Joe Liemandt

Background

• Founder of Trilogy Software, built a multi-billion dollar SaaS empire.
• Stepped down from active CEO role ~2.5 years ago to become Principal of Alpha School. Reportedly has been developing his educational model and involved with Alpha Schools in Austin for approximately 10 years.
• Lives in Austin (6G building mentioned).
• Known for intense work ethic, reminiscent of early Trilogy days (per Elle Liemandt).
• Highly networked (Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Mark Zuckerberg, Chick-fil-A CEO, Michael Dell, etc.).
• Reportedly the sixth richest man in Austin (per Gary Sheng, who also noted Joe's last name spelled as "Liemant" in one transcript).
• Donated to Vivek Ramaswamy's campaign.
• His children have experienced/gone through his educational model.

Role in Alpha Ecosystem

• Visionary & Funder: Driving force behind Alpha School, Gauntlet AI, and related ventures.
• Goal: Impact 2.5 billion students globally with Alpha model (AI Tutor + Masterpiece Project).
• Strategy: Rapid scaling through acquiring existing schools (Montessori), potentially partnering with public/private schools, and building a powerful ecosystem. The core Alpha Schools model involves AI tutors for core curriculum while human guides serve as mentors focused on purpose-driven learning.
• Current Scaling Target: "25 and 25" - 25 schools with 25 students each this year.
• Management Style:
  • Favors high-agency individuals.
  • Creates "free-for-all" / Gauntlet-like environments to identify top talent.
  • Values contrarian thinking ("spiky POVs") and data/research (Brain Lifts) but ultimately rewards execution and alignment with mission.
  • Willing to invest heavily ($5M+) to find even one high-potential individual.
  • Prefers individual accountability over group projects for interns/students.
  • Can be repetitive in communication but is receptive to efficiency improvements (e.g., AI clone, summits).
  • Engages directly but unpredictably (e.g., late-night office visits).
  • Uses methods like "tear downs" to evaluate teams/processes.
  • Emphasizes product management skill over technical development: "I'm going to be at the product manager line. They would be able to do the product management. I don't have to be a developer."
  • Per Ben Gordon-Sniffen: "If he's dropping F-bombs, he's mad at himself... if he just looks at you like he has a knife in his back pocket, be a little scared."
  • Prefers not to talk to people directly and would rather have high-agency people handle communications (per Gary's 2025-05-19 observation).
  • Encourages "trilogy old guard" (Arthur, Mirage, Andy) to "let the power flow down" to operational leaders.

New Leadership Initiatives (from 2025-05-19 meeting)

• Recently brought on a former Mr. Beast team member as a content strategist.
• Has ambitious expansion goals that often seem disconnected from operational realities (e.g., Ben mentioned Joe talking about "1000 schools in Texas within 12 months").
• McKenzie has teased him about whether their target is "100,000 new kids or a million new kids," indicating his tendency to set extremely ambitious goals.
• Described by Ben as talking about "cereals" - "26 different flavors of cereals" to represent different educational models and approaches. This aligns with reports that Joe "wants to help start all kinds of schools."

Key Strategic Insights & Directives (from 2025-04-12 Meeting)

• Scaling via Sports Micro-Schools: Believes sports-focused micro-schools are key to penetrating rural Texas and engaging parents (especially dads) who might not prioritize academics alone.
  • Pitch politicians (Cruz, Governor) on providing school choice in every district via these schools.
  • Recruit local coaches first to build demand; parents follow trusted coaches.
  • Emphasized mandatory academics (2-hour learning) even if parents don't prioritize it.
  • Leverage the "Tim Tebow Law" in Texas, which allows homeschool/micro-school students to play for public school teams (if district agrees).
  • Believes popular coaches can influence districts to allow participation.
• School Structure & Branding:
  • Keep school calendars aligned with local districts.
  • Use standard terms (e.g., "Grade Levels" instead of "L-Levels," potentially "Teachers" instead of "Guides") to reduce confusion, anchoring to familiar concepts like Apple did with "iPhone."
  • Micro-schools should ideally target specific grade ranges (e.g., 3rd-5th) for effective coaching, rather than wide K-12 spreads initially.
• Pilot Programs & Sales:
  • MTSS Program (Public Schools): Selling specialized 2-Hour Learning version for bottom 10% students (MTSS Level 3) via Jenna. Outcome-based contracts ($2k only if student improves) + gift cards for student motivation. Requires guide involvement initially.
  • Private School Program: Selling 2-Hour Learning ($10k/kid) + mandatory Guide ($150k) via Fay. Focus on large contracts.
• Gauntlet 2.0 Rationale: Explicitly stated his late-night visits are to find the ~10 high-agency individuals capable of driving his vision forward out of the larger cohort.

