Metadata
Conversation with Shannon Beckham
Summary
Gary and Shannon caught up on their respective new roles. Gary shared details about his work with Alpha School under Joe Liemandt, including plans for scaling the educational model and organizing the America 2.0 Summit. Shannon discussed her startup Chief, a platform for managing executive offices that has successfully onboarded the Mayor of Denver as a client. They explored potential connections and ways to help each other's initiatives.
Key Topics Discussed
Alpha School (Gary's new role)
- Students have hyper-personalized AI tutors for 2 hours daily (standardized learning)
- 6 hours daily devoted to "masterpiece projects" (semi-structured exploration)
- Founded by Joe Liemandt (Trilogy founder who stepped down as CEO)
- Successfully taking median test score students to top 2%
- Connected to University of Austin (UATX), sharing faculty
America 2.0 Summit
- Planned for September 2025 (after Labor Day and Burning Man)
- Goal to bring together "$20 trillion in a room" including industry titans, political leaders
- Focus on education reform, parent choice, and alternative school models
- Not exclusively political but includes political dimensions
- Will feature a podcast hub and representation across political spectrum
Chief (Shannon's company)
- Software platform for executive offices to manage scheduling, briefings, operations
- Successfully onboarded Mayor of Denver after passing government security compliance
- Currently developing V2 based on customer feedback
- Pricing: $10,000 pilot partnerships, $2-3K monthly ongoing fees
- Target market: government officials, high-net-worth individuals with staff teams
- Currently seeking a CTO
Personal Updates
- Gary moving into a riverside apartment in Austin
- Shannon loving life in San Francisco
- Both expressed interest in connecting when visiting each other's cities
- Gary mentioned his idea for "Hyper Agent Labs" to help powerful people scale impact