Watson Institute: Career Pathways

The current higher education system is not set up to match the reality of the future of work. Our future workforce deserves a more targeted education - one that effectively links economic and societal needs to their studies, creating clear pathways from education to employment.  

Watson Institute is a reimagined model of education for next-generation innovators, leaders, and entrepreneurs. Through innovative university partnerships, examining industry gaps, intensive mentorship,  project-based curriculum, and intentional network-building, Watson Institute bridges the gap between education and career.

The 239 Watson alumni from 60 countries have raised $100 million for the initiatives they help lead, created 800+ part or full-time jobs and impacted over 150,000+ people through their work. By scaling through university partnerships, Watson Institute is creating a formidable network of leaders who are not only equipped with the tools they need to succeed in the workforce, but also create jobs for thousands of others.

Higher education institutions are not currently designed to equip students with the skills, network, and experience they need to thrive in a rapidly-changing economy. Many recent graduates are unemployed (currently 12%) or are underemployed (currently 43%) (source 1, source 2). 

US students pay an average of $32,889 per year for higher education (source) and take on an average of $28,800 student debt (source). Less than one-third of graduates reported that they have a job related to their field of study (source).

Moreover, employers feel this gap between desired skills and actual skills - mostly soft skills - found in recent graduates. According to employers, the skills missing from young workers are face-to-face communication, effectively working with others, critical thinking, professionalism, professional writing, and work ethic. Only about 43% of employers say that recent graduates are proficient in these areas (source 1, source 2). 

The future workforce needs leaders who can adapt to change and reinvent themselves as industries evolve. Therefore, higher education must be radically transformed to meet the needs of the next-generation, adapt to the changing dimensions of work, and graduate leaders who can craft the future, not just react to it.

Watson Institute runs career accelerators for next generation entrepreneurs and leaders on the campuses of university partners that provide students the skills, experience, network, and pathway from education to a successful career.

Watson Institute partners with universities, designs a program to fit their specific needs - from a certificate to a major -  recruits students into the program, and establishes a financial agreement with the university to ensure sustainability. Watson programs range from 3 days to 3 years and include the following elements:

1. Targeted Training: Award-winning training in career success skills including professionalism, teamwork, and resilience.

2. Internships: Real-world application of learning that gives students the advantage of demonstrable experience.

3. Intensive Mentorship: Students are paired with mentors who are successful professionals in their field, who meet weekly to work through personal and professional challenges.

4. Powerful Community: A tight-knit community of peers is fostered through intentionally designed programming.

Watson Institute runs sustainable programs with compelling results in Colorado and Florida and has run shorter programs in five cities, serving 583 students to date. To scale, Watson Institute is building partnerships with ten universities to launch programs that will reach thousands of young leaders over the next 5 years. 

Watson Institute’s target population is 18-25-year-old entrepreneurial leaders from underrepresented backgrounds who are entering the workforce. 

This population needs economic security achieved through stable and meaningful employment. Watson Institute  addresses this core need through all aspects of the program, but particularly mentorship and a tailored curriculum. Mentorship connects students with relevant employers and networking opportunities, and the tailored curriculum allows students to focus on sector-specific topics to build a portfolio of relevant work that demonstrates experience and competency. 

Watson Institute closely engages the students and alumni in the design of the program through regular 1 on 1 meetings between staff and students, pre and post surveys, annual alumni impact surveys, and constant iteration of the curriculum and program design based on student feedback.

For example, one alumna Theresa’s objective was to create a career helping teenagers overcome addiction challenges. Through gaining relevant mentors and running pilots, she was able to forge a career in mental health services, starting at the Collegiate Recovery Center.  She recently created the soon-to-be-released app, Reconnect, to serve this population. 

As a result of Theresa’s experience and feedback, Watson Institute created two separate programmatic tracks for entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs.

Watson Institute increases access to high-quality, affordable learning, skill-building, and training opportunities for those entering the workforce.  

