Ross Stevenson

Chief Learning Technology Strategist

Build Your L&D Research Analyst with NotebookLM

Customise NotebookLM to act as a analyst based on your core principles.

Set up a research analyst in NotebookLM

Use targeted NotebookLM features to question large reports and uncover hidden insights.

Locate key insights at speed

Turn your outputs into meaningful assets using NotebookLM's studio features inc podcasts, slide decks and videos.

Apply findings to your own context

Leave with a working agentic analytics system on your machine, a polished analysis, and the patterns and frameworks to make it all yours.

Principal Data Scientist @ Ontra 

Shane Butler

Principal Data Scientist @ Ontra | Ex-Stripe, Nextdoor, PwC, Appfolio

Data Science Leader |Ex-Microsoft

Sravya Madipalli

Data Science Leader@Superhuman (Prev. Grammarly)| Ex-Microsoft, eBay, Nextdoor

Head of Data @ Ontra AI | Ex-LinkedIn

Hai Guan

Head of Data @ Ontra | Ex-Nextdoor, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Meta

Bootcamp 4

Cohort 5

Anyone can get AI to produce analysis now. The hard part is knowing whether it is right.This is a five week, hands on course where you build an agentic analytics system in Claude Code, and then do the thing almost nobody teaches: prove it works.Weeks 1 and 2 you build. You set up your own environment, write your first skill, design and build a multi agent system, integrate it into a production repo, and connect it to your team's tools through MCP.Weeks 3 and 4 you make it trustworthy. You measure reliability across repeated runs, triangulate a question across independent methods of analysis, build ground truth, align an LLM judge to human labels, trace every answer back to the query that produced it, and engineer the context that makes the system correct on your company's metrics.Week 5 you put it to work. You swap the model underneath it, cross check one model against another, and turn the system into value your company can see.Ten live sessions, two hours each, with three instructors in the room. Every recording is yours to keep. Free course retake. Private AI Builders alumni community. No coding background required, no Python or SQL is ever written by you.

Build AI Analysts that do the work and prove the numbers are reliable. No code.

Build a multi agent AI analyst system from scratch

Integrate your system into a production analytics repo

Build an eval suite that proves your analyst is right

Align an LLM judge for work that has no right answer

Engineer the context that makes the system correct

Swap to open source models and triangulate across them

Product managers who are tired of waiting in the data team's queue. Stop waiting. Analyze it yourself.

Data scientists who want to multiply their output. You know how to do the analysis manually. Now automate it.

Engineers who want to make data-driven decisions without hiring a data team.

"Despite being a student in Harvard’s Master’s in Data Science program, I've struggled to understand the concepts that make LLMs so impressive. This class gave me the answers." - Tony "Ishan takes a black box, rips it apart to understandable compartments, and clearly communicates what is going on. Highly recommend." - Joe, CFO ______________________________________________________________________ The current cohort completed recording on January 17th, 2025 but you can still enroll to participate asynchronously: •&nbsp;Get lifetime access to all recorded sessions, including interactive Q&amp;A segments•&nbsp;Connect with peers in our dedicated private Discord community•&nbsp;Master the material through comprehensive quizzes and training resources•&nbsp;Receive direct instructor support via email or Discord whenever you need help•&nbsp;The option to attend a future live cohort for free______________________________________________________________________ Why This Course Stands Out: You already know how vital AI is to your career—it's in every conversation, project, and strategy session. But diving into AI feels daunting with limited time for self-study or complex programming. That’s where this course comes in. Skip the endless prep work and gain an intuitive, hands-on understanding of AI and transformers in just a few hours—without needing an advanced degree. No other course offers such an interactive, fast, and in-depth technical understanding of AI using an actual GPT-2 model, all using an easy-to-learn spreadsheet interface. ______________________________________________________________________ Perfect for Busy STEM Professionals:Whether you're a developer, technical manager, or executive, this course demystifies AI and teaches you exactly how Large Language Models (LLMs) like GPT-2 work, with no prerequisites beyond a STEM background. It’s ideal for: • Software/Web Developers seeking an easy introduction to machine learning. • Science &amp; Tech Professionals navigating AI transformations in their fields. • Technical Sales/Marketing crafting messaging for AI products. • Product/Project Managers overseeing LLM-powered solutions. • Executives/Leaders guiding AI strategy in their organizations. ______________________________________________________________________ What You’ll Learn:Using a unique spreadsheet implementation of GPT-2 (the predecessor to ChatGPT), we’ll break down each model component with crystal-clear explanations. In just a few sessions, you’ll be able to: • Understand how LLMs work—as quickly as possible. • Explain every key component—tokenization, embeddings, attention, and more. • Gain AI literacy—so you can confidently lead and manage AI-driven teams. • Build a foundation for further AI projects—and even more advanced learning. ______________________________________________________________________ Why Spreadsheets?You don’t need to be a coder or a calculus expert to understand AI—just the right approach. This course uses an innovative, no-code, spreadsheet-based method to teach LLMs. It's fast, interactive, and designed for busy professionals like you. By breaking down complex AI principles into easy-to-follow spreadsheet exercises, you’ll gain a lasting, foundational understanding of how large language models work. This is knowledge you can carry across into any model, any programming language, and any project. ______________________________________________________________________ Hands-On Learning, No Programming Required: By the end of the course, you’ll have a working, detailed understanding of how transformers power LLMs like ChatGPT, Claude, and Llama. Plus, you'll have a spreadsheet tool you can explore and tweak to deepen your understanding further. ______________________________________________________________________ See it for Yourself: Still unsure? Watch the FREE lightning lesson:"Inside the Brain of an LLM: How it Works in 30 Minutes" to see how accessible AI learning can be: https://maven.com/p/eeea6f/inside-the-brain-of-an-llm-how-it-works-in-30-minutes ______________________________________________________________________ Join the Community of Learners: • “I could’ve read 20 papers on this and not gotten nearly the understanding I got from this hands-on course.”— Class Participant from Adobe • “Highly recommend this course for anyone wanting to build a foundation in LLMs. Ishan’s interactive approach makes complex concepts incredibly clear.”— Matt, Business Intelligence Analyst ______________________________________________________________________ Practical Details: • Course Access: All sessions are recorded and available to stream after the course concludes, so you’ll never miss a thing.• Reimbursement: Your company may cover this course if you're building or transitioning into AI at work. ______________________________________________________________________ New for this cohort! We've dropped the requirement for Excel. We have a browser based alternative. Some exercises may use Google Sheets and/or Python.