Recent Strategic Direction (from 2025-05-12 Meeting)

• Real Estate Approach: Notes that Austin real estate is "easy because it's overbuilt," supporting MacKenzie's assertion that real estate will never be a bottleneck for Alpha's growth.
• Student Decision-Making: Clear hierarchy based on age: "I don't care what the parent thinks at high school. I care, the only thing I care about in K-5 is what the parent thinks."
• Trump Connection: Scheduled to meet with Trump Jr. and Ivanka in Miami. While open to partnerships (like selling Two-Hour Learning for a Trump golf camp), emphasized "We are not going to be Trump's school."
• Masterpiece Project Philosophy:
  • Consistently critical of students blaming tool/resource limitations: "Blaming app building is never the issue."
  • Emphasizes developing strong, unique viewpoints: "If you don't have that [unique point of view], you're not going to be able to build up an audience."
  • Focuses on expertise demonstration and market validation over technical development.
• UT Plan II Vibe Marketing Internship Structure:
  • Six distinct individual roles:
    1. Brand and graphics
    2. Website
    3. SEO
    4. SEM (paid search)
    5. Vision videos
    6. Influencer network
  • Expects interns to become "product masters" of existing tools: "There's an LLM wrapper for everything"
  • Views this as potentially replacing traditional marketing teams
• Alpha University Vision:
  • Supporting multiple competing higher education concepts (SideQuest, Roger Hunt's philosophy project, Alpha University)
  • Described Elle's vision: "She's going to go recruit the 30 best kids in the country... It's not going to be teacher-led... And we're going to blow the world away."
  • Model includes $150,000/year tuition with scholarships

Interactions with Gary Sheng

• Identified Gary via the Gauntlet AI program, a free AI boot camp Joe funded in Austin to identify and recruit talent.
• Initial one-on-one focused on cultural/political strategy for Alpha. Convinced Gary to collaborate on his education initiatives.
• Approved America 2.0 Summit concept and initial budget ($600k) with timeline shift to Sept 2025.
• Attended Gary's birthday dinner.
• Had brief follow-up chat confirming summit timeline.
• Interacts with Gary's core squad (Dire Wolves / Alpha Nano) during late-night office visits.

Connection Points

• Primary funder and visionary for Gary's current role and initiatives.
• Key decision-maker for budget, strategy, and partnerships.
• Network is crucial for initiatives like America 2.0 Summit.
• Empowers Gary to take leadership roles within the Alpha Schools ecosystem.

Notes

• Elle Liemandt notes family concerns about him being too public.
• Chris Locke highlights his relentless pursuit of excellence and different level of thinking.

Met at: GauntletAI coworking/office, dinner at Zach Casler's home Met date: 2025-03-23, 2025-03-24 (birthday dinner at Zach Casler's home), 2025-03-25 (extended conversation), 2025-03-26 (hiring conversation) Role(s): Tech Entrepreneur, Founder of Trilogy Software and ESW Capital, Alpha School Founder/Principal Last interaction:

• 2025-04-08 (approx - Meeting with Gary, Mike Maples, Alpha/Gauntlet teams)
• 2025-04-11: Delivered ~3-hour lecture/Q&A session to Gauntlet Grads covering BrainLifts, expertise development, audience building, content strategy, AI in education, video game design, motivation, and micro-school strategy updates.
• 2025-05-12: Participated in Alpha High staff meeting, discussing scaling targets, Masterpiece projects, UT Plan II internship structure, Alpha University concept, and potential Trump connections.
• 2025-05-18: Discussed by Gary Sheng in conversation with Remy Janco and Arjun Khemani. Gary provided an overview of Joe's background (referring to him as "Joe Lament" or "Liemant" in transcript), the Alpha Schools model, and their collaboration.
• 2025-05-19: Discussed in meeting between Gary Sheng, Ben Gordon-Sniffen, and Ron Roberts. Ben provided insights into Joe's management style and ambitious expansion goals.

Contact Information

• Email: [Update if available]
• Phone: [Update if available]
• Address: Lives downtown in Austin in a "six five building" since 2008

Personal Background

Joe Liemandt is a notable tech entrepreneur who founded Trilogy Software in 1989 while still a student at Stanford University (though he dropped out to pursue the business). He built Trilogy into a significant enterprise software company during the 1990s. Later, he founded ESW Capital (formerly known as Trilogy Equity Partners), which has acquired numerous software companies, often focusing on legacy software businesses with established customer bases.

