Not a bad business model: How The Bad Academy is building a community of “bad” learners

Millennials might remember the premise for the 2006 blockbuster, Accepted—where Justin Long, disillusioned by the standard education system, sets out to create a fake university for all the would-be freshman who didn’t get into their Ivy League choices—at the chagrin of their parents. Though the school starts out as a front, giving 18-year-olds free reign of things that really light them up, like “How to be a DJ” and “the science of slacking,” it eventually turns into an actual, operating college that doles out degrees in whatever it is that the now-students care about.

Vancouverite Amanda Kao’s The Bad Academy is kind of like that.

Bad learners

Designed by Kao as a one-off workshop series for women, The Bad Academy kicked off in 2019 hosting a collection of individual classes that could teach the basics of a simple task—or something you might want to get educated on.

“The first workshop I ever did was Car Maintenance 101,” Kao tells BCBusiness. 

The workshop sold out in six hours, and was followed by another one due to popular demand. Since then, she’s run nearly 350 workshops, with subjects ranging from personal finance to roller derby and family planning.

Kicking things off, Kao started a spreadsheet and wrote down everything and anything she wanted to learn about—and then she found the experts to facilitate the class. Soon, classes started getting the attention of brands who wanted to get involved (like Arc’teryx, who took an interest in the Bad Climbers Club).

“Any kind of sponsorship or partnership comes through other brands that recognize the importance of making spaces for women to feel safe and to be educated,” Kao says.

“Now I’m trying to develop more clubs under Bad Academy, just so that people feel like they have more specialized people to be in touch with,” Kao explains, who is happy to see the clubs take on a life of their own, post-workshop.

But now, Kao, who originally started The Bad Academy as a “side hustle” (is there anything more millennial than that?), has taken the series full time, and its business model has flipped on its head. Turning, indeed, more into an academy than a one-off workshop series.

Introducing: The Honour Roll

“The Honour Roll is like a very fun, new venture for me,” Kao tells BCBusiness. 

Launched earlier this year with the help of Vancity, who provided funding for the website infrastructure, The Honour Roll gives learners access to a library of all of The Bad Academy’s digital content, as well as a dedicated bimonthly newsletter and first-pick of in-person workshops when they come up.

“During COVID, I ran so many online workshops, obviously, because we couldn’t leave our homes, and I had all this content that was just living in a hard drive at my house. I [thought], ‘I need to make use of this information, because it’s still all really relevant and helpful and educational for people,’” she says. “People’s social skills have taken a hit because of that crazy thing that happened to all of us, and so I wanted to create a more cohesive, intimate environment for people to engage with like-minded people in their community.”

The membership model is $12 per month or $110 for a full year and serves those who want to catch up on all The Bad Academy has done or folks who are immunocompromised, new parents and anyone else who can’t regularly make live and in-person workshops.

The upside of that? A cache of Zoom workshops ready to be digested, on-demand.

Partnerships pay off

Last year, Kao collaborated with Vancity on a series of finance workshops, which led to ongoing support for other projects—especially the membership program. Vancity not only backed it financially but also offered strong team support, helping bring the idea to life. 

“We live in a world where money talks, and if women don’t have money or don’t understand their finances, then they have a lack of power,” Kao says. As it stands on The Bad Academy portal, all finance workshops are organized under “The Cash Flow.”

Still, Kao maintains full control of her content as a solopreneur—and yes, she’s still using that spreadsheet to keep track of her dream workshops. She’s keeping the things that work—and pivoting on what makes her brand greater.

“I think there’s a misconception that you can’t own a business and also stick close to your values as a person. It’s definitely a difficult line to walk—to be able to make profit but also feel good about what you’re doing. I really want to prove to people that it is possible.”