Unfortunately, traditional colleges and universities have no incentive to ensure their graduates get hired – they get paid regardless.
At Lambda School, we believe there is a better way to approach education.
Instead of asking our students to bet on us, we bet on them first. Lambda’s model is built on Income Share Agreements (ISAs) – our students pay no tuition upfront, and agree to pay back 17% of their income post-graduation for two years, but only once they’re making $50,000 or more. And if they don’t find a high-paying job after 60 months of deferred payments? They pay nothing. This paradigm-shifting model allows us to align the incentives of the school with the incentives of our students – and we all win when our graduates succeed.
We’re in this together.
Austen Allred is the co-founder and CEO of Lambda School. A native of Springville, Utah, Austen’s start-up journey began in 2017 with him living in his two-door Civic while participating in Y Combinator, a San Francisco-based seed accelerator. This experience became the foundation of Lambda School’s rapid growth.
Before founding Lambda School, Austen was the co-founder of media platform GrassWire. He co-authored the growth hacking textbook Secret Sauce, which became a best-seller and provided him the personal seed money to build Lambda.
Austen’s disruptive ideas on the future of education, the labor market disconnect, and the opportunity of providing opportunity at-scale have been featured in: The Harvard Business Review, The Economist, WIRED, Fast Company, TechCrunch, The New York Times, among others. Austen is fluent in Russian and currently lives in San Francisco with his wife and two kids. You can find him on Twitter @Austen.
As Lambda School’s Chief Business Officer, Matt is focused on driving partnerships with leading employers, software ecosystems, and public and private organizations to support student outcomes, hiring partner success, and learning effectiveness.
Matt joins Lambda School after many years of business development, platform, and product experience. Most recently, Matt led the Product Partnerships team at Uber. Prior to that he spent 6 years at Facebook as the Head of Product Management for Facebook Games and the Director of Business Development. He is the founder of Graph Ventures.
Matt has a Bachelor of Arts in economics, with a minor in computer science from McGill University and an MBA from Stanford. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, Kathryn. You can find him on Twitter @mattwyndowe.
As Lambda School’s Chief Operating Officer, Molly is focused on building and running the day-to-day operations that support Lambda School and help it scale. Molly joined Lambda School with years of operational experience at start-ups big and small. Most recently, Molly was the Vice President of Operations at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropy founded by Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. Prior to joining CZI, Molly was the Chief Operating Officer at Quip, a start-up that created a modern productivity suite, which sold to Salesforce in August 2016. She previously spent almost five years at Facebook where she helped develop and lead Facebook's long-term mobile strategy, and create the company's “hacker brand”. Earlier in her career, Molly worked at Google, the Council on Foreign Relations, and was an instructor at the NOLS Patagonia and NOLS Alaska.
As Lambda School’s VP of Learning, Mari is focused on delivering an unmatched learning experience that yields the best possible outcomes for Lambda learners and our hiring partners, regardless of industry. By designing the learner journey from the day someone decides to transform their career to when they’re on the job and are looking to brush up on new technology trends and tools, Mari is reinventing the way adults learn new skills.
Mari joins Lambda School after many years in EdTech. Most recently, Mari led curriculum, instruction, and assessment teams at DataCamp. Prior to that, she spent over a decade leading learning departments and initiatives at Voxy, EF, and Rosetta Stone. She is a lifelong learner and educator and believes the true magic of learning happens at the intersection of technology and human-led instruction.
Mari has a Bachelor of Arts in Classics, with a minor in Spanish from Barnard College and an MA in Spanish Linguistics from Middlebury. An NYC transplant, she currently resides in sunny Miami with her husband and son.
As Lambda School’s VP of Outcomes, Zoran is focused on building the tools, the job search support, and the partnerships to help our students get hired.
Zoran joins Lambda School with many years of experience across product, partnerships, business development, and operations. Most recently, Zoran was at Uber for over 5 years, where he worked in business development and vehicle partnerships. Prior to Uber, Zoran spent 4 years at Facebook working on the Facebook platform and advertising APIs.
Zoran lives in San Francisco with his family. You can reach him at zoran@lambdaschool.com.
As the Director of Business Operations, Bernier works cross-functionally across all business units to define key metrics and set Lambda’s strategic goals. As part of this work, he helps conduct analysis to improve operational efficiency and give better visibility on the health of the business to the Executive team. Bernier also leads external reporting efforts for Lambda including Outcomes and Diversity reporting.
Bernier joins Lambda with a strategy and finance background in both the private and non-profit spaces. Most recently, he was a Manager at Bain & Company in the San Francisco office focusing primary on technology strategy. Previously, he spent time working in financial services and in the non-profit space at a philanthropy venture focused on charter school development.
Bernier earned his MBA from Yale School of Management and his BS from New York University. He lives with his fiancé in Oakland, CA. You can find him on Twitter or LinkedIn @Blauredan.
As Lambda School's VP of Marketing, April is focused on building the marketing team and growth functions to showcase Lambda School programs and values.April joins Lambda School with over a decade's experience in growth, performance marketing, and marketing analytics. Most recently, she was the Head of Growth Marketing at Caffeine, a social broadcasting platform. Prior to that, she worked at various mobile gaming companies managing global user acquisition and creative development. You can find her on LinkedIn at /aprilzhang.
Jayme comes to Lambda with over 20 years of experience, knowledge and, practice in all facets of Human Resources. She brings insights from a variety of business sectors, including IT. She is a servant leader who adds value to our mission.
As Head of Legal, John is focused on ensuring Lambda School successfully navigates the legal landscape of incentive-aligned education. John is a former Naval Officer with corporate legal experience focused on solving novel legal issues. His legal background includes a judicial clerkship, prominent law firms, and even professional sports. You can find him running, watching Navy football, or exploring the Bay Area with his family.
As Lambda School’s VP of Engineering, Jerry focuses on building the engineering teams and technology platforms servicing all of Lambda’s students and staff throughout their shared educational journey. He joins Lambda School with over 20 years of industry experience, most recently at an edtech nonprofit, and before that at a lifestyle media company. Earlier in his career, he was an engineer at companies ranging from tiny startups to Google and Goldman Sachs.
Jerry lives in New York City and has been on Twitter since 2006, but has never tweeted.
Are you in?