• Built Trilogy Software into a successful enterprise software company
• Known for an innovative recruiting strategy targeting top engineering schools
• Developed a unique business approach of acquiring mature software companies through ESW Capital
• Has maintained a relatively low public profile despite significant business success
• Recognized on Forbes lists of wealthy individuals
• Founder of Alpha Schools, where he serves as a principal and is driving education innovation. He has been developing his educational model for at least 10 years.
• His children have attended Alpha School / experienced his educational model.
• Has another daughter who writes for Substack and has been on podcasts with Sam Altman discussing AI's impact on writing
• Lives downtown in Austin since 2008 in a "six five building"
• Age 56 (as of 2025)
• Values family highly, considering kids and family "by far the best part of life"
• Was approached about becoming Secretary of Education in the new administration but declined, believing he could have more impact outside government

Business Expertise

• Enterprise Software: Deep experience in building and scaling enterprise software solutions
• Software Acquisitions: Expertise in acquiring, optimizing, and managing software businesses
• Tech Industry Strategy: Long-term strategic vision in the technology sector
• Business Transformation: Track record of transforming traditional software businesses
• Education Innovation: Creating alternative education models that outperform traditional schools
• Knowledge Capture: Developing an "ER" product that captures and preserves knowledge from people
• Recruiting & Training: Developed "Trilogy University" in the 1990s, an intensive bootcamp-style training program that could hire top candidates away from even Microsoft (90% win rate against Microsoft for recruits)
• Configurator Software: Built enterprise software solutions for complex configuration problems at major companies including IBM, Boeing, automotive companies, and major computer manufacturers
• Sales Strategy: Personally drove sales strategy at Trilogy, targeting specific industries with complex configuration needs
• High-Intensity Work Culture: Created a work environment focused on 100-hour weeks and high impact, which was particularly appealing to ambitious graduates

Current Projects & Interests

• Education Reform: Focused on driving school choice initiatives and education innovation
• Alpha Schools: Running schools that consistently outperform traditional public schools, including with scholarship students
• Two Hour Learning: Developing a system where students can learn in just two hours what normally takes six hours with traditional teaching methods. Acknowledges need to demystify this for stakeholders.
• Policy Change: Working on education policy in Nevada, Texas, and Florida. Emphasizes mobilizing elder voters against school bonds.
• Movement Building: Focused on mobilizing specific target audiences (e.g., GT Moms) and building expertise within his team (Gauntlet grads) to drive the education revolution.
• Unused School Buildings: Championing legislation to force school districts to sell unused buildings for educational purposes (e.g., potential Austin ISD turnaround).
• Philosophy & AI: Funding Stanford's and Oxford's philosophy and AI departments to make philosophical works accessible through Cosmos.
• Youth Development: Believes in teaching young people the importance of community contribution and financial literacy through real-world application.
• Knowledge Preservation: Creating systems ("Ephor," "BrainLifts," "ERs") to capture elder knowledge and his own strategic thinking, making it accessible and usable by AI/teams.
• Political Strategy: Engaged in political lobbying against teachers unions, using strategic approaches that aren't publicly discussed.
• Product Scaling: Planning to scale education solutions in 2025 that have been in development.
• Brain Lifts: Actively promoting BrainLifts as the core methodology for developing expertise and Spiky POVs necessary to succeed in the AI age. Using Ephor tool to process BrainLifts.
• GT Schools: Developing schools for gifted and talented students, viewing the "GT Mom" as a key target audience segment.
• Carrollton, TX School: Recently purchased a 5,600-person school in Carrollton, Texas.
• Video Game Learning: Actively developing educational video games (e.g., math fluency game with battle pass mechanics). Emphasizes motivational science (e.g., kids must always win, real stakes) over common gamification pitfalls (e.g., fake money, late-game loss discouragement). Looking for expertise in game mechanics.
• Micro Schools: Developing $15,000/year micro school models. Acquiring Montessori schools (e.g., 100 in Houston) to use as locations for embedded Alpha micro-schools, leveraging the Montessori brand.
• School Turnarounds: Exploring taking over failing public schools (e.g., Austin ISD school facing closure) and implementing Two Hour Learning.
• Native American Education: Working with tribal communities to improve educational outcomes.
• Audience Building: Developing specific personas (GT Mom) and content strategies (outrage + solutions) to build targeted online audiences (esp. Twitter) for various educational initiatives.
• Content Generation: Exploring AI for generating curriculum variations (e.g., lessons using baseball examples) and potentially videos.
• Financial Literacy for Kids: Designing programs integrating real investment accounts (funded by academic achievements) with financial literacy education.
• Faith-Based Initiatives: Potentially establishing faith-based educational institutions.
• Tokenization: Exploring tokenization of educational ventures.

