Technology and society are evolving fast, and traditional education has failed to keep up, leaving graduates unprepared for real-world demands. Schools and universities — funded up front through tuition or taxes — have no stake in their graduates' long-term outcomes, so a gap has developed between what students learn and what they need to learn to survive, let alone thrive. Despite good intentions, reforms are slowed down by bureaucracy, politics, and resistance to change. But these institutions could never respond to market/life realities, in any case, unless their incentives become truly aligned with those of their students.

Even if traditional education worked perfectly, many people would still be unable to afford it — or to interrupt their careers long enough to study. Education is costly not only in tuition, loans, or taxes, but also in terms of lost time and opportunities.

In essence, the traditional education system suffers from two core problems:

• low quality: caused by a misalignment between the incentives of educators and those of their students; and
• high cost: for learners, in the form of direct payments and indirect sacrifices.

MentorGuilds are our proposed new kind of legal organization, built to address these problems. The core features of MentorGuilds are as follows:

1. The funding model: MentorGuilds earn income only from their mentees — primarily through a small share of the mentees’ future earnings (above an income floor), paid only for a set number hours worked in jobs that largely use the specialized skills the MentorGuilds provided (or, optionally, paid in the form of tuition). There are no debt or interest payments, fees, or penalties; and mentees owe nothing if they earn nothing or change professions. When mentees succeed, the MentorGuilds succeed. When mentees struggle, both share the loss. This shared fate ensures accountability, long-term support for work and life, and a focus on real-world results.
2. Open Data: Every mentee’s contract, and cohort performance results (work hours, income, etc.), is published as open data (example), making MentorGuilds the most transparent institutions in society. This empowers individuals to identify thriving and compatible MentorGuilds; helps governments, companies, and society make smarter financial and policy decisions; exposes abuse of mentees/employees; and rewards MentorGuilds that deliver genuine, measurable value.
3. Freedom: MentorGuilds can take many forms — not-for-profit or for-profit, local or global, small or large, digital or in-person. They may provide direct training or fund others to do so, focus on niche fields or broader industries, and design flexible or structured programs. Their greatest strength lies in this freedom to quickly adapt to changing industries, economic trends, and to the evolving needs of each mentee over time.

MentorGuilds are designed for most professions — from babysitters, hairdressers, plumbers, and electricians to software developers, doctors, and executives. In their early stages, they will likely focus on careers with fast, high returns on investment. Over time, however, they can expand to include nearly every field — even those traditionally seen as low-paying. With the help of specialized mentors who combine unique skills and tailored guidance, MentorGuilds could make these professions more sustainable and rewarding.

Preliminary estimates suggest that MentorGuilds could be both profitable and sustainable. A contribution of about 5% of a mentee’s income over 9,200 relevant work hours — roughly five years of full-time work — could generate returns similar to those of vocational schools or technology bootcamps. Their structure offers major efficiencies: Mentoring takes less time than teaching, since external courses deliver most of the instruction; operations can run fully online without costly physical infrastructure; and shared tools, platforms, and AI-powered knowledge bases create economies of scale. In addition, MentorGuilds cultivate a strong peer community where mentees support one another, boosting learning outcomes, community spirit, and long-term engagement.

These advantages make many forms of MentorGuilds viable. However, to make the system fairer, more scalable, and more efficient — allowing even previously low-margin models to thrive — these policy measures are strongly recommended:

• Tax exemption: This would prevent double taxation, promote education, and the enable the collection new economic data useful to the government and society. They would also offset the extra costs due to the strict transparency and operational limits MentorGuilds must follow.
• Mentors as legal partners: Recognizing mentors as partners would align incentives and reflect their role as part-time professionals who remain active in their industries. These mentors would operate independently, taking a share of mentee repayments, rather than receiving fixed salaries. This practice would avoid the traditional costs of hiring formal employees.

Combined with the low overhead and strong outcome-based incentives, these measures could make MentorGuilds both financially sustainable and socially transformative — driving progress in education, innovation, and mobility.

