Wes Kao

Background

Wes Kao holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Her early career was in marketing and brand management, where she held positions at companies including Procter & Gamble and a startup later acquired by LivingSocial. This foundational experience in both large corporations and the startup ecosystem provided the basis for her later work in marketing and education.

Major Contributions

Wes Kao is a co-founder of the altMBA, an intensive, four-week online workshop and leadership program. She launched this venture in 2015 alongside author and thought leader Seth Godin. The program was designed as an alternative to traditional business education, focusing on shipping real work and creating change instead of theoretical learning. She is also credited with coining the term "cohort-based course" (CBC) to describe this model of live, interactive, community-driven online learning, which stands in contrast to passive, on-demand MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses). She is the founder of Maven, a platform that enables experts to create and run their own cohort-based courses.

Impact on their Field

The creation and popularization of the cohort-based course model has had a significant impact on the fields of education technology and professional development. The altMBA served as a high-profile case study for the effectiveness of this interactive format, demonstrating its potential for high completion rates and transformative student outcomes. This model has influenced a new generation of creators and educators, shifting the focus of online learning from pre-recorded content to community, accountability, and active participation. Her work has provided a new framework for knowledge commerce, enabling subject matter experts to build sustainable businesses by teaching what they know.

Current Work/Relevance

Wes Kao currently leads Maven, the platform she founded to scale the cohort-based course model she helped pioneer. Maven provides the software infrastructure, payment processing, and community support for experts to launch their own schools. She is an active writer and speaker on topics including marketing, course creation, and building online communities. Through her public writing and the growth of Maven, she continues to advocate for and shape the future of collaborative, applied learning.

Wes Kao is an influential entrepreneur and educator, best known as a co-founder of the altMBA and Maven, two platforms that have reimagined modern learning and cohort-based courses. Her career began in marketing and product management, where she honed her skills at companies like American Express and Seth Godin's team, developing a sharp insight into what makes educational experiences truly transformative.

Who they are

Wes Kao is a first-generation Taiwanese-American who built her career at the intersection of marketing, product development, and education. She started by working on high-profile projects with thought leaders before co-founding her own ventures. Her background is not in traditional academia but in practical, real-world application, which heavily informs her approach to teaching and business.

Why they matter

Kao’s key achievements center on democratizing high-quality, community-driven education. She co-created the altMBA, an intensive online workshop that has graduated over 5,000 professionals, bypassing traditional business school structures. Later, she co-founded Maven, a platform that enables experts to launch their own cohort-based courses, empowering thousands of creators to build sustainable businesses by teaching what they know. These ventures have shifted the paradigm of online learning from passive content consumption to active, collaborative experiences.

What they’re known for

Wes Kao is most famous for pioneering the cohort-based course (CBC) model. Her popular work includes:

Co-founding the altMBA, a highly selective and rigorous 4-week program for leaders and executives

Building Maven, a platform that simplifies the creation and operation of CBCs for creators

Championing the concept of "learning through doing" in tight-knit, accountable communities

Writing and speaking extensively about marketing, course creation, and building impactful online businesses