In 2 weeks I am launching my first online Cohort Based Course. To build it I had to take 8 main decisions. Here’s my thinking behind each of them…
It’s January 2022. 9 months into my Solopreneur journey. I finally have an approach that is working: (A) Consulting + Coaching for steady income (B) Digital products for experiments & upside Consulting + Coaching is going well Now I want to build a digital product.
1️⃣ What should I build ?
Options: → Async course → Live Cohort based course (CBC) → Paid newsletter → Paid community I pick CBC. Why? → Experience: Over last decade, I have trained 1000+ of CEOs, managers, teachers, principals → Interest: Have been exploring CBCs for 2 years
2️⃣ On my own OR Partner ?
I was a solo founder for a decade. It gets lonely & draining. So I decide to partner. But partner someone who knows CBCs OR who knows me ? I pick the latter. On uncertain journeys deep trust goes a long way. I join forces with old friends Saahil & Arhan who run Co.LabX.
3️⃣ Who is our Target Customer ?
Startups & small companies. Why ? → Saahil & Arhan (ColabX) support CEOs & Sr. leaders in these companies → They have a good reputation & network there → Also I started 321 Foundation & grew it to 75+ people So their niche & my experience align
4️⃣ What problem ?
1st idea: Hiring → My posts on hiring had got traction & founders were always complaining about it → But founders shared they didn’t see a CBC as a solution → They either wanted better candidates or a HR leader who would own hiring So a CBC on Hiring ❌
But a problem we often heard: ‘Help our new managers get better’ → New managers are a company’s biggest mgmt. layer → But most struggle to go from Individual contributor → Manager → This lowers productivity, morale & retention Most big companies invest in training them But…
Most small companies struggle to train their new managers → Sr. Leaders are busy → HR teams are small & under-resourced → Big training firms are too expensive (1000s of $) or too inconvenient (send your manager to X location for Y days) An online CBC can solve this
5️⃣ Competition ?
2 types of online courses: → For large companies: expensive (>$3000/participant), 1-2/year, lecture style → For individuals: pre-recorded, no community Gap: → for fast growing young companies → modern CBC → reasonable price → no min. participant # → quarterly
So that’s how we ended up creating the NEW MANAGER ACADEMY Check it out & register: https://colabx.in/new-manager-academy/ If you want to know how we made other decisions like roles, legal, course details, course design, testimonials, tech Read on…
6️⃣ Roles & Legal
→ Course creation & facilitation: Me → Acquisition & course management: Co.Labx → ColabX pays me a base amount for course creation → Once that is recovered, revenue is split 50/50 → IP is jointly owned This took us <30 mins to finalise. Benefit of deep trust.
7️⃣ Course Design
→ 50% of session time in small groups (practice & feedback) → Active slack community (sharing & support) → Real world quests (apply learnings at work) → Personalised leadership playbook: From the one glance cards participants will create in each session
8️⃣ Course Details
Duration → 2 weeks too short → 6 wks too long → So 4 wks Sessions/wk: → I wanted: 3/wk (2 for learning, 1 for Q&A) → But managers are busy → So 2 sessions/wk followed by an optional Q&A Introductory Price: → no-brainer to try → reward for sending >1 manager
Testimonials: → New course so we instead got them for ourselves → I requested people I had worked closely with to share. 30+ did 🤯 🤗🙏 → Also ColabX has 10+ happy clients ready to vouch for them Tech: → Still deciding → Shortlist: Maven, Airtribe, Disco → Any suggestions ?
Intel’s Andy Grove was one of the world’s best CEOs. In High Output Management he shared his secret: huge investments in his firm’s managers & management practices. If you want to build a world class company, you can’t do it without world class leaders. We can help.
Check out New Manager Academy: https://colabx.in/new-manager-academy/