Classes at the startup GrowthX College will begin in November and the program will cost US$4,000.
At 19, 25 and 34 years old, Jan Kostadinov, Julián Di Iulio and Matías Carrera, three Uruguayan and Argentine friends, created GrowthX College, a startup that seeks to become the reference “technological university” for Latin America.
The objective is to train talent in some of the most in-demand professions in the current labor market and linked to the technological ecosystem, such as growth marketing (strategies to achieve exponential growth of startups), product manager (innovation and product management) and startup blueprint (a program for founders and entrepreneurs).
As Kostadinov, one of the founders of GrowthX Startup College, explained to El Observador , the purpose behind the project is “to create a university, a learning center that really trains people, not only to get a job but also to be a person.” of high personal value who can enter the world of technology and generate impacts on real projects without having to spend four or five years learning but in a shorter period of time.”
The program offers training that lasts between six to eight months and is focused on those who take the course being able to get a job in a startup , learn how to scale products to millions of users and/or develop their own project.
The training will be divided into three modules, one of introduction and general leveling of all the fundamental contents, later one of specialization ( pro-development , growth manager or fundraising ) and the last one that will consist of two or three weeks of compensation in which there will be Rented or free internships in recognized companies in the technology sector.
“It is a university to train talent from Latin America for the world,” said Kostadinov and said that the program will have “top-of-the-range professors” who currently operate in the markets working in renowned technology companies, such as Apple.
“We have professors who come from startups that have raised billions of dollars in capital, others who have sold businesses for hundreds of millions, people who have grown products at companies that are in the top 10 right now.
That is one of our differentials, that those who give the training are people who are currently solving the problems that the students will later face,” explained the entrepreneur.
The first edition of the program will begin on November 15 and registration will be open until November 1.
The price of the program is US$4,000 and it has its own financing in up to eight installments. However, Kostadinov said that they are already working with banks to be able to finance the program in up to 24 installments inclusive, an option that will be enabled in the second edition of the program.
Classes will be given in a hybrid format between virtual and in-person meetings. In the first instance, the face-to-face meetings will be in Argentina but Kostadinov indicated that they may also do so in Uruguay or any other place in Latin America if they see “a significant need for students” from the countries in the region.
As explained by Di Iulio, the director of operations at GrowthX Startup College, the academic focus of the program is oriented toward “a new way of learning,” based on creativity and problem solving with a focus on leadership and innovation.
“We want to create an educational system in which what I never had in a traditional university is provided, that the learning process goes hand in hand with science, that is not monotonous or protocolized and that teaches how to learn how to learn in order to be able to transcend through knowledge,” Di Iulio explained.
To execute the project, the startup received financing of US$250,000 from an Argentine investor, a renowned cybersecurity specialist and interested in the educational system.
Regarding this point, Kostadinov indicated that they were “very selective” when choosing a partner to finance the project because they wanted to avoid the pressure that most startups face when raising capital.
“When one raises capital for a project, investors have parameters regarding what percentages of return they must have and at what times, because they are managing capital or external funds.
In this case we wanted to avoid that because it puts pressure on the business to generate quick monetary results and our true purpose, although we obviously want it to be a profitable project that generates income, is to have hundreds of students who get the training that they really need. “We want to give,” explained the founder.
For his part, Carrera said that although "it is not the idea" to go against the university and traditional tertiary training, he believed that the programs that are offered today "are old" and that "due to the acceleration curve "The one that changed the world, after spending five years in a university degree, you go to the street and you only have 10% of the training of what the world needs."
In his opinion, currently what hinders the growth of technology companies is human capital.
“Today the issue of human resources is a war. I open my Linkedin and I have five job offers a week, not because I am a genius, I am one of the most, but because there are really no smart people, with the skills required to enter the field. That is a waste and that is what we want to change,” Carrera concluded.
