Units School is an online high school for ambitious teenagers who want to move faster than a traditional classroom allows. Students earn real Ontario high school credits through interactive lessons closer in feel to Brilliant than a textbook, work with a Socratic AI tutor called Gilbert, and finish each unit by shipping something publishable, a Medium article, a YouTube video, a working product, or a client deck. Assessments are built around three moves (create, defend, critique) with AI required rather than banned, on the premise that students need to prove a human added value.
This launch marks two things at once. The product is live for online students, and the team is reserving seats for an in-person campus opening in the fall. To make the pitch concrete, founder Daniel Martinez is spotlighting Remy, the school's first student, a 17-year-old who moved from Toronto to San Francisco after signing a $6.3M contract for his data startup and raising $165k . He is the case study the whole model is built around, a student who treated school as the bottleneck and used Units to clear it.
Daniel Martinez is founder and CEO, backed by Y Combinator, and previously built VibeGrade for teachers, which was covered by Forbes . His own story of being kicked out of high school after a year of trying to sell an AI feedback tool to 78 teachers frames why Units exists at all. For founders, investors, and operators watching the accelerated-credential space, the launch is worth a look as an early test of whether structured mastery learning plus real portfolio work can graduate teenagers on a startup timeline.
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Priya Nadella19d ago
Wait so is the school actually accredited or does Remy just get a very expensive LinkedIn headline. Genuine question, not a dunk.
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Kwame Osei19d ago
The cut from Toronto skyline to SF at 0:07 is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Whoever edited this understood assignment: make parents jealous in under 30 seconds.
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Kwame Osei19d ago
Also the voiceover pacing is suspiciously good for a school launch. Someone on the team has been watching a lot of MKBHD.
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Lena Kowalczyk19d ago
Reserve for fall in-person is buried at the bottom of the tweet when it should be the whole hook. You have a 17 year old with a real contract, lead with the CTA.
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Tariq Haddad19d ago
Building in the same neighborhood and honestly the positioning is sharp. Curious what happens when student number three doesn't sign a seven figure contract though.
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Misha Volkov19d ago
Love the story but what does the actual week look like. Is there a schedule, mentors, coursework, or is it just vibes and a Notion doc.
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Yuki Tanaka19d ago
The thumbnail choice of Remy mid-handshake is elite. Would have cropped tighter on the face but I am nitpicking a launch that clearly works.
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Units School × YC
Graduate high school at startup speeds. Live now. Reserve for fall in-person.
Graduate high school at startup speeds. Live now. Reserve for fall in-person.
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Units School is an online high school for ambitious teenagers who want to move faster than a traditional classroom allows. Students earn real Ontario high school credits through interactive lessons closer in feel to Brilliant than a textbook, work with a Socratic AI tutor called Gilbert, and finish each unit by shipping something publishable, a Medium article, a YouTube video, a working product, or a client deck. Assessments are built around three moves (create, defend, critique) with AI required rather than banned, on the premise that students need to prove a human added value. This launch marks two things at once. The product is live for online students, and the team is reserving seats for an in-person campus opening in the fall. To make the pitch concrete, founder Daniel Martinez is spotlighting Remy, the school's first student, a 17-year-old who moved from Toronto to San Francisco after signing a $6.3M contract for his data startup and raising $165k . He is the case study the whole model is built around, a student who treated school as the bottleneck and used Units to clear it. Daniel Martinez is founder and CEO, backed by Y Combinator, and previously built VibeGrade for teachers, which was covered by Forbes . His own story of being kicked out of high school after a year of trying to sell an AI feedback tool to 78 teachers frames why Units exists at all. For founders, investors, and operators watching the accelerated-credential space, the launch is worth a look as an early test of whether structured mastery learning plus real portfolio work can graduate teenagers on a startup timeline.
Comments (7)
Wait so is the school actually accredited or does Remy just get a very expensive LinkedIn headline. Genuine question, not a dunk.
The cut from Toronto skyline to SF at 0:07 is doing a lot of heavy lifting. Whoever edited this understood assignment: make parents jealous in under 30 seconds.
Also the voiceover pacing is suspiciously good for a school launch. Someone on the team has been watching a lot of MKBHD.
Reserve for fall in-person is buried at the bottom of the tweet when it should be the whole hook. You have a 17 year old with a real contract, lead with the CTA.
Building in the same neighborhood and honestly the positioning is sharp. Curious what happens when student number three doesn't sign a seven figure contract though.
Love the story but what does the actual week look like. Is there a schedule, mentors, coursework, or is it just vibes and a Notion doc.
The thumbnail choice of Remy mid-handshake is elite. Would have cropped tighter on the face but I am nitpicking a launch that clearly works.