This post is brought to you by Notion. Join teams like Figma and Pixar in using Notion's AI powered tools to manage your project. Try Notion Projects for free now.

Dear subscribers,

Today, I want to show you how to create, market, and teach a successful online course.

Too many people create online courses that nobody signs up for.

Don’t be one of them. Wes Kao is the co-founder of Maven, a course platform where instructors make $20K+ per cohort. In the interview below, we cover how to:

1. Pick your course topic

2. Market your course

3. Make students love your course

How to pick your course topic

Welcome Wes! What led you to start Maven?

I was lucky to work with best-selling author and marketer Seth Godin in 2014. 

Back then, online courses were mostly asynchronous with <5% completion rates. The altMBA that I created with Seth was one of the first mainstream cohort courses. 

That experience made me realize that many experts had something to teach, even if they didn’t have a big audience.

That’s why I decided to start Maven with my co-founder Gagan Biyani years later. We want to empower the world’s experts to offer amazing cohort courses.

How do I pick a good course topic?

In the outside-in circle, list topics that people want to learn from you:

• Where is there market demand?

• What questions do people ask you?

• What’s your track record?

In the inside out circle, list topics that you want to teach: 

• What topics are you obsessed with?

• What can you talk about for hours without preparation?

Now look at the topics at the intersection of both circles. Pick one and fill out:

Your course will be more likely to succeed if:

1. It can help your ideal student achieve an urgent or important outcome.

2. It’s something that you’re intrinsically motivated to teach.

How do I know who my ideal student is?

Identify people who ask you questions about a topic that you’re interested in:

• What’s their role and level of experience?

• What are their pain points?

• What’s the outcome that they want?

Should I only stick to topics that I’m an expert in?

Yes. The world is not your oyster here — and that’s a good thing.

A course is not the best format to explore your curiosity on a new topic. Instead, focus on topics that people already come to you for and that are part of your track record.

What if I pick a topic that already has a lot of competition? How do I stand out?

A spiky point of view isn’t about being controversial but rather about presenting a well-reasoned, evidence-based view that’s unique.

For example, one of my spiky points of view is that you should market a course before creating it. Building a course before thinking about marketing often leads to crickets and tumbleweeds instead or real students.

Build your spiky point of view by asking:

1. What do you believe that you wish others understood? 

2. What’s a popular opinion that you strongly disagree with?

3. What are you hesitant to say because others might have a different view? 

We all have spiky points of view within us; we just need have the courage to share.

I love this concept. It could lead to haters but also people who deeply agree with you.

Exactly. Sharing your spiky point of view makes you a beacon for like-minded people who think “finally someone said this” and want to dive deeper with you.

Can you give examples of course instructors who have spiky points of view?

Sure, here are a few examples:

1. Shreyas Doshi teaches product management. His course has spiky points of view about how PMs waste their time on various frameworks that are not useful.

2. April McLean teaches community building. Her course is about why the best community builders are actually selfish.

3. Emily Kramer teaches marketing. Her course is about how marketers who primarily focus on leads set themselves up for failure.

All of these creators share their spiky points of view on social, email, and other channels to attract like-minded students to their course.

How to market your course

Let’s say I have a spiky point of view but have 0 reach. How do I find students?

Think about your funnel in three stages:

1. Get discovered. Share your spiky point of view on social and other channels.

2. Build trust. Build a deeper connection through newsletters, workshops, and more.

3. Monetize. Promote your course to let people dive deeper on the topic with you.

How should I price my course?

The more expensive your course is, the higher the trust threshold is.

Your ideal student is trying to answer:

Consider also the price sensitivity of your ideal student. If you’re targeting new grads, they might only have enough to spend on a $150 on-demand course. Professionals, on the other hand, are willing to pay more for a course that can help them achieve an outcome in less time.

Can you talk about an instructor who grew a course without an initial audience?

Yes! Shivani Berry teaches a course on leadership for women in tech. She was a PM at PayPal and had no followers or email subscribers. Despite this, she was able to consistently attract students:

1. Her cohort size grew from 10-15 to 100-300 students.

2. Her course price is $3,000 which is at a premium (many courses are $500-800).

Examples:

1. Free workshops: Shivani ran free 45-min workshops for women in tech at companies like Amazon and Instacart. Many of these companies have employee resource groups who want to discuss how women can advocate for themselves.

2. Expert interviews. Shivani runs an online event series where she interviews leading women in tech. She started with people in her network and eventually worked her way up to high-profile folks like Kim Scott and Julie Zhuo.

3. Online communities. Shivani reached out to communities where women in tech were already hanging out and did AMAs to attract students.

The takeaway is to provide value to companies and communities where your ideal student already hangs out. These can be workshops, interviews, and collaborations.

Company workshops seem like an underrated tactic. It’s hard for companies to say no if you already have a few brand names under your belt.

Exactly! It should feel like a no-brainer. The key is to add a ton of value in your free workshop and casually mention your course throughout. 

How to make students love your course

How can you make your course interesting vs. monologuing through 100+ slides?

Examples of state changes include:

1. Hiding your slides for a few minutes to hammer a point home.

2. Asking a question and then getting students to answer in Zoom chat.

3. Asking students to volunteer to answer a question live.

4. Doing 10 min breakout session with a few students each.

5. Playing a recorded video of another expert.

There’s really no excuse for monologuing given all these options. 

I think you made many readers interested in teaching courses just from this interview. How can someone get started?

My advice is to keep it simple:

1. Build a spiky point of view using the outside-in and inside-out framework.

2. Add value for free via social and workshops to build trust with your ideal student.

3. Teach a course that students love using the state change method.

I didn’t follow this advice when I started. For example, I was stuck at 5K Twitter followers for 9 years because I tried to do too much (I’m at 150K now). I was posting on Twitter, LinkedIn, Medium, my blog, my website, and burning out.

Focus is so important for both creators and product people. Focus on building the one thing that makes a difference in people's lives. 

I think that’s great advice to close on. How can people find you online?

You can follow me on Twitter and LinkedIn. If you’re thinking of teaching a course, join my free Maven Course Accelerator for a step-by-step guide with other instructors.

Thanks Wes!

If you enjoyed this post, consider taking a few minutes to:

1. Refer a friend to unlock special rewards after 3, 5 and 10 referrals.

Refer a friend

2. Sponsor this newsletter to reach 50,000+ tech professionals and creators.