A Profit Model for Alternative Education: Document, Repackage, Launch
My March Experiment: Treating Classrooms Into Product Labs
This March, I am testing two ideas to boost the profitability of The Socratic Experience, a high-touch virtual school:
Document what happens in our classes.
Turn our successful classes into scalable external products.
I believe this approach will increase profits and expand access to our student-centered model. Because alternative schools do better when all do better, I encourage any school to copy exactly what I propose or ask me questions.
Step 1: Documentation
This month, I will standardize how we describe each class as a product. I will work with teachers and our Head of School to clearly state:
What the class is: Its content, teaching style, and goals.
Student feedback: What past students say about its benefits.
Who it is for: The ideal student and why the class suits them.
Key learning outcomes: The skills or knowledge students gain.
The big promise: proof that it works, the changes people can expect, and how quickly they will see results.
A centralized repository of class details allows teachers to easily support one another, step in when needed, and share ideas to improve lessons. Parents can quickly see why a class matters and how it meets their child's needs. They can also understand how each class ties into our program's larger goals, such as building independent thinkers, nurturing self-learners, or inspiring students to follow their own definition of success.
Clear documentation also lets us package classes for public markets. With a defined promise, a concise course description, key outcomes, and a target audience, everyone has a unified idea of what a class entails. Whether it is a teacher, a parent, or myself, I want everyone to describe things the same way to avoid confusion, false expectations, or lost sales opportunities.
Step 2: Test Classes Internally and Then Open Them to the Public
Enrollment for any school fluctuates throughout the year. With a clear picture of each class, I can quickly pinpoint which ones are ready for a broader market, whether self-paced online programs, cohort-based courses, or something else.
Under this lens, our school becomes a creative lab where every family supplies data on what works. I can assess a class’s market appeal in one afternoon with clear documentation. I can copy the class description into a landing page, add a sign-up button, and gauge interest before the product is built. If potential benefits offset production costs, I can talk to teachers about what it would take for them to help me design this public-facing class. I can do the same for smaller products, such as
This cycle of (1) defining valuable classes and (2) packaging them for the market can help any alternative school scale its impact while keeping core operations intact.
Case Study: Ben’s Socratic Parenting Course
I am working with Benjamin Gabbai, a homeschooling parent and educator with over 15 years of experience who helps parents foster meaningful dialogues with their children.
Ben built a strong curriculum and led a successful cohort by turning everyday parent-child interactions into deeper conversations that build bonds and nurture independent thinking. I captured the course’s promise and refined how we discussed it to the market.
At the time of writing this, the only "marketing" I've done is one X and LinkedIn post saying that we might launch a Socratic Parenting course. Over 150 people expressed interest. I aim to reach about 960 interested individuals and convert 2.5%—24 buyers—to fill two cohorts of 12. Repeated success could turn this class into a six-figure annual business. Scaling this across every class could add a seven-figure revenue stream to enhance the school’s model.
Documenting and packaging form the foundation for future products. This process lets teachers experiment, focus on education, and clearly show each class’s value to parents. It also creates new revenue streams—self-paced courses, curriculums, masterminds—for those who are not ready for our full program but still want to learn from us.
My plan is simple: start small, learn from honest feedback, and grow steadily. This experiment may not guarantee success, but it offers a promising path to boost profits and expand access to our innovative, student-centered model.