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Alpha Scale: Division Charter + First 30 Day Plan (INTERNAL + CONFIDENTIAL)

Updated 2025-05-01

Purpose​

Alpha Scale is a high-impact, value-focused division established to help Alpha Schools discover, validate, and scale effective educational approaches responsibly. Our mandate is to run cost-effective experiments driven by world-class talent, identify and surface potential issues or roadblocks, develop artifacts and processes to fill strategic gaps, and scale validated solutions—delivering significant value and positioning Alpha Schools as a global education leader.

We operate as an agile experimental team, reporting directly to executive leadership. Our work is designed to move quickly, test boldly, and generate the knowledge needed for Alpha Schools to thrive and expand effectively.

Our spending will be tracked in fine grain detail, with reports shared with executive leadership on a monthly basis.

Leadership​

Gary Sheng – Chairman + Director; Ron Roberts – Head of Strategy + Co-Director

Together, we own the objectives laid out below.

Mission-Critical Objectives (First 30 Days)​

1. Social Media Optimization​

  • Audit performance of Alpha Schools' social media accounts across Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, e.g. http://instagram.com/alphaschool_2hrlearning
  • Define engagement, ROI, and cost-efficiency benchmarks
  • Identify existing roles, workflows, and media spend
  • Launch lean campaigns to validate new operational model
  • Deliver reporting on social team structure, costs, and performance

2. Content Strategy & Production​

  • Launch short-form content engine with weekly tracking
  • Build long-form storytelling system tied to enrollment and narrative building
  • Develop immersive brand experiences rooted in school culture and outcomes
  • Track engagement, speed-to-publish, and content ROI
  • Document potential savings from team and workflow optimization

3. New School Launch Framework​

  • Begin draft of School Launch Framework (V0) within Week 1
  • Define scalable school startup criteria and processes that enable responsible growth
  • Build a lean playbook for expansion with measurable checkpoints
  • Review current startup approaches to identify opportunities for enhanced effectiveness and value creation

4. Organizational Intelligence​

  • Secure NDA and access Trilogy org + spend data
  • Map key vendors, staff capabilities, and strategic initiatives
  • Identify high-leverage areas for synergistic experiments and resource alignment
  • Deliver executive-friendly visualizations of potential opportunities for value creation
  • Tie insights back to Alpha's broader mission and institutional design for responsible scaling

5. Global Education Summit Planning​

Context: In Gary's hiring meeting in March with Joe, Joe expressed excitement about Gary creating a Davos-like summity in America to advance Alpha's goals.

  • Conceptualize a Davos-style global education summit to be hosted in Austin in October, in partnership with the Catholic Church and Alpha Schools
    • The Catholic Church is the largest school system in the world. Gary has deep ties with the Catholic Church, especially with the tech leaders of the church, who are also enmeshed deeply with the education leaders of the church.
  • Define target stakeholders: global leaders, policymakers, church figures, philanthropic orgs, and system architects
  • Begin laying groundwork for logistics, partnerships, narrative, themes, and capital alignment
  • Purpose: convene the world's most powerful cultural and institutional actors in support of scalable, values-aligned education reform

Contractor Trial Pool (30-Day Sprint)​

  • Ien Chi – Long-form Video Director
    • Ien Chi is an award-winning storyteller and creative director whose visionary leadership helped build one of YouTube's most successful channels—garnering over 1 billion views, driving more than 5 million followers, and overseeing 400+ original productions featured by BBC, NBC, and Forbes.
  • Myles Jones – Short-form Video Specialist
    • Miles Jones is a proven social media expert and influencer who has driven explosive digital growth—including over 90 million organic views and triple-digit revenue increases—for award-winning brands like Gardyn and top global companies such as Coca-Cola, Puma, and Forever 21.
  • Brooke Joy – Events Lead
    • Brooke Joy is an acclaimed experience designer and strategic leader with 20 years of proven expertise creating unforgettable, multi-sensory events—from intimate VIP gatherings to iconic 10,000-person concerts and international brand activations like the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show—trusted by global brands to craft intentional, emotionally resonant moments that elevate every interaction.
  • TBD – School Launch Process Architect
    • We will recruit a world-class education operations specialist with deep expertise in analyzing flagship schools, documenting critical processes, identifying operational inefficiencies, and developing scalable, franchise-like systems—combining a passion for education excellence with proven experience building replicable, high-performance school models.

30-Day Contractor Ops + Retainer Total Budget: $400,000

Note: This is a preliminary budget estimate. Final figures will be refined following detailed consultations with the specialized contractors listed above.

Allocated solely for high-leverage execution—includes production, testing, deliverables tied to clearly defined KPIs, and a 1-month retention fee.

We will provide a detailed spending report at the end this 30 day period.

Does not include leadership compensation for Gary and Ron.

Success Metrics​

  • Generate valuable insights, artifacts, and processes through cost-effective experiments
  • Document successful experiments and frameworks that support responsible scaling
  • Increase engagement, conversion, and content output through targeted initiatives
  • Deliver validated School Launch Framework (V0)
  • Gain visibility into shared org structure + spend to identify strategic opportunities
  • Deliver clear, data-backed roadmap focused on value creation and responsible growth
  • Deliver Phase 1 plan for October's global education summit in Austin

Execution Timeline​

Week 1 – Foundation (WEEK OF MONDAY, MAY 5TH)​

  • Day One
    • Onboard Ron Roberts and execute NDA
    • Arthur and David present Trilogy org chart, payroll, and budget reports
    • Fly out Miles from LA to get started on Alpha Schools content
  • Strategic vision workshop with Joe (Alpha's DNA + expansion model)
  • Finalize performance-based compensation structure
  • Hire and deploy contractor team
  • Launch benchmarking + lean test campaigns
  • Begin draft of School Launch Framework (V0)
  • Initiate early summit planning (vision, partnerships, relationships)

Weeks 2–3 – Experimentation (WEEKS STARTING MONDAY, MAY 12TH)​

  • Execute content, ops, and immersive pilots
  • Track performance benchmarks weekly
  • Advance summit planning: themes, invitees, hosts
  • Identify efficiency-creating opportunities (pending validated results)
  • Help Elle Liemandt host her first Jeffersonian Dinner Experience (a dream she has expressed to us) with Austin-based power players relevant to Alpha's scaling; a series we intend to refine and replicate

Week 4 – Synthesis (WEEK OF MONDAY, MAY 26TH)​

  • Deliver:
    • Social Media Optimization Report
    • Content System Performance Review
    • Organizational Spend & Overlap Map
    • School Launch Framework (V0)
    • Recommendations for Improving Efficiencies
    • Phase 1 Strategic Plan for October Global Education Summit
      • Stakeholder matrix
      • Narrative architecture
      • Tentpole themes
      • Preliminary partnerships (e.g., Catholic Church, philanthropic orgs)
      • Timeline and budget forecast
  • Present 30-day roadmap for next sprint with updated KPIs, resource allocations, and scaling strategy