Austen Allred

Austen Allred is the Co-Founder and CEO of BloomTech, formerly known as Lambda School, which he established in 2017. BloomTech is a coding bootcamp that focuses on providing students with the skills needed for well-paying jobs in technology, utilizing a model that includes income share agreements (ISAs) as a payment method. Allred's journey began while he participated in Y Combinator, a prominent startup accelerator, which helped lay the groundwork for BloomTech's development and growth.12

Before founding BloomTech, Allred co-founded Grasswire, a media platform, and worked in various roles including Senior Manager of Growth at LendUp and Social Team Lead at Fit Marketing. He is also an author of the growth hacking textbook Secret Sauce, which contributed to his initial funding for BloomTech.12

Allred has been recognized for his innovative approach to education, addressing the disconnect between the labor market and traditional education systems. His ideas have been featured in major publications like The Harvard Business Review, WIRED, and The New York Times .2

Recently, BloomTech and Allred faced scrutiny from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) for allegedly misleading students about the nature of their income share agreements and inflating job placement statistics. This resulted in significant penalties and restrictions on their operations.34

Allred resides in San Francisco with his family and is fluent in Russian.12