Perspectives on Education

• Believes the traditional school system is fundamentally broken
• Advocates for "direct instruction" over "inquiry-based learning"
• Strongly critical of teacher unions as resistant to necessary changes in education
• Supports charging premium prices for quality education ($15K rather than $10K)
• Sees potential in micro-schools at $15,000/student (effectively $5,000 with government vouchers)
• Believes students can learn the same material in 2 hours with his system vs. 6 hours traditionally
• Views two-thirds of parents as sending kids to school primarily for daycare, not academics
• Emphasizes student motivation as crucial to learning outcomes
• Believes in adapting student-teacher ratios based on age (5:1 for kindergarten, 15:1 for middle school)
• Focuses on workshops and real-world experiences as students get older
• Maintains that buildings/facilities are overemphasized compared to learning methodology
• Predicts that in five years, everyone on the planet will have a tablet where they learn in two hours a day
• Sees AI as transformative for making personalized education affordable and effective
• Believes education is about unlocking human potential rather than transferring information
• Views the main challenges in education reform as organizational inertia and resistance to change
• Sees the biggest problem with growing physical schools as the difficulty in filling them quickly
• Believes capitalism should be applied to education, counter to conventional wisdom. Stresses that parents won't pay for "passion projects" but WILL pay for measurable academic outcomes (test scores) and valuable life skills (financial literacy).
• Values reference from trusted parents and demonstrations of student achievements as key to school growth.
• Aims to solve housing/school quality connection by building excellent schools in less expensive neighborhoods.
• Sees human potential as "the most untapped resource on planet Earth" and believes AI coupled with the right motivational frameworks can unlock it.
• Willing to be disliked by teachers unions in pursuit of education reform goals. Views them as primary obstacle.
• Advises not to "be a little pricing bitch" when it comes to charging for quality education. Advocates for premium pricing based on superior outcomes.
• Emphasizes Spiky POVs as essential for differentiation and value creation in the AI age.
• Believes deep domain expertise is non-negotiable; individuals must push beyond AI's capabilities.
• Critiques standard gamification in ed-tech as often ineffective or counterproductive.
• Stresses the importance of "real stakes" (e.g., real money in investment games) for genuine learning and motivation.
• Views the current public education system as fundamentally flawed, blaming the system, not students, for failure. ("If the student isn't learning, then it is the system's fault, not the student's.")
• Highlights the inadequacy of US public schools, citing examples like Houston ISD's internal battles despite turnaround success, and Texas hiding school scores.

Perspectives on AI

• Skeptical about current LLM vendor business models due to easy switching and lack of lock-in
• Compares current AI investment to the dot-com boom's overbuilding of internet infrastructure
• Doesn't believe that whoever reaches AGI first will necessarily dominate
• Notes the investment strategies of various major players (Elon Musk, Amazon, etc.)
• Familiar with Grok and expecting Grok 3 API in 2-3 weeks (as of March 2025)
• Investing in Cosmos (Oxford philosophy AI lab) to make philosophical works accessible
• Using AI to create "brain lifts" and "ERs" to preserve and share knowledge
• Utilizing AI for "Two Hour Learning" and personalized education
• Has team using Amazon Bedrock for AI infrastructure
• Willing to spend substantially on cutting-edge AI models for education now, planning to optimize costs later
• Views AI capabilities as constantly improving, making previous investments in content creation quickly obsolete
• Believes AI will dramatically accelerate human knowledge accumulation and creation
• Does not need to optimize for LLM costs in development as capabilities keep improving and costs will eventually decrease
• Views AI as making traditional knowledge acquisition (rote learning) obsolete. The key skill now is self-driven learning and developing unique Spiky POVs.
• Believes BrainLifts are essential for individuals to remain relevant by training AI on their unique expertise and perspectives (runtime fine-tuning).
• Sees AI as a tool for creating customized learning content (e.g., adapting lessons to student interests like baseball).
• Acknowledges limitations of current AI (e.g., generating complex diagrams/visuals) but expects rapid improvement.
• Focuses AI development on specific high-value areas like education content generation (INSET project) and processing BrainLifts (Ephor).

