Cohorts Beat Self-Serve

Shaan Puri shares insights about the stark reality of course completion rates in online education, drawing from both personal experience and industry knowledge. He emphasizes that the format and structure of courses significantly impact completion rates, with self-paced options performing poorly compared to cohort-based alternatives.

• Self-Serve Course Completion Reality:

  • Only 10% of people typically complete self-serve courses
  • Even with $1000+ price tags, completion rates remain low (around 6%)
  • About 20% of students reach the halfway point

• Why Self-Serve Courses Fail:

  • Lack of peer pressure
  • No accountability from teachers
  • On-demand nature removes urgency
  • Even high financial investment doesn't ensure completion

• Solutions That Work Better:

  • Cohort-based courses (Maven example):
    • Live instruction weekly
    • Fixed 5-week timeline
    • Dramatically higher completion rates
  • Lambda School model:
    • 80%+ completion rate
    • Live classes with other students
    • Selective admission (only accepting 1% of applicants)
    • Strong filtering process upfront

• Key Success Factors:

  • Live instruction
  • Peer community
  • Structured timeline
  • Careful student selection
  • Regular accountability

• Counter-Intuitive Finding:

  • Higher price points don't solve the completion problem
  • Even traditional college education suffers from similar issues
  • Business model needs to prioritize student success over sales volume