Wes Kao Profile picture
7 Dec, 11 tweets, 5 min read
Today, @gaganbiyani and I are launching a crowdfunding campaign for anyone to apply to invest in our startup!

wk-gb.typeform.com/to/JvGpJetd

Why? Angel investing can be intimidating and elitist. I never considered angel investing until this year when I wrote my first small check
It's still new to me and I've only ever made one investment. But one thing I know is this:

We don't need more of the same investors in every room.

It's time to democratize who gets to participate in investing. This is our small way of inviting new faces into the mix.
The main thing I hope to get across is don’t assume you aren’t the *type of person* to angel invest.

Because maybe you are, and maybe this gets you thinking about being open to it. So later down the line, you can look into doing it if/when it’s right for you
Our mission is to democratize who gets to create cohort-based courses. Anyone should be able to create an engaging live course--not just ppl w/huge budget and teams.

And in that spirit, folks should be able to find out about deals & feel like you belong in the room.
If (like me) you've felt like angel investing is for "other people" who are more successful or know more than you do... I hope you take a moment to consider changing that story about yourself
I've already learned so much from working w/our investors including @btrenchard @jwdanner @sriramkri @ljin18 @ArlanWasHere @jackbutcher @nireyal @APompliano @lennysan. I'm grateful & I believe that by crowdfunding, we’ll meet new folks who didn't realize we were raising a round
In terms of details, we closed an oversubscribed seed round led by @firstround with a bunch of angels investing over $4M at a $20M cap.

More info here: bit.ly/wk-gb
We're prioritizing folks using this criteria:

1. Diversity: 25% of the round should be underrepresented minorities
2. Mission-aligned: You are a potential student or instructor of a cohort-based course
3. Value-add: You've got an edge that can help us achieve our mission
Investing is risky so you should be okay losing all the money you put in. You shouldn't invest if this is your first time thinking about angel investing because we are considered a very risky investment. And we won’t be able to accept all the amazing ppl who apply.
Plus, investing might not be financially feasible right now or not be a priority for you. You might not have the bandwidth or interest to dive into learning about it. That's all completely okay. But I hope you give yourself permission to be curious
If you're interested and think we could be a good addition to your portfolio, check out our form. Many of you have DMed about investing and I had to keep this under wraps, so I'm feeling inspired and honored to share this with you 💜

wk-gb.typeform.com/to/JvGpJetd

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More from @wes_kao

12 Nov
Excited to share more about our new company!

Today @gaganbiyani and I are announcing a $4.32M seed round led by @firstround

We're building a platform for Cohort-Based-Courses: bit.ly/wk-gb

But first, a few lessons from the past 5+ years building CBCs... 👇
When Seth Godin and I started the altMBA in 2015, I had no idea cohort-based courses (CBCs) would grow this fast.

At first I was skeptical: Could an online course be both intimate yet scalable?

Then our 1st cohort of ~100 students in May 2015. We knew this format was special
1. Learning by doing

In working with 10,000+ students in cohort-based courses of all sizes, I've rarely heard students say "I wish there were more lectures."
Read 13 tweets
15 Oct
Most people, most of the time, will agree your product is valuable.

This isn't the problem.

The problem is they don't think it's important enough to *take action right now.*

So they AGREE with you, just not enough to take action.
They think, "This is interesting. I should keep an eye on it for the future."

All good things die when people say that.

You need your customers to feel the *immediate, subconscious, visceral realization that they need to take action*.

How?
This is the entire goal of marketing.

In the short run, it's with performance marketing.

In the long run, it's with brand marketing.

But in both cases, the goal is to build trust, stay top of mind, increase desire, and get people to realize they should take action.
Read 5 tweets
13 Oct
The fastest way to stand out & add value = have a spiky point of view

🌵Spiky point of view is

✓ A perspective others can disagree with
✓ A thesis about topics in your realm of expertise
✓ A belief you are willing to advocate for
Each person has a unique way of seeing the world.

It’s what separates you from everyone else.

It’s the culmination of your experience, skills, personality, instincts, and intuition.

These factors have molded you into the person you are today.
A spiky point of view is powerful because it showcases your thinking:

🧠 how you approach your craft
🧠 why you make the decisions you make
🧠 how you think rigorously & interpret the world around you
Read 8 tweets
10 Sep
My best advice for career switchers:

1. Act as if you’re already in the new role.

Most ppl think “I’m in academia trying to break into entertainment.”

The secret is to convince yourself you’re already in entertainment. See your transferrable skills thru the lens of the new job
2. Frame your experience only through the lens of the new position/industry.

You might be proud of your previous work but it's time to move on. Don’t get caught up in what you did before.

Focus on the 20-30% of what you did that’s most relevant to your new role.
3. Connect the dots for the hiring manager.

If your skills don’t look obviously relevant, be explicit and explain the connection.

Actively frame how you want them to view you. Otherwise they'll pick a random frame and you won't like what they pick
Read 6 tweets
27 Aug
End-to-end marketers are valuable because they’re good at areas *outside marketing*

1. Negotiation:
To sharpen value prop, perceived value, pricing

2. Sales:
To bring in revenue & keep eyes on the prize

3. Business analysis:
To think clearly, interpret data
4. Psychology/Behavioral economics:
To control factors that might be working against you

5. Copywriting
To strengthen your execution and translate your intent to reality

6. Fiction writing
To tap into emotion & add depth to your copy
7. Product
To understand why customers need your product & account for trade-offs

8. Design
To send the right visual signals about who your product is for

9. Showrunner/production
To orchestrate end-to-end and be accountable for making something happen
Read 4 tweets
7 Jul
1/ Analysis of course communities (THREAD)

Community is important for premium yet scalable digital experiences.

It’s one of the main selling points for premium experiences charging $1,000-$5,000/student vs on-demand courses sold for $50.

But it can mean different things...
2/ Community is used as a catch-all term, usually to mean:

- there’s live interaction
- a Slack room
- active participation
- it’s not a MOOC

But when you *conflate* different elements of community, you miss the opportunity to maximize each element as a lever.
If you *unbundle community*

You can design more finely-tuned tactics & fully maximize each element of community.
Read 16 tweets

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