Skip the mountains of prep work and learn how AI works in just a few hours

Course syllabus

If your events are recurring and at the same time, it might be easiest to use a single line item to communicate your course schedule to students

Tuesdays & Thursdays

Feel free to type out dates as your title as a way to communicate information about specific live sessions or other events.

May 7, 2022

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Weekly projects

Course schedule

Executives, engineering managers, and product managers leading and coordinating technical AI teams leveraging LLMs

Developers without formal training in machine learning that want to quickly understand the LLM technology in their projects

A gentle introduction to LLMs for professionals pivoting their career to AI from traditional software engineering or other STEM fields

Anyone who can read a spreadsheet that is motivated and deeply interested in how the next wave of computing works

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

This course breaks down complex AI concepts into easy-to-follow steps using Excel, making it accessible for anyone with a STEM background.

Understand how LLMs work as quickly as possible

Precisely understand in detail the architecture and function of the GPT2 model, including tokenization, embeddings, attention, multi-layer perceptron, and layernorm.

Recognize and explain every component of an LLM

You'll gain a solid understanding of how LLMs function, enabling you to confidently engage with engineers and technical stakeholders.

AI Literacy for managing technical teams

Build a foundation that equips you with the essential knowledge to explore advanced AI topics, undertake AI projects, or pursue further coursework.

Prepare yourself for further exploration, projects, or coursework in artificial intelligence

Master AI Concepts with a Real LLM Implemented Entirely in a Spreadsheet. No Complex Math. Just Clarity. 

Jan 8—17, 2025 (On-demand)

Ishan Anand

Unlock a personalized learning experience.  Dates and times will be customized to the participant.

1-on-1 Premium Version 

Transform from consumer of analytics to independent operator - asking sharp questions, validating answers, shipping decisions.

Stripe

Nextdoor

PwC India

Ontra

AppFolio

Microsoft

eBay

Grammarly

Superhuman

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

As AI reduces the value of deep domain silos, the people who thrive will be the ones who can work across disciplines and ship. Analytical independence - the ability to validate your own ideas and make data-informed decisions - remains the missing skill in most builders' toolkits.AI can conduct the analysis, but it can't tell you what to ask or whether the answer makes sense. That requires analytical judgment.This course teaches you to think like a senior Product Data Scientist. You'll learn the frameworks used at FAANG companies to frame problems, choose the right metrics, diagnose root causes, execute the analysis, and turn insights into decisions.-&gt; <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" href="https://join.slack.com/t/dataneighbor/shared_invite/zt-3ox4drc3r-3g0ptSthytkgv0sD6ovvqg">Join AI Builders Slack Community!!</a> &lt;-What makes this different: No SQL. No stats lectures. Five weeks of hands-on real scenarios. You'll build end-to-end, metric specs, deep dives, experiment plans, stakeholder readouts.The result: You become analytically self-sufficient. The last dependency removed from your toolkit. Make data-informed decisions in hours, not weeks.