Connections

• Stacy Hawk: Runs education initiatives for Governor Abbott, has children at Alpha School (Strong: 5)
• McKenzie: Started Alpha School, connected to Ridge Church community, meeting with Texas Governor (Strong: 5)
• Ted Cruz: Working on nationwide school voucher program (Strength: Unknown)
• Governor Abbott: Has direct connections for education policy in Texas (Strength: 4)
• David Perell: Funded by Joe, has written about Alpha School, Joe has influenced him on AI topics (Strength: 4)
• Ridge Church Community: Connected to this community in Austin (Strength: 3)
• Brendan McCord: Running Cosmos (Oxford philosophy AI lab) (Strength: 4)
• Elon Musk: Has connections regarding AI development; Elon retweeted Alpha content (Strength: 3)
• Joe Lonsdale: Connected through education reform efforts (Strength: 3)
• Grace Price: Former Alpha School student now at University of Austin, working on nutrition reform (Strength: 3)
• Jason Cal: Working with Grace Price on healthy food initiatives (Strength: 2)
• Grok Team: Recently had API discussions about providing special access to Twitter archives (Strength: 3)
• Michael Dell: Personal relationship, recently hosted event at his home, Joe is having one of Dell's children talk to Alpha School students (Strength: 4)
• Danielle Rios (DR): Senior executive in Joe's organization, handles hiring and operations, detail-oriented (Strength: 5)
• Arthur: Employee under DR, works with Joe's organization (Strength: 3)
• Various Education Officials: Connections in Nevada, Texas, and Florida education departments

Notes

Joe Liemandt has been known for his strategic approach to business and maintaining privacy. His business model with ESW Capital has involved acquiring established software companies, often moving operations offshore to reduce costs while maintaining the products and customer relationships.

He is now focusing on education reform and has significant data showing the effectiveness of his education model compared to traditional schools. He has specific strategies for challenging teachers unions, particularly through mobilizing elderly voters to vote against school bonds, which he sees as a key leverage point for obtaining school choice policies.

He plans to become more public about his education initiatives in 2025 as his products scale, despite his previous tendency to maintain a low profile. He was approached about becoming Secretary of Education for the incoming administration but declined, believing he could have more impact outside of government given the limited federal role in education.

Liemandt is extremely passionate about education reform and sees it as his mission for the next 20 years. He views the current education system as wasteful of student time and potential, and believes his model can deliver dramatically better results at lower costs. He has been creating detailed "brain lifts" to share his knowledge and approach with others who want to implement similar systems.

His Trilogy University program was revolutionary for its time, creating an intensive work environment that attracted top talent through a culture of high impact and challenging work. He managed to beat even Microsoft in recruiting wars with a 90% win rate for desired candidates.

Though he describes himself as having been a "recluse" historically, he is increasingly being recognized as a key voice in education reform, with people in the field referring others to him for insights.

He appears to be very high-agency and fully committed to his mission of education reform, willing to take significant risks to advance his cause. His energy at age 56 is attributed to his passion for his work. Despite his reclusive nature, he's beginning to recognize the value of strategic public appearances to advance his education mission.

Joe readily agreed to a $600K contractor arrangement with Gary to work on movement building for his education initiatives. He makes quick decisions and delegates operational details to his team.

His organization is described as being "optimized around him" and designed to leverage his vision and ideas. He has created systems ("brain lifts" and "ERs") to capture and share his knowledge, though recognizes there are strategic elements that aren't publicly documented.

Vision & Philosophy

• Educational Renaissance: Dedicated to using AI and innovative models to fundamentally change education.
• AI Tutor: Believes in the potential of hyper-personalized AI tutors (Two Hour Learning).
• Execution Over Ideas: Strongly emphasizes that execution is far more important than the initial idea in startups and initiatives. "Ideas don't matter... what matters is all the execution."
• Platform Thinking: Advocates for building platforms that enable others (like teachers via Shopify model) to succeed at scale, providing turnkey solutions.
• Removing Constraints: Believes the key to scale is identifying and ruthlessly eliminating bottlenecks and constraints in a system (e.g., real estate for schools).
• Spiky Point of View (POV): Requires individuals to develop and articulate unique, defensible perspectives based on deep expertise. This is the core differentiator in the AI age. Uses Spiky POVs as a key evaluation metric.
• Action & Urgency: Pushes for rapid iteration, experimentation, and achieving results, especially within defined timeframes (e.g., school year cycles). Expects teams to execute quickly.
• Domain Expertise: Mandates that individuals become deep experts in their chosen area to surpass AI and add unique value. Uses exercises like peer-questioning ("expert grilling") to test expertise.
• Talent Focus: Invests heavily in identifying and developing high-potential talent (e.g., Gauntlet AI program) and providing them opportunities. Believes one exceptional individual can be worth immense investment ("spend $5M for one person").
• Targeted Audience Building: Emphasizes defining a narrow, specific target audience persona (e.g., "GT Mom") and tailoring content (outrage + value) to attract and retain them, rather than aiming for broad, shallow appeal.
• Real Stakes Motivation: Believes genuine motivation requires real consequences and rewards (real money, real competition), dismissing simulations or purely intrinsic motivation models as insufficient for driving peak performance in many contexts.

