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Key insights from last night's @StoaHQ townhall with @Austen, founder of @LambdaSchool! Thanks for doing this @kunksed 
We’re seeing unbundling of the university education. Uni experience combines skills training, social engagement (partying etc), exploration. Lambda focuses on vocational skills. Unbundling is good bc students pay less for exactly what they want, especially useful for upskilling.
People’s perception of online education has changed a lot. Covid accelerated remote learning but some things like pre-school cannot stay remote. Some schools that go remote will stay that way, just like companies.
People currently in University system just do not get the Lambda concept because the traditional system has been working for them for decades.
Lambda’s moat: it’s REALLY hard to make individual pieces - training, financing, placement, admissions - work together. Anyone can do these individually but bringing it all together under Lambda is very hard.
Lambda in India - The legal and financial infrastructure for Income Share Agreements such as recovering the money, dealing with defaulters etc is well established in the US. Non payment can have severe consequences. This infra isn’t there in India yet.
Personal journey - Austen lived in Ukraine as a Christian Mormon missionary. Knocked on doors in freezing weather and faced constant rejection and a heavy anti-American sentiment. This removed the fear of rejection or failure. Taught him how to deal with life when it wasn’t fair.
Decided to drop out, live in his car & move to Silicon Valley. Family was against it but he had a lot of conviction in his decision vs popular opinion. Everyone said Lambda school would fail & saw the obstacles as insurmountable, but he said you can find a way around them.
Tweeting is fun. With so many followers you can quickly get feedback about anything. Thought of not tweeting while in YC but ended up tweeting to blow off steam. Being unfiltered is risky but has helped so far. Being real resonates with people. Same with Elon Musk.
Tech journalists are losing influence over time as the people they write about get a larger distribution. They’re less of a necessity for companies than before. And they’re not liking that.
How big can Lambda school get? Luke Nosek, co-founder of Paypal and Lambda investor thinks Lambda can train 10s of millions of people per year 10 years from now.
