to validate the contract terms, revenue split, and studio quality.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Nathan as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Nathan pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Snowfall and the Evolution of Interactive Journalism | 4 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Latka asks insightful questions about the economics of interactive digital journalism, referencing the New York Times 'Snowfall' piece. Jarvis educates Latka on production constraints, the speed of modern news cycles, and how CMS platforms will eventually templatize feature storytelling. | |
| Best Camera App and the Billion-Dollar Mistake | 5 | 6 | 2 | 4 | Latka opens with a provocative question about why Jarvis missed out on a billion-dollar acquisition by Facebook. Jarvis reflects candidly on being too early, developer disputes, and the psychological conflict between being an artist versus an entrepreneur. | |
| Technical Pitfalls, Analysis Paralysis, and Resilience | 5 | 6 | 1 | 4 | Latka drills into the exact technical and legal breakdown of the Best Camera app IP dispute. Jarvis breaks down how holding IP on paper was useless when the developer controlled the servers and iTunes accounts in 2009, imparting a lesson on overcoming analysis paralysis. | |
| CreativeLive's Freemium Model and Curated Ecosystem | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Latka presses Jarvis on user numbers and conversion metrics, clarifying free viewers versus paid purchasers. Jarvis pushes back against open two-sided marketplaces like Udemy, arguing that uncurated content dilutes educational authority. | |
| Building Competitive Moats and Production Quality | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | Latka raises a moat challenge using a Fox News and Megyn Kelly analogy, then validates CreativeLive from personal experience as an instructor. Jarvis takes a pointed shot at competitor MasterClass for using celebrities who lack teaching passion. | |
| CreativeLive's Venture Capital and Acquisition Philosophy | 6 | 5 | 3 | 5 | Latka asks whether Jarvis would sell CreativeLive if LinkedIn offered $200M. Jarvis immediately says no and articulates his valuation philosophy as a venture-backed CEO with long-term mission-aligned investors. | |
| Mid-Roll Sponsorship: The Top Inbox Feature | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | Following a sponsor ad break, Latka runs through the rapid-fire 'Famous Five' questions. The dynamic is collaborative and conversational with minimal tension. | |
| Episode Conclusion and Next Guest Preview | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Solo host outro summarizing key takeaways from the interview and teasing the next guest. Zero host-guest interaction. |
Statements from this episode (11)
Jarvis Received 'Private Jet Money' Acquisition Offers for Best Camera App
“I had companies asking to, you know, buy it for never work again money, like private jet money.”
Jarvis: Shutting Down Best Camera Better Than a Golden Handcuffs Acquisition
“To me, the outcome was a better outcome to shut it down, learn from it, build into something new, which is now CreativeLive than it would have been, because I would have been ensnailed, or ensnailed, entangled, yeah, entangled in, A little legal dispute, but m…”
Jarvis: Hosting Best Camera IP on Developers' Servers Was a Mistake
“Where I can blame myself is that I was very casual about where the IP lived, despite that it was mine. I had it living on their servers and their passwords. Yes. And their iTunes account to launch the app.”
Jarvis: Skipping Early Instagram to Preserve Legal Position Was Catastrophic
“To not be on Instagram because of trying to preserve a legal position was a really that was a painful and borderline catastrophic failure as well.”
CreativeLive Has Reached 10M Students and Streamed 4B Video Minutes
“We've had more than ten million students. We've had Three or four billion minutes of video.”
Jarvis: Competing Online Education Platforms Convert at 1% to 2%
“I think it's, you know, low single digit, one, two percent.”
Jarvis: Open Education Marketplaces Dilute Quality and Lack Authority
“It's not a two-sided marketplace to us that just dilutes the shit out of the landscape. What do you mean by that? Well, some of our competitors where anyone in the world can put up a course. Then you don't have, there's no sort of authenticity or authority. Yo…”
Jarvis: Serena Williams Does Not Care About Teaching MasterClass Courses
“I've photographed Serena. I know her. I know she doesn't love teaching. She doesn't care about it. She's a great tennis player. Obviously the best in the world, the history of the sport, but I know also that she, you know, if she could get offset as fast as po…”
Jarvis: CreativeLive was wildly profitable while bootstrapping for two years
“Bootstrapped for the first Two years, we were wildly profitable, and then we went and raised capital.”
CreativeLive Raised $58.8M From Greylock, Social Capital, and Richard Branson
“We've raised 58.8 million dollars to date. And from folks like Greylock, Social Capital, Richard Branson Jared Leto, Comcast I mean, just the top folks are, you know, our letter A and B GSV, they focused on specific education.”