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Transcript Summary: Sheng, Price, Armes, Roberts, Crane (2025-05-23)

1. Context & Opening (Matcha & Church Connections)​

  • Casual conversation about MacKenzie Price witnessing a long line for free matcha.
  • MacKenzie shares an anecdote about introducing David Perel to Pastor Brad of Alston Ridge Church, leading to Perel's eventual conversion.

    MacKenzie Price: "David and Brad had like a 30-minute conversation... at this time, David's not a believer... And then David became a believer. I feel like it was the next eight months later."

  • Gary Sheng discusses his positive experiences with Alston Ridge and his recent connection with Tauren Wells of Whitestone Church, facilitated by an acquaintance named Richard.

    Gary Sheng: "For me, what brought me to faith in the first place was praise music... The Whitestone church, it's basically a 15-minute concert, and then like Torin just going in on like one message."

  • Gary proposes MacKenzie join a meeting with Tauren Wells in mid-June to discuss faith-based school expansion.

2. Proposed Parent Event & Unified Marketing Focus​

  • Event Proposal: Gary proposes a parent-focused event for June 14th or 21st, with MacKenzie as a keynote speaker, to kickstart a unified enrollment drive.
    • MacKenzie confirms availability for June 14th, as June 21st might conflict with a planned roadshow for urban/outskirts communities.
  • Unified Marketing Strategy: Gary emphasizes the need for a "one unified coordinated force" to address Alpha's fragmented marketing efforts and improve the entire funnel, from awareness (Future of Education content) to enrollment.

    Gary Sheng: "We want to tightly coordinate with you on funnel, funnel, funnel. And the parent event is a great excuse for us to just get everything started." MacKenzie Price: "We need somebody who's strategically thinking at the top about the entire marketing which includes future of education."

3. MacKenzie Price on Current Marketing Failures & Needs​

  • Proto & Jason Applebaum's Departure: Proto (consulting firm) and Jason Applebaum (current marketing lead brought in by Proto) will be "done in a week" and "as soon as school's over," respectively. Their performance was unsatisfactory.

    MacKenzie Price: "Proto brought Jason in, was telling us they would be our workers. They are not. They're basically going to be done in a week. Jason doesn't go back yet, he'll be done as soon as school's over."

  • Origin of Proto Engagement: Sunil from Proto (whose child attends Alpha) connected with Joe Liemandt after a SXSW talk by MacKenzie.
  • Separation of Expansion Marketing: Alpha's expansion marketing team has been kept separate from Jason's team to avoid "toxic stuff... bleeding over."
  • Critique of Current Ads & Website: MacKenzie calls existing ads "terrible" and notes the failure to leverage successful Future of Education content for Alpha ads. She also highlights the slow, expensive process for website development.

    MacKenzie Price: "Why would we use a really successful post from future of education and then turn that into an ad if it's got 10 million views... And he [Jason] doesn't understand that."

  • Key Marketing Needs Identified by MacKenzie:
    1. Strategic Head of Marketing: Someone to oversee the entire funnel, integrating "Future of Education" with Alpha school enrollment.
    2. Clear Website Journey: Directing global and local audiences appropriately from initial contact (e.g., Linktree) to relevant school information or other offerings (Two-Hour Learning).
    3. Nurturing Campaigns: Effective email newsletters (weekly or monthly) with quality content.
    4. Thought Leadership Events: Planned by Chris Donaldson, nationwide and in Austin.
    5. Student Sampling Events: Roadshows with shadow day experiences for high conversion.
    6. Faster, Better Website Development: Contrasting slow internal processes with Strata's rapid capabilities.
    7. Leverage PR & Social Media: These are Alpha's "two gems" and need better integration with the wider marketing funnel (e.g., sharing press in newsletters).

4. New York Alpha School Challenges & Strategy​

  • New York as a Blueprint: MacKenzie stresses the importance of making the New York City Alpha school successful as a model for other city rollouts. Ben Gordon-Sniffen leads the NYC school, with Tasha Arnold (based in Wisconsin but spending time in NYC) providing heavier support.

    MacKenzie Price: "If we can make New York successful, that's the reason we put Tasha in New York specifically... We gotta make New York successful."

  • Timing Issues: MacKenzie notes a "perpetual issue" of announcing schools at the worst time, right after families sign contracts for the upcoming year. She advocates for marketing for Fall 2026 now.
  • Need for "Spark Plug" Parents: Ron Roberts mentions their strategy in NY involves identifying influential "spark plug" parents to build initial cohorts.

5. Gary, Ron, & Samuel's Proposal for Marketing Takeover​

  • Unified Team & Vision: Gary, Ron, and Samuel present themselves as a team ready to overhaul Alpha's marketing with a comprehensive strategy, free of existing baggage and inefficiencies.

    Gary Sheng: "There's been zero problems that we've heard or observed that we can't solve. Like 100%."

  • Critique of Current State: The team criticizes the current lack of accurate data (e.g., CAC), inefficient spending, and fabricated metrics.

    Ron Roberts (on CAC): "He [Artie] sent over that it costs $2,000 to get a student and I'm like, well, that's not true." Gary Sheng: "The fact that Artie is micromanaging our plans for like 50x decreasing the cost of whatever the fuck Jason's doing is ridiculous to me... Artie doesn't have the context He's looking at a brain left that Jason created that's completely fabricated data."

  • Call for Empowerment: Gary emphasizes the need for empowerment from MacKenzie and Joe to execute their vision and eliminate "lukewarm" efforts and non-expert team members.
  • MacKenzie's Request: MacKenzie asks for a comprehensive strategy proposal:

    MacKenzie Price: "Come up with, I would love to see the floor. Here's the strategy, here's what we need. Here's the team, here's who we still need on the team and here's who we're done with... And here's how we're going to go about this. One of the things we're going to be doing me, is we're going to announce 10 to 15 cities in the next two months."