MentorGuilds are designed to deliver high-quality Education and personalized support, both tailored to the specific needs and abilities of each mentee. Their goal is not only to provide better Education than traditional systems, but also to offer continuous and real-world guidance that connects with both work and life. In a fast-changing world, where professional and personal challenges often overlap, this holistic approach is essential. Over time, it has the potential to transform not only individual lives, but also entire societies.

The reason for this broad range of support is simple: Anything that harms a mentee’s work quality or productivity will also harm the MentorGuild’s income and reputation — especially under the open-data requirement. That is why successful MentorGuilds will adopt a holistic approach, offering guidance and resources that extend far beyond traditional job training to also include their mentees’ well-being. In essence, the most effective MentorGuilds will provide training not only in work skills, but also in life skills.

However, all this guidance remains optional. Mentees are free to make their own choices. MentorGuilds can advise — but never control.

The various forms of work- and life-related Education and support are listed below.

• Work Education and Support:
  • Help mentees find job opportunities that match their skills, goals, and personal circumstances — including location, caregiving duties, or preferred industries.
  • Guide mentees through workplace dynamics, communication, and management styles.
  • Assist with salary, promotion, and contract negotiations.
  • Advising mentees on the best locations: where their profession is in demand, the cost of living is reasonable, and taxes are favorable.
  • Encourage the ongoing development of both technical and interpersonal skills to stay competitive in a market reshaped by AI, automation, and global change.
  • Protect mentees from exploitative practices such as unpaid work, excessive hours, false promises, coercive NDAs, or illegal job conditions.
  • Promote smart career moves — such as industry shifts, upskilling, or strategic lateral moves that build long-term value.
  • Support mentees who wish to start their own businesses by helping them secure funding, attract customers, and grow their ventures.
  • Offer stipends to those in need, allowing mentees to focus on study or work, in exchange for a higher income share or more worked hours.
• Life Education and Support:
  • Work-life balance: Help mentees make thoughtful trade-offs (such as income vs flexibility), manage competing priorities, and set healthy boundaries.
  • Financial literacy: Provide instruction in budgeting, investing, taxes, and in avoiding scams or debt traps.
  • Major life transitions: Offer guidance through major changes — moving cities, switching careers, starting a family, or managing health challenges.
  • Mental health: Provide coping strategies, help mentees recognize early signs of burnout, and connect them with professional support when needed.
  • Physical health: Encourage routines that support sleep, good posture, diet, and exercise — especially for high-stress or sedentary jobs.
  • Relationships: Help mentees build and maintain respectful friendships, partnerships, and professional networks — both online and off-line.

MentorGuilds may resemble Income Sharing Agreements (ISAs) or Income Contingent Loans (ICLs), but they operate on a very different basis. ISAs and ICLs simply finance traditional education, and repayment is often made regardless of how relevant the job is. MentorGuilds, by contrast, create long-term partnerships that combine work and life Education, with repayment only if the jobs use the skills they helped provide. They retain responsibility for outcomes, foster community, and curate the best mix of educational sources — turning a financial transaction into an ongoing relationship built on shared success. You can learn more about the differences between MentorGuilds and alternatives to funding education here.

MentorGuilds are organizations designed to align the interests of learners and educators. Their mission is to equip people with the skills to thrive — not only in their careers, but also in their lives. Free from rigid curricula, bureaucracy, and outdated traditions, they act as launchpads for innovation, driven by rapid feedback loops that adapt to each mentee’s needs and on a constantly changing world. Education is no longer a one-time event, but a continuous partnership for growth.

Rather than a centrally managed system, MentorGuilds operate as a framework of aligned incentives — rewarding real outcomes and encouraging lifelong learning. Through aligned incentives, flexibility, transparency, and accountability, they aim to close the widening gap between what people can do and what the modern world demands.

For a deeper dive, read the comprehensive overview or the full book

If you want to know more about MentorGuilds, here are some resources:

• First-Generation MentorGuilds: A practical look at how early MentorGuilds might operate day to day
• Open Data: An example of how the Open Data requirement could look like in practice