
S5E13: Setting Students up for Success - Smooth Start Program with Karis
From Launch School Podcast by Launch School
April 29, 2024 · 56 min · Season 5
About this episode
Brandi discusses the Smooth Start program with Karis, focusing on its purpose and structure to help new students succeed at Launch School.
Sign-ups for Smooth Start 5 are open now! Read more and Apply here In this episode, Brandi has a conversation with Karis about Smooth Start. Karis is part of the Launch School staff and is largely responsible for creating Smooth Start, an introductory program to help students overcome common hurdles that are often faced at the early stages of Launch School. They discuss why Smooth Start was created and new students' struggles, whether they're in the prep course trying to gauge how to take the plunge into the core curriculum, or fresh into the core curriculum, nervous about taking their first assessment. Karis shares the week-to-week schedule that Smooth Start students get to participate in, along with how the agenda has changed over the various cohorts based on feedback from students and leads. Finally, we get a sneak peek at what's to come with Smooth Start 5. Karis explains what's new in this cohort and how you can get involved.
People in this episode
Guest: Karis
Topics covered
- Smooth Start
- student success
- Launch School
- introductory program
Keywords
- hurdles
- core curriculum
- assessments
- cohorts
Mentioned in this episode
Products: Smooth Start, Smooth Start 5
More episodes of Launch School Podcast
- 2024 Capstone Salary Data Insights with Chris · January 9, 2026 · 1h 8m
- Capstone 2026 Updates: Adapting to a Changing Market · August 18, 2025 · 1h 3m
- Major Curriculum Updates with Chris · April 26, 2025 · 1h 2m
- S5E16: Student Spotlight - Battling Self-Doubt, A Student Transformation with Sherece · June 10, 2024 · 37 min
- S5E15: Daniel Nalesnik - Founder of HackChinese and Core Graduate · May 27, 2024 · 1h 21m
- S5E14: Student Spotlight - The Ups and Downs of the Core Curriculum with Patrick · May 13, 2024 · 59 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Launch School Podcast podcast page.