Formation’s Counter-Intuitive Approach to Scaling: Why They Give Unlimited Support in a Fixed-Term Industry

Most coding bootcamps solve the scaling problem by limiting their commitment: fixed terms, scheduled cohorts, and clear end dates. In a recent episode of Category Visionaries, Formation founder Sophie Novati revealed why her company took the opposite approach – offering unlimited support until students secure jobs – and how technology makes this counter-intuitive model work.

“I oftentimes like to say that we are selling people better jobs, not six months of training,” Sophie explains. This mindset fundamentally changes how Formation approaches education. Instead of defining success by program completion, they measure it by career outcomes – their students saw an average compensation increase of $100,000 in 2022.

This unlimited support model directly challenges industry norms. “Most training programs, they have a fixed schedule. There’s like 12-16 weeks of training, and the classes are scheduled at a fixed time,” Sophie notes. Even when these programs claim to offer ongoing support, “that oftentimes looks like just a call with a career coach every so often to have someone to talk to, which is not entirely unhelpful, but you may need just a lot more support than that.”

Formation’s solution? Using technology to make unlimited support scalable. “Every lesson, every class, every assignment that every student does is dynamically computed by our technology based on each person’s performance in the program,” Sophie explains. This adaptive approach means support can be personalized without requiring proportionally more resources.

The model has proven particularly valuable during the current market downturn. “We’re in a market right now where people just need to be a lot more prepared for the interview process,” Sophie observes. While job searches are taking longer, “the compensation has actually held fairly stable. So once someone gets an offer, it is pretty comparable to what they have gotten in the past, but it takes just more time and more preparation to get to that point now.”

This insight – that preparation time varies significantly based on market conditions – validates Formation’s unlimited support model. Their completion times range dramatically: “There are certain people who will only accept very narrow set of jobs versus people who just want to change. And so it’s more of an average between people who take two months all the way up to people who take twelve to twelve plus months as well.”

Formation’s mentorship system further illustrates how they’ve made unlimited support scalable. Rather than relying on traditional one-on-one mentoring, they’ve built an algorithmic matching system. “Our algorithm will dynamically schedule you for sessions based on your availability and your expertise,” Sophie explains. Mentors work with small groups of 3-4 students who are actively struggling with specific topics.

This approach has attracted attention from major tech companies. “Most recently, we just launched a partnership with Netflix as part of their diversity hiring initiatives,” Sophie shares. The unlimited support model, combined with their technology platform, makes Formation particularly attractive for companies looking to develop diverse talent pipelines.

Looking ahead, Formation sees their unlimited support model as key to achieving their broader mission. “Fundamentally, we’re here to build a more diverse, a more equitable and more inclusive workforce,” Sophie explains. Their ultimate vision is “to have an entirely open platform, free to use to start to absolutely anyone who needs training.”

For founders, Formation’s approach offers valuable lessons about challenging industry assumptions. By using technology to make an seemingly unscalable model (unlimited support) scalable, they’ve created a powerful competitive advantage. Sometimes the best way to stand out isn’t to optimize existing constraints, but to eliminate them entirely.