Alpha Schools Strategy

• 2+6 Model: 2 hours of AI-driven learning + 6 hours of independent/project-based work.
• Micro-school Scaling: Vision to create thousands (e.g., 5k-100k) of micro-schools, potentially leveraging different themes (Sports, Homeschool, GT, Montessori Hybrid) to drive demand. Actively acquiring Montessori schools as a scaling vector.
• Demand Generation First: Believes in generating parent/student demand first (leveraging MacKenzie Price's network/waitlist) and then finding teachers/locations to meet it.
• Shopify for Teachers: Wants to build a platform that provides turnkey solutions for teachers to start micro-schools, handling logistics like customer acquisition (demand gen), real estate, legal, curriculum support, etc.
• Value Proposition: Focus on accelerated learning (2-hour model) combined with deep dives into passions (6-hour block). Ability to offer specialized tracks (e.g., sports, GT).
• Funding Model: Believes parents will pay significant amounts ($15k tuition, leveraging ~$10k ESA/vouchers) for demonstrably superior education, tapping into existing spending pools (like after-school sports at $5k/yr). Connects academic achievement incentives (e.g., $1000 for top 1%) to funding real investment accounts for students, making value prop clear to parents.
• Real Estate Strategy: Using athletic facility zoning/partnerships as a workaround for restrictive school zoning, enabling faster scaling in desirable areas.
• Viral Marketing: Leverage social media broadcasting of student success (academic and afternoon activities) to drive demand.

Personality & Style

• Direct & Challenging: Can be blunt and challenges teams to think bigger and faster.
• High Expectations: Pushes teams and individuals hard towards ambitious goals.
• Visionary: Thinks at massive scale (e.g., 100,000 micro-schools, impacting millions).
• Mentorship: Engages directly with students/teams, provides strategic frameworks (like the GT Mom persona), expects them to become domain experts capable of challenging him. Uses lectures and Q&A as primary teaching/alignment method for new teams.
• Communication: Not always responsive to emails/comms; prefers in-person or focused interactions. Acknowledges people dislike his lack of responsiveness but sees it as necessary focus.
• Network: Well-connected (e.g., Mike Maples, Elon Musk implicitly).
• Delegator: Makes quick decisions on direction/hiring, delegates operational details.

Interaction History

• 2025-03-23: 45-minute meeting at GauntletAI coworking/office discussing education reform, policy initiatives in Nevada/Texas/Florida, and potential collaboration on mobilizing elder voters and influencers to support school choice. Discussed strategies for challenging teachers unions through bond voting, legislation for unused school buildings, and knowledge preservation from elders.
• 2025-03-24: Attended Gary's birthday dinner at Zach Casler's home, discussed education reform, his Alpha Schools initiative, perspectives on AI development, and his approach to education. Shared insights about his "Two Hour Learning" program and views on the problems with traditional education systems.
• 2025-03-25: Extended conversation where he demonstrated deep commitment to education reform and willingness to engage in political maneuvering against teacher unions. Discussed pricing strategies for Alpha School and showed openness to strategic public appearances like going on Joe Rogan's podcast to promote his education initiatives.
• 2025-03-26: Meeting where Joe quickly agreed to hire Gary as a contractor at $600K to help build a movement around his education initiatives. Discussed organizing an American Renaissance Summit for July 4th, 2025 to bring together 200 influential people. Joe showed enthusiasm for Gary's ideas about raising his public profile and building cultural/political influence.
• 2025-04-08 (approx): Met with Gary Sheng, Mike Maples, and Gauntlet/Alpha teams (including Alpha Nano team). Presented Mike Maples' "Atomic Eggs" concept. Provided extensive feedback and vision for the micro-school platform project ("Shopify for Teachers"). Challenged the team on strategy (demand gen vs. supply first). Advised Gary to push America 2.0 Summit from July to September due to his focus on school-year deadlines and needing a strong "spiky POV" for the event.
• 2025-04-11: Delivered ~3-hour lecture and Q&A to Gauntlet Grads. Focused on the necessity of developing deep expertise and Spiky POVs in the age of AI. Detailed the BrainLift methodology and Ephor tool. Outlined specific strategies for audience building (personas like GT Mom, outrage + value content mix), content creation for different platforms (esp. Twitter), motivational design for educational games (real stakes, mastery vs. fluency), and micro-school scaling strategy (Montessori acquisition). Provided direct feedback and project direction to teams working on video games and other initiatives.

