[al_borland]

This all sounds very messy.

> If someone becomes toxic, you could buy back their shares at market price and even cut off contact.

There are 2 main scenarios here. Either the person doesn’t have the money to buy back the shares, that’s why they would have entered into an agreement like this in the first place. Or they have a lot more valuable now, and they’re paying 100x on their education to try and buy out the teacher.

[koopuluri]

1. If the person doesn’t have money, they can bring in a new investor who does see potential. If no one is willing to invest and they can’t afford a buyout themselves, then the “toxic” teacher just stays on the cap table, but the student can disengage personally. As soon as new investors come in, the buyout can happen.

2. If the person has become far more valuable, I don’t see that as a problem. Yes, they might be paying 100x compared to their early valuation, but that’s because their potential has grown 100x. From the student’s perspective, spending 1% of a much larger pie to buy out a teacher (even if toxic) isn’t “robbing their future self”. The real benefit for the student is that they never take on debt. Ever. They are never burdened if they don't become successful (unlike our current system).

[al_borland]

You invented a new form of debt, that’s all this is. Your answer to response #1 sounds like someone doing a balance transfer to lower their interest rate on a credit card. This 30% rate is toxic, I can move it over here and get 18 months at 0%… when that runs out I’ll do it again, and again…

The current system is broken, but there are some simple fixes that could largely resolve it. This token system adds so many layers of complexity, politics, etc. It shifts the student/teacher relationship into a business relationship.

If people say these 18 year olds are signing up for student loans they don’t understand, this is vastly more complicated. While it’s easy to say it’s optional, there is still going to be a feeling of obligation and debt to that teacher. And that teacher is going to have expectations of the student to pay them back for the time invested… the teacher can’t put food on the table with IOUs that may never pay out. It seems like you’re essentially shifting the burden from the student to the teacher in the short term, and the student has no incentive to to lighten that load, beyond guilt, obligation, or to avoid growing resentment from the teacher over wasted time.

[koopuluri]

i’m a bit confused by the “new form of debt” framing. debt means you owe something back, on a fixed schedule, regardless of outcome. here, there’s no obligation to pay anything “back.” if a student never creates financial upside, they never owe a cent.

the teacher takes the risk. if the student succeeds, both share in the upside. if not, the student walks away free, unlike debt, where you’re burdened for life whether or not the education worked.

where is the debt in this model?