Who the Dojo Is For

Hey everyone,

Dojo team here.

We haven't sent an email in a minute. We've been doing a lot of work in private for the last 30 days.

We wanted to update you about some ongoing changes to the Dota Dojo culture, coaching, and who this is really for.

Nailing down rules, values, and boundaries. Fun stuff. :D

The team met this Monday for over two hours to talk about the next step for the Dojo.

We talked about what we actually want this place to stand for and what kind of environment we are responsible for creating.

A big part of that conversation was culture, and more specifically, who we want to work with and who we don’t.

That conversation shaped everything that followed.

BSJ has also been very open, both with the team and with the community, about working on setting better boundaries.

One of those boundaries is not just about workload or schedule.

It’s about who he works with.

Brian shared that the vast majority of the people he works with in the Dojo are great.
They listen.
They try.
They take responsibility.

They make the coaching process enjoyable and productive.

But every now and then, there comes a point where a student consistently shows up in a way that makes the work harder instead of better.

And at that point, it becomes similar to a workplace situation.

In the same way that you sometimes have to let go of a team member who isn’t a fit, there are rare cases where you need to remove a student as well.

That isn’t about punishment.
It’s about protecting the environment and Brian’s peace.

We don’t want anyone here to loathe or resent having to talk to other community members.

And we also don't want to create an environment where people who are entitled or who show up negatively are rewarded or coddled. That doesn't help anyone.

Because the VIP is ongoing and very hands-on, that fit matters even more.

This boundary conversation was a big reason we started the VIP small and treated it as a real test instead of something we rushed to scale.

There was a misunderstanding on the coaching team that caused some real problems and revealed some things about how we want our coaching to work.

Rather than tell you the story from my perspective, I'll let BSJ tell it. This is roughly what he said in our Monday meeting.

“A student was playing Skywrath Mage and built Meteor Hammer. When I asked him why, he said, “Erfan (the Dojo coach) told me to buy it.”

So I asked a follow up question.

“Okay. Why Meteor Hammer?”

And he couldn’t answer.

That part matters.

Because the issue was not whether Meteor Hammer was good or bad. In fact, it can be correct in that situation. The issue was that the student had no idea why he was doing it.

- BSJ ”

What actually happened, which we later cleared up, is that Erfan spent real time explaining the idea behind it. He walked through wave pressure, tower damage, farming patterns, scaling, and even showed pro replays to demonstrate how and when it works. The explanation was there.

The problem is the only thing that the student took from Erfan’s coaching was, “Buy Meteor Hammer.” That’s the problem we’re trying to avoid at all costs.

When someone walks away from coaching with a shortcut instead of an understanding, the coaching failed, even if the advice itself was technically correct.

If a student says, “I bought Meteor Hammer because it lets me shove waves safely, threaten objectives, and farm efficiently when I can’t kill heroes,” that’s learning.

If a student says, “I bought Meteor Hammer because someone told me to,” that’s not learning.

This is why we care so much about how ideas are taught, not just what the ideas are.

We don’t want players collecting answers. We want them building frameworks.

We want them to understand cause and effect. We want them to be able to explain their own decisions and think for themselves.

Because the moment they can’t explain it, it’s no longer improvement. It’s just copying trends. And when that trend moves out, the player is no better than they were beforehand.

That Meteor Hammer example ended up being a perfect illustration of a bigger principle.

The danger isn’t bad advice.
The danger is advice without understanding.

And that’s the line we’re drawing for how we teach in the dojo.

This led into a conversation about the types of students BSJ enjoys working with and the types he doesn’t.

Not in terms of rank or skill.

In terms of attitude.

Players who listen and try to apply feedback.
Players who think for themselves.
Players who seek understanding rather than shortcuts.

These are the players we want to attract and develop.

And on the other side, players who argue with every point, look for shortcuts, or treat this community or access like something they are entitled to instead of something they are participating in.

That distinction mattered a lot to us.

Because it forced a harder realization.

For the first time since starting the Dojo, we will be removing a small number of students.

Not because they were bad at Dota.
Not because they were new.

But because they consistently showed up in ways that didn’t align with the environment we are trying to build.

That was not a conversation we expected to have this early, but it was an important one.

What we realized is that some of these students aren't necessarily wrong or even necessarily bad people.

They just aren’t aligned with the Dojo.

We're realizing that the culture we want to build is very unpopular, at least at this point in the Dota 2 community.

Not in the sense that we think is controversial, but it's just not very common for the Dota 2 community to be focused on things like personal development, self-development, positivity, learning, growth, etc.

In our experience, much of the Dota 2 community is jaded, passive-aggressive, and toxic.

It's very important to us that we cultivate a community which is the opposite, open, positive, and self-aware.

It made it very clear that culture cannot just be a slogan.

It has to be protected, even when that feels uncomfortable.

