// for Philip · November 2026Philip, I loved our conversation! Here's everything I found, how I'd help you get the free program in front of as many people as possible and turn more of them into paid students, and a head start I already built for you, including a working onboarding engine you can try yourself.
Prepared for Philip Camilleri, Codistry · from Natalie Warden
I left our call really excited. What you're building with Codistry is so cool, and the timing couldn't be better. Everyone is trying to figure out AI right now, and you're actually teaching people to build with it.
I've been running growth for Coding Temple for years, so I know this audience well. Students, recent grads, career switchers, people wondering if they can really learn to build something. I know what gets them to sign up, what keeps them going, and what finally gets them to invest in themselves.
So I didn't want to just send you a list of ideas. I went through the whole site, dug into the numbers, looked at who else is out there, and started building some of the pieces for you. They're all below.
Here's the short version: you have something really special. Your story, a free program, a real paid path and a hiring marketplace at the end. What's missing is the system around it that brings people in and shows you exactly what's working. That's my favorite thing to build.
I'd love to help you get the free program in front of as many people as possible. My approach is simple: start with what moves the numbers most, do it really well, then build from there. I love being hands-on, and I'd love to be your partner on this.
Natalie[email protected]
These are first drafts of pieces I'd want to get going, built in your brand. We'd start with the few that matter most, and you'd have final say on all of it.
Right now "Start AI Basics" opens a form to book a date. Your site already has Google and LinkedIn sign-in, so we can send people straight into lesson one. This is the biggest win on the whole site.
8 hours. Free. Start whenever you want.
Takes a second. Lesson one opens right after.
Continue with GoogleContinue with LinkedInOr get a magic link by email
An MSP sends one link to all of its clients. Their logo sits next to yours, and every sign-up is credited to them, so you both see exactly what they bring in.
CODISTRYNorthPoint IT is giving every client team free access to Codistry's 8-hour AI Basics program, so your people use AI well and safely. Ready for more? Book hands-on automation training for your team.
Colleges want to see other schools first, so we make being first the prize.
Hi [Name],
Your students are getting asked about AI in every interview now. Codistry teaches them to actually build real software and automations with it, no coding background needed.
We're choosing our first five founding schools. Your students get free access, and your school is featured as a founding partner.
Could I send you a 2 minute walkthrough?
You already have a referral partner program (up to $800 per program referral, $3,000+ for companies, up to 50% off for the friend), but it's an apply-to-join program linked only from the footer. We add a simple share link for every graduate, right where they feel proudest: the moment they finish.
CODISTRYGoogle already indexes about 190 of your Lingo pages, but none of them point to the free program. One card at the end of each page turns readers into learners.
A short-lived credential that proves a user is logged in, so the app doesn't ask for a password on every request.
Two LinkedIn posts in your candid, no-hype style, each ending at the free program.
I spent a year rebuilding a VC firm's internal systems using only AI-generated code.
The hardest part wasn't the code. It was knowing what to ask for, how to check what came back, and when it was wrong.
That's exactly where our free course starts. 8 hours, at your own pace.
At SmartAsset, I built a 20+ person engineering team from scratch to serve 100M+ users a month.
Today, someone with no coding background and solid fundamentals can build a real product with AI. The fundamentals are the part most people skip.
Your July Malta ads had a strong hook, but each ran for a few hours to a few days, and the pixel only tracks page views, so there was no sign-up signal to learn from. These are real files at full Meta, TikTok and LinkedIn sizes. We'd run them long enough to learn, and judge them on how many people actually start lesson one.
So every Monday you know where people came from, what they did and what it cost.
| Event | When it fires | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| sign_up | Free account created | Top of the funnel, by source and partner |
| lesson_start | Lesson one opened | The number we optimize ads to |
| program_complete | All 8 hours done | Shows which channels bring real learners |
| referral_share | A graduate shares their link | How fast the share loop is growing |
| begin_checkout | Paid program checkout opened | Where people drop before paying |
| purchase | Paid program bought | Revenue by channel, school and MSP |
| partner_code | Saved on every sign-up | Credits each college and MSP |
| lesson_complete | Each lesson finished | Shows progress and where people drop off |
| return_visit | A learner comes back | Habit strength, a top predictor of buying |
| pricing_view | Paid program or cohort page viewed | The clearest buying signal |
The free course is your best sales tool, if you can see what happens inside it. I'd track how each learner actually uses the course, which lessons they finish, how often they come back, what they try to build, whether they look at paid programs, and turn that into a simple "ready for paid" score. Your site already identifies signed-in learners in Mixpanel, so this builds on what you have.
| Learner | What they did this week | Ready score | What happens next |
|---|---|---|---|
| Learner ACareer switcher · Meta | Finished all 8 hours in 5 days, came back 6 times, viewed AI Builder pricing twice | 92 | Personal note with the next cohort date and a 15 minute call link |
| Learner BSmall business owner · MSP partner | Replayed the automation examples 3 times, asked about connecting their booking tool | 81 | AI Automator invite, and a heads up to their MSP |
| Learner CCollege student · Founding school | Halfway through, steady every other day, shared their progress | 58 | Keep nurturing, student discount when they finish |
| Learner DRecent grad · TikTok | Opened lesson one, left after 6 minutes, hasn't been back in 9 days | 14 | Short "pick up where you left off" email, then stop |
All of it only for learners who accept tracking, and shared with them plainly in your privacy policy.
