Self-Sponsored: how we commercialise this
Two founders. Same mark on the stage. Same rule about the free stuff.
TEDxMornington, 17 March 2024. Steve Corney and Utkarsh Narang pointed at the same spot. This is what we actually built, how we built it, and how we planned to make money doing it without gating the build.
Show the working thing. Show how. Give it away. Money comes from ask-access, workshops, and a room we fill, not a paywall on the recipe.
Who this is
Two operators, not a guru community
Steve Corney
20+ years commercialising knowledge
Five books. Over 1,000 learning experiences. Specialty is packaging content so it actually works. Power user of AI. It has to be net positive: save time, save money, or help. Not set up like everyone else. Built around you.
Utkarsh Narang
IgnitedNeurons
Co-founder. Same TEDx stage, same day. His talk: Can Fear Push Us to be Courageous. This is not a guru handing down a system. It is two operators who already put the point in public.
Free vs paid
What's free, what's paid
The market fails two ways: everything useful is gated, or the free stuff gets complex in five minutes and wastes a weekend. We do neither.
Free, always
The Classroom rule
The packaged build: what we built, how, and the artifact itself.
Enough to apply or enhance it without us on the call.
Public recipes, walkthroughs, and starter prompts.
The artifact ships with the recipe. Nothing held back for paid. If the public recipe cannot stand alone, packaging failed. We fix the recipe, we do not gate it.
Paid
Ask-access, not a file vault
Asking Steve or Utkarsh a question: an AMA / office hours queue, not DMs.
Workshops and sprints, when we choose to run them.
Expert-strategy cohort: AUD $5,000 × 10 seats, both founders, they leave with their map built.
Membership later: ask-access plus the room. Agents run day to day, founders on a fixed cadence.
Paid room is ask-access only. It is never a vault of files that should have been free.
The Classroom rule
“If they need us on the call to finish, the packaging failed.”
We are not anyone's implementation team. Every build is: here is what we actually built, here is how we built it, take it.
Money in order
How money actually shows up
Order matters here. Do not invert it. Tap each step.
Flagship: the $5k × 10 cohort
AUD $5,000 × 10 seatsExpert-strategy cohort. Both founders in the room. Method is already public, and they leave with their map built. A filled run is AUD $50,000. Fill ten or do not run it.
Smaller live: workshops and sprints
USD $800–$2,450 / live hourSame shape as the free builds: public tickets, small cap, they leave with the thing live. Ticket buyers get that event, not ongoing ask-access. Priced like a real working session, not a $147 Skool challenge.
Membership last: passive monthly
AUD $99/mo or $990/yrOnly switched on after the calendar is real. Agents run the community day to day, founders show up on a cadence. Ask-access, not unlimited founder Slack. That would eat us.
What will not work
Three ways this fails if we get lazy
All free, including the live room
Buildspace gave sprints away, sponsorship capped around USD $2–5M ARR, then it shut. Demand with no user revenue is a charity.
Gate the how at a high ticket
Write of Passage: NPS 75, 2,000+ students, USD $3,995, still closed cohorts. No dependable flow of new students between them.
Empty membership
A $99 Skool with no live calendar is the guru default. We do not switch it on first, and we never become the implementation team every build secretly needs.
90 days
Four beats, in order
Publish one complete public build under the Classroom rule: what we built, how, take it.
Run one ticketed workshop or sprint of that same build. Both founders, small cap.
Fill the $5k × 10 expert-strategy cohort, or do not run it.
Only then switch on paid ask-access. Agents day to day, founders on a cadence.
Show the working thing. Show how. Give it away. Money is ask-access, workshops, and a $5k room when we fill one. Not a paywall, not a coaching cult, not an empty membership.