High Quality: Our program shows compelling results: 98.5% of alumni are pursuing further education, running a venture they founded/co founded, or are employed elsewhere. 

Affordable: Over 95% of students receive financial assistance - from scholarships to full-fellowships. Additionally, students can income share - meaning rather than paying tuition upfront, students can share a small percentage of future income for a set amount of time. 

Skill-Building and Training Opportunities: Programs are designed to be directly correlated to the professional fields each student is pursuing. 

All Employees: 26

Full-Time Employees: 14

Part-Time Faculty: 12

True diversity is integral to Watson’s mission. Alumni come from 20+ US states and approximately 67% identify as people of color - the majority identifying as Black. The average household income is $15,000 (not adjusted for cost of living). The average US Watson alumni annual income is $42,100, which is approximately $11,500 greater than the comparable average US worker (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019).

In order to ensure cohort diversity, we rely on a network of 300+ partners who nominate students and generous financial aid. Students learn from a curriculum that draws on diverse voices and encourages students to share their own unique experiences.

Watson Institute is committed to maintaining an organizational culture that is inclusive and equitable, which is accomplished through a hiring process based on competency, not credentials, and encourages feedback and honest conversations. Team members come from 5 countries and bring diverse perspectives to key decisions. 

There are several elements that make Watson’s program truly innovative:  

1. University Partnerships: While many organizations create stand-alone programs, Watson Institute scales by running the program through an innovative partnership model that leverages the accreditation, brand, and infrastructure of the university partner. 

2. Targeted Curriculum: Unlike existing curricula, Watson Institute surveys the needs of employers and tailors the curriculum to 21st-century skills necessary for students’ to succeed in the evolving nature of work.

3. Radical Accessibility: Watson Institute's Income Sharing Program ensures that programs are accessible regardless of financial background, students graduate without debt, and Watson Institute is accountable to the success of alumni.  Rather than paying tuition upfront, students can choose to share a percentage of future income for a set amount of time. 

The main competitors in the space are other organizations partnering with universities to strengthen career outcomes for students. Below are several competitors and what makes Watson Institute innovative:

-Boost By Kaplan is a program focused on career planning and development. Watson Institute is different in that we focus on running credit-bearing programs that are longer and more intensive with stronger outcomes. 

-Shorelight runs career accelerators for universities, but their main focus is on recruiting international students into universities, rather than advancing career outcomes. 

-Trilogy: Trilogy runs white-labeled coding bootcamps through universities. While Trilogy focuses on developing specific skills, Watson focuses on helping students translate those skills into career outcomes. There is potential for Watson Institute's program to serve as a “top-up” to Trilogy's existing programs with universities.

Watson Institute utilizes technology to increase accessibility and deploy differentiated forms of learning. Additionally, Watson Institute provides industry connections to encourage high-technology applications in student projects and internships.

Online Delivery: Watson Institute’s programs are delivered both in person and online. The unique virtual version of the Watson program includes synchronous, asynchronous and “localized synchronous” (small group convening, based on time zones) elements to reach more beneficiaries and provide greater flexibility. 

Differentiated Models of Learning: Students are not asked to read textbooks and take tests on what they learned. At Watson, learning is experiential, project-based, and focused on current societal, environmental, and economic issues. Due to student demand and industry needs, Artificial Intelligence and Data Science courses were added to the curriculum. Students learn these technological applications through immersion in real-world projects, rather than purely theoretical lectures or rote memorization. 

Student Project Technology: This exposure and application leads students to utilize brand-new technologies in their entrepreneurial projects, internships, and future careers, such as artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, product engineering, and robotics. 

Increasing Accessibility: To remain connected to the students during virtual semesters initiated due to the pandemic, the following platforms are utilized to optimize learning and connection: Zoom, Slack, Google Suite, Youtube - for uploading asynchronous videos of instruction, and supplementary tools such as Mural, Sli.do, and Kahoot. In addition, the new “flipped classroom” approach to learning (a combination of synchronous and asynchronous learning) allows for more flexibility in remote learning, allowing even more deserving students to participate.

