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In the last edition, I wrote about Top Hat. A lot has happened since then, Top Hat raised another round of funding of $130M USD and got a new CEO, Joe Rohrlich. In my post, I had pointed out that
Top Hat needs to build some new muscles to reach its potential in the next phase of growth:
Future Go to Market - Top Hat sells its teaching platform to professors. With the onset of the pandemic, it would get increasingly hard to reach individual professors. Also, more and more University administrative offices will start taking interest in the online learning experience. As the decision makers who green light Top Hat’s adoption change, their sales and marketing teams will have to adopt accordingly.
Here’s how Rohrlich is introduced in Top Hat’s press release:
Rohrlich brings deep go-to-market expertise in the SaaS software industry and a reputation for developing great teams and delivering customer value
Clearly Top Hat investors and leadership saw the forthcoming challenges with their current go to market strategy and hence the new CEO. I am so excited to see what’s next for Top Hat 🚀
In today’s edition, I will be covering the growing trend of community based bootcamps focused on helping folks find non-technical roles in the tech industry. Uvaro and Skillful - two Canadian startups - started around the same time in early 2020 - focus on different non-tech roles in the tech industry. Uvaro is a 12 week training program that helps folks land roles in tech sales. Skillful is a 6 week program that focuses on strategy and operations roles in tech companies. Rather than diving into the business model, which I plan to cover in a future edition, I’ll focus on the value that these startups are creating for their users.
Who are their users?
Anybody who is in the job market looking for a tech sales role (Uvaro) or for a strategy/ops role (Skillful).
So individuals, who have an idea of what is it that they want to do (above roles) and where (a technology company).
The tech industry is another user of their product, more prominently in the case of Uvaro which has direct relationships with the startups through internships. However, for the rest of this post, I’ll focus on the user who is paying to enrol in their programs.
So what do these users get?
In case of Uvaro, it is a 12-week online course (available in both part-time and full-time format) that teaches both basic tech knowledge and sales skills to folks with no business or engineering background. They also partner with startups that recruit sales personnel to facilitate paid internships and most importantly help build professional sales networks - a community!
In case of Skillful, it is a 6-week online part-time curriculum that focuses on a mentor-led team project. Participants work through a data set using industry tools under the guidance of a mentor who is in a similar role in the tech industry.
Value for money and time
I think that these programs provide immense value for the time and money invested. Most importantly their users get three things:
a community of folks who are looking to make the same transition
learn the language of the industry that will come in handy when they head into interviews
connections with folks who are in these roles (which are usually the hardest to build)
Each of those is important in its own right and together they are absolutely worth the money/time. I think that these programs are a better investment than a MBA that can cost north of ~$100k and 2 years. Here’s why:
General vs specific - First off, these programs aren’t for everyone. The cohorts in these programs are made of folks who are focused on a very specific type of role and are looking to make that transition rather quickly (6 to 12 weeks vs 2 years!). That would naturally translate into focused conversations and sharing of knowledge/opportunities that are relevant in the moment. This is critical. In the long run a diverse community with varied interests and work experiences spread over multiple industries may pan out well which works in the favor of business schools. However, in the short term while you are searching for a job and are trying to make a transition to specific role/industry, a community of folks trying to do the same would be far more valuable. They would speak to their unique experiences trying to do the same thing. Their learnings and sharing of best practices would be more relevant. That’s precisely what users get when they pay $1000 for Skillful or $5000 for Uvaro. A community of folks who have either recently made the transition that you are seeking or are in the process along with you.
Common language/tech speak - Recruiting is screwed up. It is full of biases. It is a game of trying and of luck. This is particularly true for non-technical roles. Being able to speak and understand the language that the interviewer speaks and understands is critical. This includes business concepts but also tech speak. Ever heard of ‘pivot’, ‘synergy’, ‘blue sky thinking’, ‘sunsetting’? Yes these programs will focus on technical concepts and skills but more importantly, they would be a window into the culture and conversations of the industry that their users are looking to transition to. One would either embrace the speak and will be able to use that effectively in the interviews or would at least figure that it isn’t for them. Both outcomes are equally valuable.
Industry Connections - Would you rather pay ~$30/month for a LinkedIn premium, randomly reach out to folks, set up 10 meetings on your calendar to have maybe 1 meaningful conversation once a month OR be at a place where these connections are present and are incentivized to help you develop? Mentors in case of Skillful and internships in case of Uvaro, I believe is the single biggest advantage of participating in these programs. Building meaningful connections into an industry where you are an outsider is particularly difficult. If these startups can alleviate this pain, they ought to be successful in their mission.
Time - It has been a year since we are all under the lockdown! 6 to 12 weeks go by real fast. One really isn’t investing a whole lot of time in these programs. Even better you are doing them part-time while continuing to do your job. There really isn’t a steep downside to trying out these programs. Even if you don’t end up making the intended switch, you haven’t lost much time or money and may just have gotten into a community that’ll keep growing and giving in the future!
I am looking forward to keep an eye on these businesses as they continue to grow 🤞
That’s all for now :)
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