Introducing: Study Club — online professional support groups

Over the next few months, Chapter One will be running an experiment called Study Club, which are online professional support groups to talk about real life stuff (you can apply for the first “product study club” here).

At UCLA, I had a study group that met every week to grab coffee, work through homework together, and have fun. The people in my study club became some of my best friends on campus.

In the professional world, we learn every single day and solve similar problems within different areas. But it’s hard to find your “work life” study club because there is no physical classroom and we are all busy.

Study Club #1: Product Team

Many people ask me about learning about product — so I thought that I’d create a study club called Product Team to focus on this topic. Now feels like the perfect time to launch this study club as many of us will be stuck at home for awhile and could use a little community.

Product Team is a study club that will focus on helping each other get better at product (ideation, leadership, team building) while providing a private support group to talk about real-life challenges we face at work. Everything will be confidential so you can actually talk about things happening in your daily lives within a safe space.

The study club will not be an instructor teaching students because I am not an instructor and study clubs should feel more like a group of friends grabbing coffee and talking through problems together. And frankly, I want to learn from you. Maybe a “not-so-serious professional support group” is the right analogy.

Applications: You must apply to be accepted into the first study club. Admissions will probably be competitive because of the small group size. I’m looking for diverse backgrounds and differentiated points of view so everyone brings a unique voice to our study club. Applicants should have a background working on product teams. This is not a study club for beginners.

Limited Spots: The first study club will be 10 members only so we can get to know each other really well. Like my experience at UCLA, I am hoping that we become friends for the rest of our careers. The only way to do that is to keep the groups small.

Duration & Time Commitment: The first study club will last for 6 weeks. We will meet once a week on Tuesday evenings for two hours (12 total hours). After the study club is over, we can still be friends.

Cost: $100. Everyone in the group should demonstrate upfront commitment. The most obvious way to do this is to charge a small fee which you can probably expense anyways.

Format: We will meet on Zoom for two hours on Tuesday evenings and I will come prepared with a specific topic to jumpstart the study club — then we will see where the conversations goes.

Starting A Study Club: If you want to host your own study club for any topic (engineering, design, investing, crypto, astrology, dating, etc.), send me a DM on Twitter and I will consider creating other Study Clubs.

Thanks,

JMJ