Evidence of the effectiveness of the above technological interventions are detailed below:

Differentiated Models of Learning: Learning outcomes are carefully tracked at Watson Institute, and consistently, students report improvement - comparing the intake self-assessment to exit self-assessment - on 96% of assessed hard and soft skills, such as ability to work on a team, public speaking, and creativity. The greatest improvements are seen in sales/marketing, Microsoft Excel, and finances/accounting.

Student Venture Technology: Students utilize high technology in their entrepreneurial careers after their Watson experience. One example of a student’s technology is Anna Gabriella Casalme’s education mobile application Novelly, which features student stories and provides avenues for action and connection. Access the mobile app here.

A second promising technology comes from alumnus Ashraf Mizo, who is creating 3D, affordable prosthetic arms. Read more about Ashraf’s technology here.

Increasing Accessibility: Technology has enabled Watson Institute’s program model to be more accessible this year, as it has been adapted to a virtual delivery. The positive consequence of going virtual is that those who had been previously prevented from attending - due to travel, family, or work commitments - are now able to participate. In addition, the team was able to experiment with new tools to serve a cohort spread across the globe. For example, the Slack “donut” plugin randomizes conversations between members to increase cohort connection and cohesion, even from a distance. 

Inputs:

Team members and faculty. 

Partnerships with leading universities. 

Philanthropy and investment capital to launch, design, and deliver the program at each university partner until tuition revenue creates sustainability.

Activities:

Build university partnerships.

Design the program based on employer and student needs.

Recruit next generation entrepreneurial leaders into the program.

Provide customized training, internships, committed mentorship, a community of peers to the students in the program.

Support alumni to ensure strong career outcomes.

Immediate Outputs:

Approximately 30 students per cohort build career-relevant hard and soft skills, gain access to future professional opportunities, and cultivate a network of peers and mentors that support them in their career.

Short-Term Outcomes - Upon Completion of the Program:

Upon completion of the program, students grow their network, feel more self-confident, and report the greatest improvement in the skills of: resilience, confidence, spoken communication, time management, financial management, sales and marketing, Microsoft Excel, and professional etiquette. 

Medium Term Outcomes - 1-6 Years Out:

98.5% of alumni are employed, running their own venture, or are continuing their education, 96% learned skills that they use up to 6 years after graduation, and 68% still keep in touch with a Watson mentor up to 6 years after graduation.

Long-Term Outcomes - Predicted - 10 Years Out

Alumni earn above-average salaries in sustainable careers with future-forward organizations and are able to reinvent themselves with the changing environment of work. Alumni are leaders in their companies, creating value, meaningful employment, and opportunities for thousands more people. 

Watson Institute has designed scalability into each element of the program with the ultimate vision of transforming the higher education system and supporting thousands of diverse, high-potential students to successfully transition into sustainable careers. In the next 5 years, Watson Institute’s goal is to launch 10 university partnerships that 10x the number of students served each year to over 2,500 per year. On average, each Watson Institute alum impacts over 500 lives and creates 3 jobs. Therefore, in 10 years, we expect the alumni to impact 1.25M lives and create over 7,500 jobs per year. 

Expansion will be achieved through co-designing programs with partner universities - such as courses, certificates, minors, and full majors. Watson then recruits students into the specific program and shares tuition revenue with the university to ensure financial sustainability. Through this process, Watson Institute becomes ‘the Intel Inside’ universities and is currently exploring partnerships with several universities across the US. Watson Institute’s scaling strategy was recently featured by Stanford Social Innovation Review in the article linked here: https://ssir.org/articles/entry/the_intel_inside_of_higher_education#. 

