Summary
Build momentum first: Get 100 waitlist leads OR 2 paid enrollments to qualify for Maven marketplace listing through Lightning Lessons and sharing with your network.
Three discovery paths: Students find courses by browsing Maven.com (clear titles matter), through personalized weekly emails, and via algorithmic trending placements.
Marketing amplifies discovery: Your efforts create initial traction, then Maven amplifies your reach to relevant students once you're listed.
Maven's discovery system
Your authentic marketing efforts and Maven's discovery systems work together to connect your course with the right students.
You can think of your marketing and Maven's discovery systems as working together in 3 important phases:
Phase 1: Pre-launch momentum building. Start sharing valuable content and building your waitlist now with a survey and/or Lightning Lesson. This creates the traction needed for Maven listing.
Phase 2: Launch and listing. Publish your landing page, meet the listing requirements, and become discoverable on the marketplace while continuing your authentic marketing efforts.
Phase 3: Amplified discovery. Once listed, Maven's system amplifies your course's momentum by showing your course to relevant students through homepage browsing, personalized emails, and trending placements.
How students find courses on Maven
Maven has three primary ways students discover new courses. See each section below for more information on these discovery pathways.
Important: Course distribution takes your effort, but it’s also one of the most valuable parts of building your teaching business. Think of it as building long-term equity in your personal brand; your trust, reputation, and audience are assets that compound over time.
Maven’s marketplace has built-in discovery, and it works when you already have some traction. We like to say Maven helps those who help themselves: it’s an accelerant, not a replacement, for distribution.
Homepage discovery
Homepage discovery
Students browse Maven.com by category and search for courses using keywords related to their interests. Your course appears in these browsing experiences once it meets Maven's listing requirements.
💡 The language you use in your course title, description, and syllabus impacts how discoverable your course is to students searching for specific topics. Clear, descriptive language works better than clever or abstract titles.
Trending placements
Trending placements
Once your course is listed on the Maven marketplace, it can earn placement in the "trending" sections throughout the site, giving your course premium visibility to students browsing Maven.com.
Maven's trending placements are completely algorithmic and update automatically every 24 hours, giving your course ample opportunities to become "trending." Here's what determines which courses get featured:
Sales momentum matters most: The algorithm prioritizes courses based on sales (paid enrollments) over the last 7 days, not total enrollment numbers. This means recent momentum matters more than historical performance.
Multiple trending opportunities: Each category on Maven.com (All Courses, AI, Product, Marketing & Sales, etc.) has its own trending section. Your course competes within its specific category, giving you multiple pathways to featured placement.
Algorithmically generated: There's no manual selection process or application required. Strong market-fit, demonstrated through sales momentum, automatically elevates your course to trending status.
💡 Key insight: Trending placement creates a compounding effect. When your marketing efforts drive sales, your course gains visibility through trending placement, which can lead to more organic discovery and additional sales. This is why concentrated launch efforts and promotional campaigns can be particularly effective.
To increase your likelihood of becoming trending:
Time your marketing pushes strategically: Concentrated promotional efforts within a 7-day window have an impact
Maintain enrollment windows: Keep your cohort open for enrollment to ensure you are always eligible for consideration by the algorithm
Create urgency: Limited-time offers or early-bird pricing can help with your sales momentum
Remember: trending placement amplifies existing momentum; it doesn't replace your authentic marketing efforts. Your promotional work drives the sales that earn trending status, which then extends your reach even further.
Personalized email recommendations
Personalized email recommendations
Maven sends weekly emails to students featuring courses that match their interests. These recommendations are highly personalized and consider multiple factors:
Time to cohort start: Courses starting soon get priority in recommendations
Earnings momentum: Courses with recent enrollment activity are promoted more frequently
Individual relevance: Each student sees courses matched to their interests based on their Maven activity and past enrollments
💡 Building early momentum through your own marketing efforts increases your chances of being featured in these personalized recommendations, creating a compounding effect.
Important note: every version of Maven's emails that you see is personalized. This means your course is likely included as a personalized recommendation for a specific group of students, even if you don't see your course in our emails.
Maven's listing requirements: your first milestone
Getting listed on Maven.com is an important milestone that unlocks discovery opportunities. You need to demonstrate traction to achieve listing by getting either 100 leads on your waitlist OR 2 paid enrollments.
By hosting a Lightning Lesson, you should easily get 100 signups by sharing it with your networks and communities. These requirements ensure that courses reaching the marketplace have already validated interest with real students.
Options to build this traction:
Launch your course interest survey (which automatically adds respondents to your waitlist)
Run Lightning Lessons that showcase your teaching style
Share your course landing page with your network once it's published
Create lead magnets that attract your ideal students
Other important listing requirements:
Complete your course landing page, including:
Professional headshot (builds trust and credibility)
A polished syllabus
Your cohort must be open for enrollment to be eligible for listing.
The review and listing process
Once you meet all requirements, Maven's team automatically reviews your course within 1-2 business days. We're looking for:
Course quality and originality
Professional presentation with all required images
Clear value proposition for students
Alignment with the career-related, professional skills categories we surface: Product, AI, Marketing & sales, Business & finance, Design, Data & engineering, Leadership & career
Important note: You don't need to wait for marketplace listing to start marketing your course. Once your landing page is published, you can share the direct URL with potential students and begin building momentum.