Ask Better Questions, Make Faster Decisions - with AI as Your Analyst

Frame Problems Like a Senior Data Scientist

Design Metrics That Actually Drive Decisions

Diagnose Root Causes Without Guessing

Design Experiments That Ship

Turn Analysis Into Action With AI as Your Copilot

Synthesize Insights and Prioritize for Impact

Product Managers, engineers, and operators who need analytical independence and frameworks to measure success and drive decisions.

Designers and researchers stepping into strategy roles who need to quantify impact, run experiments, and influence with data-driven insights

Data professionals who want to frame better questions, delegate technical execution to AI, and drive impact with agentic analytics tools.

Turn information overload into a Knowledge Engine that talks back. Go from drowning in unread PDFs to shipping high-fidelity AI artifacts.

Solutions Architect & AI Educator

Thoughts Brewing

HubSpot

United Way

MANTECH

Damien Griffin

Solutions Architect & Co-Founder at Thoughts Brewing, LLC

Cohort 9

Cohort 10

This course is for AI-curious professionals who are tired of LLMs hallucinating about their own business data. You’ve used the big bots, but you’re ready for a tool that stays grounded in your specific files, not the entire internet.You should pull up a chair if you are:<ul><li>An overwhelmed researcher or lead sitting on a pile of unread PDFs and half-baked notes.</li><li>A solutions-oriented builder who needs to turn raw data into interactive podcasts, briefing docs, and infographics without the usual tech headache.</li><li>A busy professional who has played with NotebookLM but wants a structured way to master the non-intuitive interface and see what else it can actually do.</li></ul>We are looking for active builders who already have a basic handle on how to talk to a bot. We won’t be covering "Prompting 101" here, we are diving straight into building a Knowledge Engine that actually talks back.This is not for the AI absolute beginner or anyone looking for a tool to browse the web for generic answers. This is for the person who wants to tame information chaos and turn their personal library into a competitive advantage.

Master NotebookLM: Turn Data Chaos Into Precise AI Artifacts in a Weekend

Build a grounded Knowledge Engine

Transform raw data into executive-level artifacts

Generate custom Audio Overviews for hands-free learning

Visualize complex info with Mind Maps and Infographics

Navigate the 3-panel interface like a systems pro

Pressure-test your mastery with AI-generated Quizzes

You should have experience using tools like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude to ensure we can focus on NotebookLM-specific workflows.

Proficiency in AI Prompting

A personal or Google Workspace account is required to access the NotebookLM platform during the live sessions.

Active Google Account

Access to a desktop computer (preferred) and a stable Zoom connection for the live interactive portions of the weekend.

Standard Tech Setup

Leaders &amp; Project Managers needing reliable AI. Build a grounded system that uses your data to automate workflows.

Founders synthesizing research fast. Turn private notes and transcripts into professional audio and text reports.

Operators &amp; Researchers managing massive document libraries. Extract precise insights and summarize complex data without manual effort.

Rebuilding L&D for the AI Era

Agentic AI

Coding with AI

AI Workflows

Claude Code

OpenClaw

Vibe Coding

AI Evals

AI Transformation

RAG & Search

AI for PMs

AI for Engineers

AI for Designers

AI for Marketers

AI for Founders

Product Sense

Product Discovery

User Research

Prototyping

Growth

Analytics

Tech Foundations

Strategy

Influence

Leadership

Career Growth

Machine Learning

LLM Ops

Context Eng

Security

System Design

Figma

Design Systems

Visual Design

Design Strategy

Automation

Content Marketing

Demand Gen

Go-to-Market

Product Marketing

Positioning

Social Media

Brand

B2B Marketing

SEO & AEO

AI for Leaders

AI Governance

Communication

Management

People Operations

Exec Presence

Storytelling

Goal-setting

Personal Brand

Fundraising

Everyone

Operators

Data Scientists

Business Analysts

User Researchers

Customer Success

Project Managers

HR Professionals

Sales People

Lawyers

Finance

Investors

Real Estate

Educators

Creators

Applying AI tools and techniques to professional workflows — assign alongside more specific AI topics.

Teachers, course creators, and instructional designers building learning experiences.

Automating professional workflows with AI tools — productivity, operations, and task automation.