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Comment by ID1452319 | Hacker News Reader

Regarding your "Direct training-to-employment pipeline" I've been thinking about a very similar idea.

Do you think people would actually pay upfront to join on the promise they'll be refunded if they complete the course syllabus successfully?

I have assumed you'd have the offer the course for free and then make your money by placing successful "graduates" with employers who pay a commission for each one.

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I think the upfront + refund + commission structure balances the incentives. It's something that is missing with ISA structures, which unevenly optimizes the school incentive. An upfront cost is table stakes.

The trainer is incentivized to perform because the collected tuitions might only represent a fraction of what could be earned. The commission is where the profit is.

I would personally be super motivated to sign up, especially if the curriculum and employer partnerships were attractive.

I'm riffing but I know it's a super hard problem. I wonder if game theory could or has helped here.

I really like your idea, it would certainly eliminate the timewasters.

I notice you mentioned trainers. I was thinking of using the free, publicly available course on sites like edX, coursra etc. and then providing mentors to help and support students. Any thoughts on that?

I bet training material development is a huge cost! That's a great idea. Licensing might be tricky with major mooc's but Odin project and freecodecamp might be MIT licensed... The accountability, structure, support and network seem like the major value adds.

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