Richard Branson’s Disruptive Entrepreneurship MasterClass is an online course about what it takes to disrupt an industry. The Virgin Group founder aims to provide startup CEOs and experienced business leaders with the practices that enabled him to lead his business for 50 years.
The Disruptive Entrepreneurship Masterclass garnered both positive and negative reviews, although the negative reviews talk more about the platform and Branson's course is used as an example.
According to Earthweb, there are 305 million startups every year. But, CB Insight reported that the number of unicorns, startup companies whose valuation raised to $1 billion, is only around 1,200 as of July 2023. It’s a tough industry to crack, requiring an innovative business idea with a clear vision for growth and scaling to break through. All of which is touched on in Branson’s masterclass.
Learn what it takes from Richard Branson, a self-made billionaire entrepreneur who went through it all. We also list alternative business courses and include the best money-making business in the current entrepreneurship landscape.
Disruptive Entrepreneurship MasterClass Review: Pros and Cons
Pros
Taught by a Top Entrepreneur: You get to learn practices, skills, and tips from Richard Branson.
Engaging: Branson is a witty and fun speaker, so the video lesson is not boring.
Logical Arrangement: The story-based teaching follows one after another with ease. And provides a clear context for his lessons.
Cost Effective: MasterClass membership is billed annually and lets you get access to all courses offered. So if you’re looking for more business insights, you can also check out other business courses without added payment.
Cons
Can be Unreliable: The masterclass lesson can be unreliable since it's based on Richard’s life experiences. It might not work for everyone.
Not In-Depth: Branson’s masterclass entrepreneurship course tackled broader topics and characteristics you can use in business. If you’re expecting a detailed step-by-step process of how to be a disruptive entrepreneur, this is not for you.
Book Available: Branson’s book, Screw it Let’s Do It, tackles the same business concepts and tips. So, if you’ve already read that, you might find this one repetitive.
Price
Disruptive Entrepreneurship MasterClass offers different membership options which are solo, duo and family costing $10, $15 and $20, respectively.
Refund Policy
30-day money-back guarantee
Reputation
The course has both positive and negative reception which is the same for the course mentor, Richard Branson.
Do You Need Disruptive Entrepreneurship For Your Startup?
You need Disruptive Entrepreneurship for your startup if you’re looking to launch a disruptive business. The type of businesses that don't have a solid market to start with, or those services with no preceding business The tips mentioned in the video course will boost and help you know what you can do next to build your wild idea into a business.
What is Disruptive Entrepreneurship?
Disruptive Entrepreneurship happens when a business enters an industry and provides products or services to its ignored portion of customers. As a result, it shifts the market's preferences to better and innovative products or services. Sometimes, it can create an entirely new market.
According to Harvard Business Review, disruptive innovation change the marketplace through:
What are the Modules in the Disruptive Entrepreneurship MasterClass?
The modules in the Richard Branson MasterClass tackle business ideas, management and leadership. It is divided into 13 video lessons that you can take for 2 hours and 24 minutes. The class is structured to introduce Richard Branson, his experiences and the lessons he learned from them. It also comes with 52 pages of workbook.
This 6-minute video lesson introduces Richard Branson. And how his boldness to try led him to get his home island at $120,000 from its original price of $6 million, and what masterclass members can expect from him in this course.
In this lesson, Branson talked about why he started his first business, the Student Magazine. He emphasized that passion must fuel your business goal. Branson also talked about the root of his adventurousness in his childhood.
Problem-solving is what Branson considers important for starting a business. Finding and solving a problem in an industry is the base of his business strategy that allowed him to disrupt various fields and set up a new standard for the market. Eventually enabling him to expand his brand across the 6 continents with over 60,000 employees.
Branson talked about his next big venture, Virgin Records, and how this mindset of “Screw it, let’s do it!” propelled the business forward. This drive to start, to try and to learn is also the reason talented people join him in his endeavor.
Make business out of your frustration. In this 8-minute video lesson, Branson explained how his canceled flight became the motivation to offer better airline services. And how he quickly acted on his feet.
This lesson focuses on a business leader’s ability to learn from the failures of others and the behavior of your competitors. Branson stated he checked out why those before him failed like Freddie Laker. And prepared for the ways his competitor, British Airways, might try to take him down.
Problem solving and negotiation take center stage in this lesson. Branson gave examples from negotiating his way to open his record shop in a London High Street to finding an ally in Boeing by figuring out who will benefit if British Airways couldn’t monopolize the airline services.
This 10-minute lesson is about listening and note taking. Brason believes listening to people can tell you exactly what you need to push your business forward. Consistently taking notes on these ideas and answers is the vital first step.
Businesses succeed because customers come back. Branson highlighted his trip to space through Virgin Galactic last July 11, 2021. This is to show that entrepreneurs must always try their own products and services. And by taking notes of your own customer experience, you can lead your business in the right direction.
In this lesson, Branson shared his philosophy of putting a ring around yourself. It is ensuring you have a well-balanced life and slowly expanding that to the people around you, then your community, and the world.
