Scaling Human Mentorship with AI: Kian Simpson on Starting Cohort

TalkX is a section of the Online Entrepreneurship Program at LaunchX, where founders speak directly to our community.

Kian Simpson is the Co-founder and CEO of Cohort, an affordable college admissions service that scales human mentorship with AI. He studied neurobiology and economics at Harvard, then worked as a management consultant at Bain & Company, where he helped build strategy for several Fortune 500 tech companies and ran due diligence on 10+ impact-focused private equity deals.

Cohort now delivers an accessible college counseling experience by drawing on insights from exceptional advisors who navigated the process successfully. Through tailored guidance, curated tools, and specialized events, the platform empowers students to achieve their academic goals without exorbitant fees.

Leaving Bain to Scale Human Mentorship With AI

College admissions had become incredibly stressful, and families were exceptionally confused about what they actually needed to do. The services available sat at two extremes. On one end were free resources like school counselors, who are often doing their best but are overwhelmed with enormous caseloads. On the other were private consultants that can cost $10,000 or more.

There was not much in the middle: something more reasonable, more accessible, and still genuinely helpful. That gap is why Kian felt Cohort needed to exist.

Leaving a stable position was not an obvious or easy decision, but Kian knew he wanted to try something entrepreneurial. He wanted to take a risk, and this was one of the best ways to challenge himself while working on something he cared about deeply.

Your Background Does Not Have to Match Your Business

Kian studied neurobiology because he was pre-med. Later in college, he realized he was much more interested in education, technology, startups, and business. What drew him in was working closely with other people in fast-paced environments. He has always loved team-based work.

Neurobiology still shaped how he thinks. It made him interested in how people grow, how they make decisions, and how the right support system can change someone's trajectory. Bain taught him how the best organizations should operate, how to be disciplined, and how to cut through to what actually matters. Those lessons became useful when building Cohort from the ground up.

From Spreadsheets to Platform

The first version of Cohort was very scrappy: a collection of spreadsheets stitched together to guide students through the process. Then the first batch of students got incredible results, including 5 acceptances to Harvard, and Kian and his team knew they had something that worked. From there, they formalized the process into an actual platform.

Finding the first users was extremely difficult. Kian found them through Facebook Marketplace, live events, TikTok, and a lot of other scrappy channels. Eventually, he found students and families who were deeply excited and passionate about their education.

The moment he knew Cohort had something was when students kept booking meetings with mentors. Nobody made them, yet they chose to spend their limited time getting guidance from Cohort mentors.

The biggest challenge for the team was distribution, or in other words, figuring out the best way to reach people at scale. In the beginning, the team went to college fairs, debate tournaments, and tried a bunch of other ideas that did not always work.

There were plenty of bad ideas. Working through all of them helped the team figure out which ones were actually good. Once they found a few channels that felt consistent and repeatable, they doubled down on those.

Advice for New Founders: Be Honest

Kian's advice for taking a concept from zero to one is to be honest.

First, be honest with yourself about whether this is a path you actually want to go down. To create something from scratch, you have to will it into existence, and that requires sacrifice. This is not to deter anyone. The entrepreneurial path is very challenging, and also one of the most personally rewarding things he has ever done.

Second, be intellectually honest. Sometimes the idea you are certain will work completely flops. You have to be able to tell yourself the truth about whether the thing you are working on is worth your time. It is a mindset you constantly have to employ as you build and scale.

Build Your Own Company at LaunchX

TalkX exists so you can hear from founders like Kian while you build your own company. Every session brings in someone a few steps ahead of you, and you get to hear what they actually did, including the ideas that failed.

Ready to start? Explore the LaunchX Online Entrepreneurship Program. To learn more about how Kian is building affordable access to college admission mentorship, visit Cohort.