Most new academies market like a course exists to be found. The ones that grow market like an audience exists to be served.
The academies that grow fastest usually built an audience before they built a course, not the other way around.
Free content that solves one specific problem outperforms broad brand content for early-stage academies, almost every time.
Leo writes about marketing and audience growth for independent educators and academy founders.
A waitlist is more than a launch tactic — it's the first real dataset you'll have about your audience.
There's no universal formula for course pricing, but there is a defensible process. Here's how academies price a first launch.