This case study lesson highlighted the Council of Elders made up of Nobel laureates that he co-created with Nelson Mandela. It encapsulates how the skills and philosophy he mentioned in the course can disrupt an industry, but can also put together these talented people and even stop a war.
The last lesson is a 4-minute long video where Brason points out what your people and customers want: to have fun. And he shows it through jumping in the pool with the MasterClass staff, fully clothed.
Disruptive Entrepreneurship MasterClass Reviews
There are few reviews that can be found about Richard Brason’s masterclass course. One youtuber, Kellie Marcel, praised the course and recommended it to anyone with MasterClass membership. According to Kellie, the class format is very different, and she came out of it inspired and brimming with determination to try even though she doesn't know where to start. We can only find another positive comment in the course’s promotional video.
The unfavorable reviews aren't directly on Branson’s masterclass but on the MasterClass format and use Branson’s course as an example. One of them is Jim, a course creator and owner of Jim Digital. He took 3 masterclass courses. One of them is Branson’s disruptive entrepreneurship, and said “You’re paying for their biography.”
One Redditor watched business masterclass courses including Branson’s and said there are free podcasts you can listen to that do just as good a job.
Richard Branson Review: Who Is He?
Sir Richard Branson is a successful entrepreneur who founded the Virgin Group expanding to various industries from tourism to music, space exploration and health. He is a 73-year-old magnate living in Necker Island in the British Virgin Islands with his wife, Joan Branson and their family. Richard was born on July 18, 1950 at Shamley Green, Surrey, England to a flight attendant mother and a lawyer father.
At a young age, Branson already had an entrepreneurial streak on him. He planted Christmas trees for a profit five years later. This went down the drain when rabbits ate all the seeds but he made up for the loss by selling the rabbits themselves.
He attended Stowe School before he dropped out to focus on his first business at the age of 16. Later on, in 1990, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his services for entrepreneurship at Buckingham Palace.
How is Richard Branson as an Entrepreneur?
Richard Branson as an entrepreneur is bold and adventurous. His business ventures are rooted in frustrations and the drive to have better customer experience. He’s not afraid to cause controversies and get that publicity for his launches. As such, the advice Richard Branson gives entrepreneurs is to “just try” aligned with his business motto of “Screw it, let’s do it!”
Richard Branson’s secret in disrupting the industries he touched is by making sure he’s offering “better.” He founded the Virgin Atlantic because of a canceled flight. The airline then became the first to introduce upper class flights, bars, better food and seatback entertainment. He disrupted the music entertainment through Virgin Records in his teens because no other label wanted to sign Mike Oldfield and release his tape that Branson thoroughly enjoyed.
Branson released his book, Screw It, Let’s Do It in April 2006. In this book, Branson tells his business strategies, how he turned his ideas into a business and the lessons he learned along the way. He also wrote two autobiographies, Losing My Virginity and Finding My Virginity, that recounts his experiences of starting and continuing his global business.
What is Richard Branson’s Net Worth?
Richard Branson’s net worth is 2.9 billion, according to the latest data from Forbes. The Virgin Group has over 60 businesses and only 49 of them have the Virgin name. He’s also earning royalties from businesses using the Virgin name. Last February alone, he won $160 million of royalty in a case against Alaska Airlines.
Richard Branson’s Claims
Richard Branson claims that like him, you can turn your wildest idea to a business with his masterclass course. And he does it through having fun. The spirit of adventure and thirst to have better experiences are the backbones of his businesses.
Richard Branson Claims Debunked
Businesses rooted in frustration can give way to better products and services. However, to secure a successful launch and even exit, it has to have a solid market. Startup funding goes through a series of stages from pre-seeding to series C. Large capital firms only get involved at Series C when the startup has proven itself. Even then, Series C funding went down from $28 billion in 2023 to $2.5 billion in 2023, according to CrunchBase.
5 Reasons Disruptive Entrepreneurship Might Not Be For You
How Much Do You Need To Start A Business?
The amount you’ll need to start a business will depend on the business type and the cost of the tools or equipment. If you’re thinking of starting an airbnb business, $6k is a good capital to cover the furnishing and rent. But for a glamping startup, you’ll need at least $20k for the tents and utilities to start in a good place. Online businesses like Amazon FBA will require you to pay for accounts, research tools and inventory so your startup cost can still reach $6k.
You can Grow Fast an Entrepreneur with Local Lead Generation
Disruptive entrepreneurship is still a good way to step into business. However, you must also be prepared for the huge risks you’re taking with it. Even Richard Branson cautioned in his video course that what worked for him in the past may not so apply in the current entrepreneur landscape.
It takes an average of 2 years to profit and you’re always under the pressure of the established brands who can push you out of the business in various ways. It can take a lot from you without a guaranteed return of investment.
For that reason, the best online business you can launch in this current market is local lead generation. You can turn in profit within 6 months at most with a significantly lower startup funding and risks. And because you’re working locally, you also don’t have to worry about the big businesses with a budget for marketing and advertising as competition.
I earn $2000 monthly on this Tree Care Site alone. And a site only costs $500 to build and rank. Once you’ve built trust with search engines, you can leave the site alone and receive income with every lead. Learn from the expert and check out the local lead gen coaching program.
