Hey friends!
Kevon here. Starting today, Public Lab is Small School.
This is the biggest change since starting this company 3 years ago, so here I want to share with you what motivated us to do so.
And to celebrate this milestone, we have a Small School Opening Special featuring some of our most popular programs. If you’ve loved what you see here, check out this page from June 11-14, 2024.
Why we’re rebranding
This education business started in April 2021 when I was actively talking about “building in public”. I released a free guide and had an exciting audience eager to learn how to execute this strategy. I followed the breadcrumbs to launch my first paid community and called it Public Lab.
In the following 3 years, we focused on creating and running multiple educational products that served our audience. I was teaching, writing, and coaching a lot. Over time, it was obvious that what we do has outgrown the topic “building in public”. We have a popular course called Email Course Engine teaching creators how to build a killer lead magnet. We talk about the creator education business model and landing page design. And more!
The name, Public Lab, didn’t make sense anymore. It was a nice name with a memorable broccoli logo but they don’t represent the vision going forward.
That prompted me to think about the future of our company. We love education. We see a big gap in the market between great and mediocre learning experiences. There is so much room to change how one person can run a truly impactful creator education business.
That’s what we want to do.
Why we chose “Small School”
Naming is insanely hard. And frankly, it is my weak spot.
Luckily, I had this ideation and validation process that helped to evaluate the potential of names. I shared the process in this video.
We were pretty set on the word “School” because we envisioned a focus on grooming the next wave of creator educators. Most online programs sell you a learning experience and leave you to figure out the rest on your own. That’s not us.
After listing down dozens of keywords, the word “Small” aligns well both with our past and future philosophy. We always believe in taking small steps. We never advocate or teach people shortcuts. It is about building small and then iterating quickly. We truly believe that when you focus on the small details, you’ll have a successful business.
And “Small School” also sounds good and punchy.
This is our new logo. You’re right, we’re not keeping the broccoli because Small School is about you, not me.
We wanted to bring out the focus on small steps in the logo. Our designer, CJ Tkachenko, did a great job.
What’s different going forward
Things have changed over the years. I can also say my experience and my vision have evolved, so it makes sense for the company to have a new mission.
We’re here for the creator educators
There are more and more creators, but there are so many types and only a handful of them are committed to sharing their knowledge and educating others.
We want to help these entrepreneurs who are serious about growing their creator education business.
If sharing and teaching excite you, you are one of us!
We’re focused on Small Courses
Most online courses are too big. They try to cover too much. They are not offering a great learning experience.
Our courses are different. This is what Aishi wrote to us:
We want to give our students the highest value per minute. We want them to do, not to learn. And we do so by doubling down on Small Courses so you can also do the same for your students.
We want you to feel supported
Here’s a weird phenomenon about online learning: you either have to pay a hefty fee and commit lots of live time to get support or you are left on your own.
Is there a way where you don’t feel pressured to show up, you can get support when you need it, and most things can happen asynchronously?
This is exactly how we envision Small School Studio to be.
It is a place to gather driven creator educators and support students of our courses. It doesn’t cost you an arm and a leg. It is a calm and supportive environment that prioritizes helpfulness. Because I love being present and accessible with my students, I get to bring that to Campus.
I’d love to hear from you
With this big change, I’m keen to hear your thoughts on our name and direction.
Obviously, we are still in the early days of Small School so a lot can be done, so let’s shape it together!
Take a look around our school and drop me an email too (you can reach me at kevon@smallschool.is)
I look forward to building small with you!
Cheers,
Kevon Cheung
Founder & Head Teacher at Small School