In order to scale without compromising quality or effectiveness, Watson Institute: 

1. Relies on the infrastructure, accreditation, and brand recognition of each university

2. Strengthens centralized systems for program design, operations, human resources, and admissions.

3. Identifies local, talented teams, mentors, and instructors at each location.

4. Consults alumni and partners to best understand needs in a new location.

5. Carefully documents and iterates each element of the program for replication.

Financial: While the revenue sharing model has worked well with the first two university partners, Watson Institute still needs to simplify and validate whether this financial model will work with dozens of university partners. 

Technical: While university partnerships are core to Watson's innovation and scaling strategy, signing university partnerships is a complex process. With each new partner institution, the Watson team needs to learn new systems and navigate different organizational dynamics. 

Cultural: Each new location requires adaptation of the program to meet the local context. While Watson Institute is set up well for this by engaging local partners, there is always an initial challenge to best adapt current curriculum and systems to new environments. 

Legal: Expanding into new geographies often requires different legal statuses and advanced knowledge of taxation and payroll systems. 

Market: COVID-19 has significantly changed the way higher education is perceived by students and how it operates. It is still unclear how this will change the market demand for university education and alternative pathways (such as certification) in the future. A significant change to university enrollment and student choices could affect Watson’s scaling strategy.

Financial: Watson Institute needs to have more learning conversations with heads of higher education institutions and other organizations who have similar business models to validate the attractiveness and sustainability of the model. Every week, the team typically has 1-2 learning conversations with experts about relevant topics such as business model and market validation

Technical: With more university partners and allies from all levels and departments of universities, Watson Institute can better understand the different bureaucratic and administrative systems of various universities, and therefore be able to navigate the complex structures.

Cultural: By hiring local talent to lead each new program and thoroughly consulting (and often hiring) alumni before initiating in a new location, Watson Institute strives to maintain a consistent and strong company culture while adapting programs to meet the needs of each new location. 

Legal: Watson Institute has strong allies in each new location who understand the legal and administrative context, as well as legal expertise on the Board of Directors and pro bono legal support from institutions such as Thompson Reuters' Trust Law. 

Market: While COVID-19 presents a market challenge, Watson Institute is optimistic that this crisis will actually further reveal the need for targeted education for career development, such as the programs Watson Institute provides. So far, Watson's enrollment numbers have not dramatically shifted, though the lasting effects of the pandemic are yet to be seen. 

Watson Institute is able to track alumni outcomes each year using an annual survey with a fairly high response rate (between 65% and 85%). However, it is difficult to prove causation in the outcome data between a students’ experience at Watson Institute and their short and long term career and life outcomes. Therefore, it would be ideal to run a randomized control trial and/or track students over many years with similar profiles to the Watson students who did not attend Watson Institute to create a quasi-experimental control group. By comparing the outcomes between Watson alums and controls, it could be definitively demonstrated that the Watson Institute program has a positive effect on certain desired outcomes, such as employment status and salary. 

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Eric Glustrom - Founder and CEO - experienced the gap between college and career personally. He was motivated to create Watson Institute after struggling to find the connection between what he was learning in class and Educate!, the organization he started while a student which would later become his career and the largest youth-serving organization in East Africa. Educate! prepares youth in East Africa to succeed in today’s economy. The process of building Educate! helps Eric better understand how to transform education to accelerate the careers of underrepresented students. Eric is recognized as an Ashoka fellow, Echoing Green fellow, and twice as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Brin Enterkin - Chief Strategy Officer - is an alumna from Watson Institute's first class in 2013 and has a deep drive to scale the model from a personal understanding of its impact. Previously, she founded the African SOUP, co-founded a commercial renewable energy company, and was recognized as a Forbes 30 Under 30 Social Entrepreneur.

Andrew Lippi - Chief Operations Officer - is uniquely positioned to manage the internal operations and HR of the organization after previously serving in each role within the organization. He graduated from Watson Institute's first university partner, Lynn University.

Watson Institute’s broader team includes two former public school educators, two education reformers in East Africa, and professionals from business administration, public policy, and international development. The team relies heavily on input from the Alumni Council and five former or current team members are Watson alumni.