Potential Collaboration Areas

• Movement Building: Lead strategy for cultural/political adoption of Alpha model (Gary's primary role).
• Micro-school Platform Strategy: Develop the "Shopify for Teachers" concept, focusing on demand generation and constraint removal.
• America 2.0 Summit: Organize summit (now targeted for Sept) to build coalition for education reform.
• Knowledge Capture/Aloha Project: Develop systems (like "Brain Lifts", Project Aloha) to codify Alpha's knowledge and onboard contributors.
• Specific Micro-school Tracks: Explore niche models (sports, arts, GT, civics) as part of the platform strategy.
• School Expansion: Expansion of Alpha Schools to new locations (e.g., Philadelphia, New York mentioned as possibilities).
• Policy Work: Continue focusing on policy levers in key states (TX, FL, NV).
• Brand Building: Assist with building Joe's/MacKenzie's/Alpha's public profile strategically.
• Mobilizing elder voters to influence education policy and school bond voting
• Creating movement infrastructure to support education reform
• Developing campaigns to highlight unused school buildings being withheld from educational use
• Building platforms to capture and share elder knowledge with younger generations
• Connecting with policy makers in target states (Nevada, Texas, Florida)
• Media strategy to promote education reform messages, including strategic appearances on influential podcasts
• Hiring Gauntlet AI participants to work on education technology initiatives
• Building educational video games and apps (with focus on motivational science & real stakes)
• Potential collaboration with Native American tribes on education initiatives
• Creating "brain lifts" to share specialized knowledge in education and business models
• Implementing micro-schools in various communities at $15,000/student pricing, potentially including Montessori hybrids.
• Developing audience-building strategies using specific personas (e.g., GT Mom) and content mixes.
• Training teams on BrainLift methodology and Ephor usage.
• Developing AI tools for education content generation and personalization.
• Designing financial literacy programs integrated with academic incentives.
• Faith-Based Schools: Development of faith-based educational institutions.
• Tokenization Projects: Involvement in tokenization of educational ventures.
• Building platforms to capture and share elder knowledge with younger generations
• Connecting with policy makers in target states (Nevada, Texas, Florida)
• Media strategy to promote education reform messages, including strategic appearances on influential podcasts
• Hiring Gauntlet AI participants to work on education technology initiatives
• Building educational video games and apps
• Potential collaboration with Native American tribes on education initiatives
• Creating "brain lifts" to share specialized knowledge in education and business models
• Implementing micro-schools in various communities at $15,000/student pricing
  • Exploring specialized micro-school models focused on specific skills/passions (e.g., sports academies like basketball/baseball, arts/culture like a "Vibe School" for gifted Black youth, Christian rap, political strategy)
  • Partnering with retired professionals/legends in specific fields (e.g., athletes, artists, strategists) to lead or mentor within these specialized micro-schools.
  • Using specialized programs (especially sports) as a marketing engine for broader educational initiatives.
• Exploring school turnaround models for failing public schools
• Political strategy consulting services to advance education reform goals
  • Policy work to enable homeschool/micro-school students systemic access to public school extracurriculars (e.g., sports leagues).
• Developing confidential "war board" systems for strategic planning
• Acting as a cultural and political advisor/strategist
• Organizing an exclusive "American Renaissance Summit" around July 4th, 2025 (Possibly renamed "America 2.0 Summit")
• Creating both public-facing and internal "brain lifts" to capture strategic knowledge
• Developing a comprehensive movement-building strategy to promote education reform
• Building Joe's personal brand and public presence through strategic media appearances
• Documenting both public and private operational intelligence about education reform strategies

Leadership Style & Challenges (Gary's Perspective from June 1, 2025 discussion with David Kobrosky)