  • Order of Operations: Plan to be developed with MacKenzie's input, then presented to Artie Michel, with MacKenzie's backing.

6. Introduction of Ari Crane​

  • Ari Crane briefly joins. Gary introduces him as a parent Bernard (from Crossover) liked for a "Head of Parents" role.
  • Ari mentions his background in education (Masters, experience with Astra and Astronova, exporting models to Asia) and his high regard for the Alpha model's parent engagement.

    Ari Crane: "Investors have really compared both models side by side and it's way more parent engagement with the Alpha model."

  • Ari also mentions his success in business development for enterprise tech companies.
  • MacKenzie confirms Ari interviewed with Bernard and LZ is the next step at Crossover.

7. Samuel Armes on Government Strategy & Policy Opportunities​

  • Background: Political strategy, lobbying, government affairs contracts.
  • NYC Political Engagement: Suggests engaging NYC Mayor Adams (whose platform will include education) and city council members to promote Alpha.
  • Federal AI in Education Council: Recounts DC trip with Gary and Ron to engage with Michael Kratsios (heading Trump's AI in Education council) and his team. Goal: position "Time Back" (formerly Two-Hour Learning) for government needs.

    Samuel Armes: "The government has a giant need for two hour learning or what are you calling it now? Time back."

  • First Step Act & DOJ Contracts: Identified potential for Time Back to be used in prisoner rehabilitation programs, with significant DOJ funding (e.g., $750 million).

    Gary Sheng: "Minimum tens of millions of dollars recurring revenue for the alpha ecosystem, right?"

  • Jewish Day Schools: ~1.1 million students in NYC Jewish day schools need solutions to meet state compliance while maintaining religious/extracurricular studies. Time Back is a potential solution.
  • School Choice Policy: Leveraging his Florida experience (passing 6 laws with DeSantis) to push for pro-school choice policies nationally and access federal funds (up to $50 billion in a new bill).

    Samuel Armes: "The bill that Trump just passed has school choice language in it for I think up to 50 billion dollars for school choice initiatives." Gary Sheng: "There's about 60 days left to write the grand regime that decides where the 50 billion dollars goes."

  • Direct Engagement with Policymakers: Emphasizes direct connections over lobbyists. Ron mentions their contacts are the ones writing the RFPs.
  • Paula White & Faith Office: Ron details connection to Paula White (Trump's personal pastor, head of faith initiatives) and her representatives in every cabinet agency (e.g., Hannah Earle in Education), creating pathways for faith-based school initiatives.

8. "Austin Family Fest" Event (June 14th) - Reconsidered​

  • Ron Roberts initially describes the June 14th event as "Austin Family Fest," a broad community event with vendors and speakers, with lead qualification.
  • MacKenzie expresses skepticism about attracting the right demographic (high-net-worth families for $40k tuition) at a general "family fest" due to past negative experiences (e.g., Tarrytown preschool fair).

    MacKenzie Price: "I question whether you're going to get the right demographic at this family fun event... maybe it's an online event that's a profit versus people who want free ice cream and face painting."

  • Gary and Ron acknowledge this, explaining they felt "pigeonholed" by Artie into doing an event, but agree a more targeted, thought-leadership approach is better.
  • MacKenzie suggests leveraging high-profile contacts like Bill Ackman for private dinners in affluent areas (Hamptons, Vail) instead of broad, free events.

9. Conclusion & Next Steps​

  • Marketing Plan: Gary, Ron, and Samuel's team will develop a comprehensive 30-day, 60-day, 6-month, and 1-year marketing strategy for Alpha and its associated schools/brands, focusing on New York City as an initial anchor.
  • Alignment with MacKenzie: The plan will be developed in close collaboration with MacKenzie, who will then champion it with Joe Liemandt and Artie Michel.
  • Budget: MacKenzie implies budget is not an issue for effective strategies that fill schools, as empty school buildings are the most expensive cost.

    MacKenzie Price: "The most expensive thing is every month that there's an SQL in a building. That's what's expensive. And so, that's why budget is not an issue when it comes to if we can get it."

  • MacKenzie's Upcoming Travel: Going to DC (Monday night) and Miami (Wednesday for Trump team, Bloomberg, and a talk with Joe). Samuel offers to meet her in Miami.
  • Communication Preference: MacKenzie prefers in-person meetings over long emails for strategic discussions.

Key Quotes​

  • MacKenzie Price on Proto/Jason: "They're basically going to be done in a week. Jason... will be done as soon as school's over."
  • MacKenzie Price on Marketing Needs: "We need somebody who's strategically thinking at the top about the entire marketing which includes future of education."
  • MacKenzie Price on PR/Social: "Our PR, our press our earned press and our social media are our two gems and we need to figure out how do we take those and leverage them."
  • Gary Sheng on Team's Capability: "There's been zero problems that we've heard or observed that we can't solve. Like 100%."
  • Gary Sheng on Empowerment: "This will be the greatest movement the world has ever seen with exception of Jesus Christ... The only way that that happens is if you empower people that really get it and have no tolerance for the lukewarm."
  • MacKenzie Price's Request: "Show me the proposal and I would love to champion it... I'd like to see the whole like here's gonna be the plan... and here's our 30 and 60 day rollout."
  • Samuel Armes on Policy: "The bill that Trump just passed has school choice language in it for I think up to 50 billion dollars for school choice initiatives."
  • Ron Roberts on White House Access: "The people that we're talking to are actually the people who are writing the RFPs and they are writing the RFPs according to how we can protect them."
  • MacKenzie Price on Event Strategy: "I question whether you're going to get the right demographic at this family fun event... Let's do a private dinner for your network."