Partnership is essential for the success and impact of Watson Institute. These partnerships are divided into different categories, based on the nature and extent of the partnership. 

Official University Program Partners: Watson Institute partners with universities to deliver targeted career and entrepreneurship programs. Currently, Watson Institute partners with Lynn University in Boca Raton, Florida, Universidad Francisco Marroquín in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and is preparing to partner with University of Colorado Leeds School of Business and several other universities.

Funding Partners: Watson Institute’s philanthropic partners often become programmatic partners - co-designing and delivering programs. Funding partners include: Techstars Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Western Union Foundation, Bank of the West, Red Empress Foundation, Enlight Foundation, among other foundations and individuals. 

Curriculum Partners: The curriculum is a combination of internally created programming with powerful existing curricula from the following partners: Uncharted, Transformative Action Institute, and Said Business School’s Map the System.

Nominators: Watson students come from diverse settings and are often referred to Watson Institute by one of 300+ Nominators from around the globe. Nominators are universities, innovative high schools, youth leadership organizations, career centers, among others. The Nominators include SEED Spot, One Stone Academy, Global Citizen Year, and United World Colleges.

Approach for students: For 18-25-year-old career-seekers who are looking for skills, a professional network, and financially secure livelihoods, Watson Institute provides training, mentorship, and connections to create a clear pathway to meaningful employment.  This is accomplished through outcome-driven and targeted programs, ranging from 3 days to 3 years, created in partnership with existing universities. 

Approach for universities: For universities seeking to better serve their students and differentiate their offerings to attract more students, Watson Institute provides student recruitment, a tailored program that is competitive in the higher education marketplace, and career connection services for their students. Watson Institute provides this service through co-creating programs within universities - whether that is a course, a certificate, a minor, or a major - and recruiting students from outside the university to those programs.

Financial Model: Students pay tuition - typically subsidized through scholarships and fellowships that Watson Institute raises from philanthropy - for the program. Alternatively, students can enter into an Income Sharing Agreement and share a small percentage of their future income for a set period of time once their income reaches a minimum threshold. 

Partner universities and Watson Institute enter into a financial agreement in which the tuition revenue is shared to ensure mutual financial sustainability of the program. Watson Institute raises philanthropy and/or investment capital to launch new university partnerships and cover any gap in operating costs before a program reaches sustainability. 

To achieve financial sustainability, Watson Institute relies on the following diversified sources of revenue:

Tuition: Student tuition is generated by each of our programs. With each university partner, Watson Institute enters into a revenue-sharing agreement. Because Watson Institute recruits new students into each program, the tuition revenue generated by the program is new revenue for institution partners and ensures a ‘win-win’ for the institution and Watson Institute.

Philanthropy: Watson Institute raises philanthropic support for strategic initiatives (such as the expansion into a new geography), scholarships, and full-ride fellowships for deserving students from diverse backgrounds. 

Income Sharing: US alumni can opt into an income-sharing agreement (ISA) program, whereby alumni agree to share a percentage of their future income for a set period of time after graduating once their income reaches a minimum threshold. ISAs allow students to attend the program without going into student debt. Furthermore, ISAs de-risk students’ educational investment, ensure their educational investment will pay off, and align Watson Institute’s incentives with the success of students and alumni. Watson Institute raises investment into the ISA program to cover the upfront operating capital required to run the program.

Investment: Finally, in order to raise the upfront capital to launch university partnerships, Watson Institute raises investment into a for-profit hybrid entity structure. Investment capital ensures that Watson Institute has the operating capital for a new program at a university partner to reach financial sustainability, which takes a projected 24-36 months.

In the past 12 months, Watson Institute has raised the following funds:

Philanthropy: $1,231,800. 

Investment: $52,500

Tuition: $419,503

Each source of funding is described in more detail below.

