Creating your first product

Choose the type first, because you can't change it later

You have eight types to choose from, and they differ in what the buyer gets:

• Course: lessons in modules, self-paced learning
• Cohort program: a group starting on a set date
• Ebook / digital download: the buyer downloads a file
• Membership: recurring access, billed monthly, quarterly or yearly
• Mentoring: one-to-one sessions with slot booking
• Resource hub: a library of files to browse
• Community access: just the space, no materials
• Bundle: several products sold together

The type can't be changed after creation. If you pick the wrong one, create a new product.

If you are torn between a course and a cohort program: a cohort has a start date and a shared group, while a course can be started alone at any time.

You create an ebook in Ebook Studio. After choosing the "Ebook / digital download" type in the wizard, or clicking "New ebook" on the product list, Ebook Studio opens: four short steps, with no modules or lessons.

A type with a padlock requires a higher plan. The tile shows the plan it is available from and your current plan. On the Free plan you can have one product.

Draft versus published

A new product is created as a draft. Only the academy's staff can see a draft. Learners can't buy it, find it in the catalogue or see it at any link.

Publishing is a separate, deliberate step. Only after it is the product visible. In Ebook Studio you can choose "Publish now" straight away.

This is the most common surprise: "I created a course but the learners can't see it". It almost always means it is still a draft.

An order that works

1. Create the product and choose its type.
2. Set the price on the "Pricing options" tab. Every new product starts with a free pricing option. If you want to sell it, set a price.
3. Add the content. For a course: the syllabus, modules and lessons.
4. Check how it looks for a learner with "Preview as learner".
5. Publish.

In the lesson editor you move to the previous and next lesson using the bar above the form, without going back to the Programs tab. If you have unsaved changes, we ask before you move on. A Video lesson without a video address gets a warning in the Publishing section, because the learner would see it without a player.

You can publish a course with only some of its lessons and add more later. Just remember that adding lessons lowers the progress percentage of people who are part-way through. They don't lose anything, the total grows, but it's worth letting them know.

What you need to sell for money

Publishing a paid product requires connected payments, meaning a Stripe Connect account set up in the academy settings. Without it you can publish a free product but not a paid one.

There is also a minimum price for paid products: 19 PLN, 5 EUR or 5 USD. Lower amounts are blocked, because the payment operator's fee would eat most of them.

The sales page

Each product can have its own page at cohorta.co/p/your-academy/page-address. You set the end of the address in the "Page address" field. You choose a template and edit the sections. This is the page you send to customers.

The page only shows what you enter. The countdown to the start in the Webinar and Cohort Live templates only appears once you set a date in the "Offer ends (countdown)" field. Without a date the page has no countdown. In some templates, if you don't upload a cover, we create one from the product name in your brand colour.

Separately there is the academy store at cohorta.co/sklep/your-academy, which shows your published products with "Public" visibility together. "Members only" and "Private" products don't appear there. You turn the store on in the settings.

Common stumbling blocks

Learners can't see the course. Check that it is published and that its visibility isn't set to "Private".

I can't publish a paid product. Stripe Connect is missing or the price is below the minimum.

The lessons are there, but the learner sees an empty list. Lessons have their own "Published" switch. New lessons are published by default, so check whether someone has turned it off.

When to write to us

• Publishing returns an error you don't understand.
• Connecting Stripe Connect stops halfway.
• A product disappeared from the catalogue without you changing anything.

Include the academy and product name.