This is a real automation, running right here on the page. Make up a new learner, hit run, and watch what happens in the first two seconds after someone signs up: tracked, credited to the right partner, matched to the right program, and sent a welcome email. In the live version AI writes that email for each person; on this page it's a pre-written example personalized with their name and goal.
A working version of the weekly dashboard, filled with made-up example numbers. Click a week or a channel group. It shows what the report looks like once several channels are running. Learners you run through the engine above show up in the latest week.
| Source | Group | Sign-ups | Activated | Paid | Spend | Cost / activated |
|---|
Some are quick, some are bigger bets, and each builds on something you already have. We'd pick the two or three that fit best and do those well.
A free, one-week challenge with our founding schools: everyone builds one real thing with AI and shows it off. Colleges get an easy yes, students get something for their resume, and hundreds of finished projects hit social in one week.
A ready-made "Build with AI" unit faculty can add to a course they already teach, with Codistry accounts for the class. It gets you into classrooms, not just career centers, and every class is a batch of sign-ups at once.
A free 10-minute assessment an MSP sends to its clients. The report shows where the team stands with AI and recommends training, credited to that MSP. It gives MSPs an easy reason to start the conversation.
The answer people give at sign-up becomes a library of "how to build a ___ with AI" pages and short videos, matched to what people actually search for. Your learners write the content plan for you.
When in-course tracking shows someone has stalled, offer a short live session with a tutor. It's a small step between free and the full program, and it tells us fast how much people value tutoring.
Retargeting that matches the exact lesson someone stopped at, instead of the same ad for everyone. "You're 2 lessons from done" is a much stronger ad than a generic one.
Newsletter readers who are managers or owners get invited to the AI Briefing and team workshops. One company deal is worth more than dozens of single sign-ups, and your referral program already pays $3,000+ for them.
Your Malta ads used the MDIA grant to take €1,200 down to €200. The US has its own version: workforce boards pay for approved training through WIOA. Getting approved in a few states could make the paid program free for the people who need it most.
Every graduate's project gets its own page. It's proof for colleges and employers, fresh pages for search, and something learners actually want to share with their network.
A monthly live demo where graduates show what they built. Cut into short clips, real people showing real apps become your most believable ads and posts.
Your builders marketplace is live, with one builder so far: you. Strong graduates of the paid program get a spot, employers get proven talent, and "get hired as an AI builder" becomes the strongest promise in every ad.
A weekly series where you build a real tool with AI, start to finish. Your YC and SmartAsset story plus real builds feeds LinkedIn, the newsletter and the free course all at once.
I went through the site page by page in a browser, read the site's own code, ran Google PageSpeed and pulled the search data from Ahrefs between November 4 and 6, 2026. Here's where things stand.
12
12Google's AI for Education Accelerator is a no-cost program at over 400 colleges in all 50 states (April 2026), and its AI Professional Certificate has an ACE credit recommendation. Its California Community Colleges deal alone reaches 2M+ students and faculty.
Free, with 2M+ people engaged so far and a stated goal of certifying 10M Americans by 2030, announced alongside its jobs platform. That is the closest match to your builder marketplace.
Added AI training for its 3,000 MSP partners back in 2024. MSPs know how to resell training: security-awareness vendors like KnowBe4 give partners 20 to 30% discounts with deal registration.
Codistry is the next step: you learned to prompt, now build something real.
Google's courses focus on AI literacy and productivity. You teach people to actually build, on any model, and you have a hiring marketplace at the end. Colleges already using AI Essentials need a "what's next," and that's exactly how we pitch their career centers.
An example using a million free users and a conservative 1% free-to-paid rate. The middle steps are placeholders so you can see where each win happens. Once tracking is live, we swap in your real numbers.
In early HarvardX and MITx courses, about a third of registrants never opened the course and over half saw less than half of it, which is why activation is the first number to watch.
At 1% conversion and $1,499 to $2,899 list price per program. That sets the ceiling on what a free signup is worth paying for.
Doubling conversion halves the users you need. Freemium products commonly see 3 to 5%; a $1.5K purchase will likely run lower, so we measure it, not assume it.
Not cost per click or per signup. Every channel, partner and campaign is scored on people who actually start learning.
You'll haveA real baseline: traffic, signups, activation and paid, by source.
You'll haveCost per activated user for the channels we test.
You'll haveReal numbers to show colleges and partners, and a clear plan for what's next.
Every week of it shows up in your Monday report.
I'm not handing you a strategy deck and disappearing. I'd be in it with you, building, testing and telling you straight what's working.
I build the tracking, pages, ads, emails and automations myself.
What came in, what it cost, and what I'm changing next.
We look at the numbers together and decide what's next.
Happy to jump on a call whenever we need to, plus Slack or email for quick questions.
I've built growth funnels for multiple businesses in tech education and beyond, so I know what gets people to sign up, keep going and invest in themselves. I'm also a big believer in knowing what's actually working, so I always set up the tracking first.
Me as your fractional growth lead, focused on what moves your numbers most: tracking, the free program funnel, partners, ads and the weekly report.
Your ad budget goes straight to the platforms on your own accounts. I never mark it up or take a percentage.