How I grew my AI PM Bootcamp & Certification to 100 cohorts and established a new domain
Getting an entirely new domain established
Within 4 years I built a 7-digit dollar education side-gig, while on maternity leave with a 3-week-old. All because of my passion in AI & Product Management and to establish this field. Here is my journey to becoming an AI Educator. The wildest ride of my career. It’s time to explain how: by treating a course as a product, and product management is what I know best.
The beginning
I was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard Business School, where I had the chance to see some truly unique teaching styles and eventually create and teach my own course in AI Product Management to MBA students. At the same time, my day job was (and still is) at Google — but I’ve always had this itch for creating educational programs, teaching and building. After my PhD, I almost chose an academic career, and I think there was always a little bit of FOMO there… a version of me that stayed in academia. But I knew I was going to find my way back to it. And I did.
Course Discovery
In AI product management, we talk about data flywheels. My course discovery followed the same logic. I didn’t just “post on social”, I built a discovery ecosystem:
User Research & Feedback: I tested the market with a 3-hour Eventbrite workshop about AI and Product Management. It sold out in minutes. This was my “Product-Market Fit” signal. Here is the original poster, with my poor photoshop skills at the time =) I called it “Digital Product Management” at the time because the feedback was that “AI Product Management” was too niche.
Constant iteration: I pivot my content and curriculum in real-time to match what my students need. When I cannot fulfill that content myself, I found people that could. And I created a fantastic line-up of instructors that made my Academy better. That’s why I am always open to people reaching out to me for collaborations.
The birth of my AI Product Management Bootcamp & Certification.
This was the world’s #1 AI PM Bootcamp & Certification that really helped shape this domain. We now have 10k graduates that are passing on the learnings in their organizations. I don’t believe in “fluff.” To win as a creator, I knew I needed to build with high-fidelity:
Real expertise: I brought in experts from the industry. People that I knew had case studies from AI, share their vulnerable moments like what do you do when AI suddenly appears and your company is on jeopardy? What do you do when leadership wants you to let go of entire orgs because AI can ‘do it better, and faster’? People from OpenAI, Deepmind, Anthropic, even startups.
Deep-Niche Strategy: I focus on the “Applied AI PM”—not just “tech-savvy PMs.” We dive into precision/recall, model trade-offs, and guardrail metrics that actually matter in the room at Google or Meta.
The power of community: We host meet-ups, exchange ideas, perspectives, opinions, we debate and we also do mock-interviews with each other.
Engineering-Backed Prototyping: We don’t just do slides. We pair engineering talent with teams so students actually productionize AI products ready for real users.
The VC Ripple Effect: My favorite part is Pitch Day. We bring in VCs and alumni to hear final pitches. It’s the ultimate “launch” for our students.
B2B trainings: Companies started wanting this offering for their teams. That was an entirely different muscle I needed to learn how to flex. We are 25 b2b trainings in, b2b is fun but it has its own challenges.
The Impact
We just hit a massive milestone: 100 cohorts. I’ve watched this AI PM bootcamp act like a real-life success montage for thousands of professionals.
Beyond the financial impact—which has been life-changing—the true ROI is the ripple effect:
Career Transformation: Most of our graduates get hired into their dream roles at top-tier tech firms.
Universal AI Literacy: 100% of my students leave feeling comfortable and literate in AI. In a world of AI hype, moving from “intimidated” to “fluent” is the ultimate competitive advantage.
The Ecosystem: My students have raised funding, launched agencies, and two even got married (!). This isn’t just a course; it’s a global network of builders.
Founding the AI Product Hub, AI Product Academy’s sister education company that enables course creators to succeed, with my colleague Diego Granados.
This experience also reshaped my understanding of who I am as a professional. It opened doors I never imagined: a global network, a Fortune 40 Under 40 accolade, invitations to present at TED AI, joining Lenny’s podcast and more.
To the Creators on the fence
The best part of this all is that creators started reaching out asking for pointers on how to create their own courses. They also have grown to offering their courses to thousands with massive impact to the community, one recently reached out to say “Marily, you have credits with me. I will always be grateful”.
My advice to you is that “If you build it, they will come”—but only if you lean into your lived experience. Don’t copy-paste existing courses. Find the niche you’ve actually lived through or partner with other people.
I went from academic FOMO to Fortune 40 Under 40, TED AI, and writing O’Reilly books. If you have a niche and an authentic voice, your “ripple effect” will be bigger than anything you can build alone.
To celebrate the 100th cohort, I am offering free short 1-1s with everyone that signs up in February.
Build it. If you need help along the way, reach out.
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