Philanthropy:

Watson Institute’s major philanthropic (grant) partners from the last year include Enlight Foundation, Red Empress Foundation, Ford Motor Company Fund, Bank of the West, a joint partnership between Techstars Foundation and Western Union Foundation, Denver Community Foundation, Boulder Community Foundation, and The Anschutz Foundation. In addition, approximately 45 individual philanthropists and family foundations provide grant funds for scholarships, strategic initiatives, and general operations. 

Investment: 

Watson Institute raises investment into the income sharing program. Investors purchase the income sharing assets from Watson Institute. All investors in the income sharing program are individual, impact focused, angel investors. 

Tuition Revenue:

Tuition revenue is received from universities (according to the revenue share agreement developed) and direct tuition payments from students.

Watson Institute is raising two forms of capital: 1. Investment for expansion to new university partners and income share agreements and 2. Grant funds to subsidize tuition through scholarships. 

Watson Institute is raising the following funds by June 30, 2021: 

Investment: $130,000 for startup capital for expansion to new university partners and income sharing agreements.

Philanthropy: $1,151,000 from grants, family foundations, and individual donors.

In Fiscal Year 20-21 (July 2020-June 2021), expected expenses are $1,921,564 across all three locations.  

This opportunity allows us to form new partnerships and gain advisors that will help us overcome barriers and further scale our impact. 

Financial: The Morgridge Family Foundation's focus on transformative impact and the network of organizations MFF funds are exactly the kind of strategic partners we seek.

New Profit would also be an ideal partner for investment - both for income sharing investments and investment to launch university partnerships.

Technical: We would be honored to partner with JFF Labs to find creative ways to reach more beneficiaries through stronger technological applications. In addition, IBM Cloud credits and consulting will allow us the resources to actually integrate more high-technology into our curriculum and program implementation.

Cultural: Partnering with US Workforce Boards will allow us to have stable, on-the-ground partners with insight into location-specific needs. This would enable us to effectively adapt the program to local needs and reach a greater number of beneficiaries and further validate the program’s effectiveness, scalability, and impact in new markets. 

Legal: Partnering with professional service providers such as Accenture would be beneficial to overcoming the administrative and legal challenges associated with moving into new geographies.

Market: CSU Global could help us better understand and address market barriers by providing insight into the changing world of student and university needs. A university partnership with CSU Global would allow our programs to reach exponentially more students due to its specialization in online learning.

Business Model: Watson Institute is seeking learning conversations with institutions with similar business models who can offer insight into market demand. 

Solution Technology: Watson Institute is prioritizing the integration of technologies into the program design that increase access and enhance learning for students.

Product/service distribution: Watson Institute is specifically seeking aligned university partners to create new programs that better achieve student career outcomes.

Funding and revenue model: Watson Institute is looking for new investor and philanthropic partners who are aligned in mission and have expertise that Watson Institute can learn from to more effectively scale.

Talent recruitment: Watson Institute is currently hiring for talented individuals to lead the finance and development functions of the organization.

Marketing, media, and exposure: Through media exposure, Watson Institute will be able to grow the number of university partnerships and raise awareness about the program amongst students. 

There are several organizations that Watson Institute would like to partner with in the categories below:

Business Model: Institutions that have more experience and could offer insight on our business model include Trilogy, Boost by Kaplan, and Shorelight. 

Solution Technology: Partnering with IBM would enable Watson Institute to move more elements of the program online, create a more seamless, engaging experience for students, and increase student accessibility.

Product/service distribution: Universities such as CSU Global and other Western and Midwestern universities are ideal candidates for institutional partners.  

Funding and revenue model: Partnerships with New Profit, Mission Driven Finance, and Rockies Venture Club are some of the organizations that would allow for both income sharing and expansion capital investments. These investments will allow Watson Institute to make the program even more affordable to students, and provide startup capital for scaling.

Marketing, media, and exposure: Ideal media partners for greater exposure - and consequently greater reach, customer demand, and impact - include Chronicle of Higher Education, Stanford Social Innovation Review, Fast Company, Forbes, and local news outlets in each Watson Institute location, including university newspapers and publications.