• Control-Oriented without Deep Engagement: Gary described Joe as wanting control over the AI school project but lacking the bandwidth or willingness to delve into operational details. "(1:00:26) ...this is a situation where the billionaire Joe, he He wants control, but he has no bandwidth to be someone like a microcontroller. (1:00:45) And he doesn't even know what's going on either... (1:00:52) He doesn't want to be dedicated enough to get in the weeds to understand how to make good decisions, but he wants to control."
• Rejection of Strategic Input: Joe rejected a strategic plan Gary developed for the AI school, which Mackenzie Price had requested. Joe's feedback was vague: "(1:09:12) ...you're doing too much or something... that's not the point."
• Lack of Empowerment for Gary: Gary feels Joe has not empowered him with the necessary budget or autonomy: "(1:05:20) But also, he's not empowered me to have millions of dollars of budget for that."
• Misalignment with Mackenzie Price: Gary noted that Joe and Mackenzie Price are not operationally synchronized: "(1:10:40) McKinsey [Mackenzie] and Joe are not even talking. They're not synced up at all."
• Perceived Threat by Gary: Gary suspects Joe might feel threatened by his capabilities: "(1:09:23) I really think you feel weirdly threatened by me."
• Impact on Gary's Motivation: These issues have led Gary to shift his stance from wanting deep ownership to primarily "milking the opportunity": "(1:13:48) I went from feeling I want to take ownership, deep love and ownership over this, to milk the opportunity."

AI School Project (Concerns as of June 1, 2025)

• Quality vs. Marketing: Gary expressed concerns that the reality of the AI school is not matching its marketing claims and that it feels "(1:07:22) a little hollow."
• Aggressive Expansion Risks: Gary is worried about plans for rapid expansion (e.g., "(1:08:03) 12 new campuses... in the fall") and believes it could be a "(1:08:22) bubble that could burst" if scrutinized.

Interactions

• June 1, 2025 (Indirect): Details of Gary's working relationship, challenges, and perceptions of Joe Liemandt were extensively discussed during Gary's conversation with David Kobrosky. Key issues include Joe's leadership style, rejection of Gary's strategic plan for the AI school, lack of empowerment, and the resulting shift in Gary's motivation.
• June 29, 2025 (Indirect): During conversation with Victory Boyd, Gary shared external validation of his concerns about Joe through another entrepreneur's public criticism: "the billionaire Joe insisted that he was investing in that guy's company for goodwill for the sake of the kids. But that was like the worst investor that was like clearly just obsessed with making money through the investment." This entrepreneur was willing to publicly criticize Joe despite being funded by him, indicating significant frustration with Joe's approach.
• July 22, 2025 (Indirect): Tim Joo reported intelligence from Gauntlet leadership (Ash Tilawat, Austen Allred) revealing Joe's business model inefficiencies. Joe has been contracting "multi-millions of dollars a year" to external dev agencies for Time Back and Two-Hour Learning development, resulting in "terrible" software quality. Gauntlet AI was funded specifically to replace these expensive agencies with 10 Gauntlet graduates, representing cost optimization strategy. Jason Applebaum confirmed fired from Alpha marketing role, with Joe taking direct control of marketing operations and implementing Time Back bounties system.

Notes

The June 1, 2025 conversation between Gary Sheng and David Kobrosky revealed significant challenges in Gary's working relationship with Joe Liemandt concerning the AI school project. Joe's leadership style, characterized by a desire for control without deep involvement, and his rejection of Gary's strategic proposals, have led to Gary feeling unempowered and reconsidering his long-term commitment to the project. There are also concerns about the AI school's rapid expansion versus its current quality and operational stability.

The June 29, 2025 indirect reference through Gary's conversation with Victory Boyd provides external validation of concerns about Joe's true motivations. Another education entrepreneur who was funded by Joe publicly criticized him for claiming goodwill motivations while acting primarily from profit motives. This external criticism suggests Gary's concerns about Joe's character and approach may be shared by others in the education sector.

Transcripts

Transcript ID	Date	Summary
2025-04-21_alpha-high-staff-meeting	2025-04-21	Alpha High staff meeting discussing student assessment, program development, and operational logistics
2025-04-12-joe-liemandt-squad-strategy	2025-04-12	Strategic discussion with Gauntlet squad covering sports micro-schools scaling, Texas political strategy, and sales pilot programs
2025-04-11-joe-liemandt-gauntlet-lecture	2025-04-11	Comprehensive lecture to Gauntlet graduates on AI expertise, spiky POVs, BrainLift methodology, audience building, and micro-school scaling strategies
2025-04-08-alpha-school-strategy-meeting-tour	2025-04-08	Strategic discussions with Joe Liemandt, Mike Maples Jr. and team on AI concepts and platform development
2025-03-24-joe-liemandt-birthday-dinner	2025-03-24	Birthday dinner at Zachary Casler's home with extensive discussion on education reform, AI development, and Alpha Schools initiatives