Education is something that I deeply care about.
I didn’t have a lot of financial resources growing up. In fact, my entire education was funded by distant relatives. I knew that I should not take this for granted, so I spent most of my time studying and joining math competitions to show that I studied a lot. I ended up pursuing a career in engineering because it’s a field where I could use all the math skills that I learned while getting paid well. That’s the only criteria that I had. A dream bigger than this is beyond my head’s realm of possibilities.
A few years later, after gaining more experience, I sought better opportunities. I remember sending hundreds of emails looking for someone to sponsor my graduate programs. I reached out not only to people who were very close to me but also to those whom I had just met. I still cringe every time I recall the messages that I sent as I almost begged for money, just so I can come to the US and fulfill my goal of working at the heart of tech innovation. I’m not exactly sure if that’s me having the courage or just being naive. All I know is that I had to do everything that I can to fulfill that goal.
In 2013, I finally finished my program and got a job. I was finally able to afford to pay for my own education. And because I’m already “too old” to go back to school, the next best choice is pursuing continuing education. For many years, I tried enrolling in pre-recorded courses where I get to study at my own pace, but they just never worked for me. I learned best by exchanging ideas with others and previous online courses are not structured to put focus on this. Luckily, cohort-based programs started to emerge.
I fell in love with this approach because it allowed me to learn through fellow students and this learning style and feedback loop have been the most effective for me and many others.
After 12 fellowships + 12 years of coaching, I'm finally doing it.
I'm excited to work with @NathanMaton as we launch our cohort-based course on "Community-Driven Product Development". This is heavily inspired by my work in growing several product-driven communities, the most recent one of which is scaling from our product community from zero to 100k members in my most current startup.
Opportunities
There’s a lot of opportunities to build with the community. One area that remains underserved is teaching how to build a successful alpha/beta program and transitioning this into early access or pilot launches, which are some of the topics covered in our course.
What People Are Saying
I’ve sent out a survey to gauge interest and here are just some of what they had to say about the challenges and goals:
I would love to learn how to launch a proper beta program
How do you keep your community testers engaged throughout the development?
How do I make sure that I'm attracting my ideal target market, and that I deliver value and engage them consistently?
How do I find these early adopters if I don’t have an initial network?
How do I build a top-notch feedback loop and building a strong system for retention?
Recently, I have spoken with founders and product managers who are building their first products. Because I have been doing this for the past three years in our startup with limited resources, I was able to share some tools, frameworks, and processes that can be applied in a practical way. I believe there is a need to support builders in getting feedback in the most efficient way, especially as we move towards a creator economy.
Final Note
I believe in building together and the future of cohort-based courses. Having the mindset of a lifelong learner allowed me to perform at work, encouraged me to dream bigger and explore new possibilities. Education is what got me to where I am today and it’s what will take me to my next adventure and I’m ecstatic to build this cohort-based and community-based course with you.