Now on to our coaching option, the VIP, and what this actually means for next steps in the Dojo.

Last month, we tested the Dojo VIP tier with just 5 players. You can think of this as a closed beta.

For those who are newer, the Dojo VIP is our 1-on-1 coaching option. It is different than Dojo+.

Dojo+ is a membership focused on group classes and community.
Dojo VIP is a 1-on-1 coaching membership.

Dojo VIP includes Dojo+.

We opened VIP with just five players, intentionally small, because we wanted to see how this actually worked in practice before expanding it.

Those five spots sold out very quickly, in under an hour.

Since then, those five players have been working closely with BSJ through multiple touchpoints. Not just a single session, but an ongoing coaching process.

And this part is important.

The VIP is not a one-off coaching call.

It is an ongoing coaching relationship.

Each VIP includes deep replay review, live gameplay coaching, mentality and decision making discussions, check ins between sessions, and continued guidance on what to focus on next.

It also includes full Dojo membership, so players are still part of the broader community while getting this extra layer of support.

Those five players were not on a membership. This was not positioned as a recurring product. It was a controlled test so we could understand how this model actually functioned before deciding what it should become.

That testing period gave us clarity on two things at the same time.

First, the coaching model itself worked very well.
Second, there were clear improvements we needed to make before opening it further.

There is a lot that goes into this, on both sides.

That’s why we started small and why we treated this first group as a real test, not a launch meant to scale.

The Dojo VIP is not a single coaching call.

It is an ongoing coaching relationship built around accountability and implementation.

Based on what we learned, we are now shifting this into a membership model rather than a one-off experience.

Each VIP runs on a four week renewal.

Within those four weeks, here is how it works.

There is one long live coaching session, typically around 90 minutes. This session is intentionally structured.

It starts with a focused replay review, roughly 30 minutes, where BSJ identifies one high impact concept or pattern to work on.

Immediately after that, there is a live gameplay session, usually up to 60 minutes.

The purpose of this game is not constant instruction, but applying the specific focus from the replay in real time.

After the game, there is a clear wrap up and direction on what to work on next.

Then, later in the four week cycle, the student submits a follow-up replay asynchronously.

That replay is reviewed specifically through the lens of the original focus, to check application and progress.

In addition to this, VIP members are part of the Dojo membership as a whole.

This is not isolated coaching.

It is layered on top of the community.

One of the biggest takeaways from testing the VIP was that the end of the session mattered more than we expected.

Even when the coaching and gameplay were strong, some students left without enough clarity around what to do next.

Because of that, we are officially adding an additional 15 minutes to each main VIP session.

This time is dedicated specifically to recap.

What actually happened.
What matters most.
What to focus on over the next few weeks.

That change came directly from our internal conversation and from watching how students responded after sessions.

It is a small adjustment, but it significantly improves follow through.

Testing this with five people also surfaced a lot of logistical lessons.

We learned how much scheduling buffer we actually need.

We refined how replays are submitted and reviewed.

We tightened expectations around booking windows and preparation.

We also clarified policies around live games, cancellations, and restarts so expectations are clear on both sides.

None of these were problems, but all of them needed structure before scaling.

That is exactly why we started small.

Because of everything we learned, we are now reopening the Dojo VIP as a membership and expanding from five to ten total spots.

With the added time, clearer structure, and ongoing nature of the coaching, the price will be going up.

This is intentional.

Right now, this is BSJ’s direct time.

Before we ever think about expanding coaches or scaling this further, it is extremely important to us that the students we work with are people of high character and high work ethic.

Our goal is not to work with everybody.

Our goal is to go deep with a small number of people who are serious about improving.

Most of what we teach will remain free and public.

Concepts, frameworks, and ways of thinking should be accessible to anyone who wants to learn.

What stays limited is direct time, attention, and accountability.

The Dojo VIP exists for players who want focused feedback, are willing to apply it, and take responsibility for their improvement.

Because of everything we learned during this test, we are comfortable reopening it in a very controlled way.

The original five VIP students will be given priority access. We are reaching out to them today and they will be able to rejoin before the general public.

If you’re wondering, we’ve already had people who did the VIP ask to buy it again.

The first five VIPs gave positive feedback.

He liked it even before the improvements, which gives us a lot of confidence going forward.

We’re giving the first five VIP members the option to rejoin first.

Any remaining spots out of the ten total will be opened publicly after that.

This is BSJ’s direct time. When we say ten spots only, we mean ten spots only. We can’t manufacture more hours in his day.

We wanted to share this context so you understand why the Dojo and our coaching has evolved this way and why we took our time.

We are building this slowly on purpose.

More details and the signup link will follow in the next 24 hours. Make sure you’re in the Dota Dojo Free Discord to be notified when the remaining ten VIP spots go live.

We will make a post tomorrow with the signup link.

See you in the dojo,
Dota Dojo Team