Instructional design, embedded — for the team without an L&D specialist

BUILT BY AN L&D VETERAN. NOT A SOFTWARE COMPANY.

The methodology of a senior L&D pro. The output of a full team. The hours of an afternoon.

Describe a training need in plain English. AI drafts the needs analysis, training plan, course outline, modules, and assessments — using your chosen instructional design framework (ADDIE, SAM, Agile, 70-20-10, Bloom's, or Backward Design). You review, refine, publish.

SCORM 1.2 export · Verifiable PDF certificates · Works with any LMS · Built for small businesses that need real training without hiring a specialist.

Start free trial See how it works

NEW · ZERO-SETUP ONBOARDING

Set up in 60 seconds. First course published in 10 minutes.

Drop your company URL on signup. Our AI reads your website to learn your industry's terminology, your compliance requirements, your team size, and your brand voice — automatically. By the time you sign in, the AI Course Generator is already tuned to draft courses sized and shaped for your operation. Then the Coach walks you through publishing your first course — pick a topic, watch the AI draft modules, lessons, quizzes, and assessments, then hit Publish. Faster than your LMS vendor's onboarding email. No help docs. No tutorials. No content-strategy workshop.

Start free — first course in 10 minutes

What It Does

The institutional knowledge of a senior L&D pro, embedded.

Real automations. Not feature checklists. Not prompts you have to write. The agent runs on a schedule and you review the work.

AI Course Generator

Type a topic and audience. AI drafts a full course: learning objectives, modules, sections, quizzes, scenarios. You edit, you publish.

Auto-Generated Quizzes & Assessments

Multiple choice, true/false, multi-select, and short-answer questions — generated from the course content. Short-answer auto-grading uses keyword scoring you control. AI authors the questions; the answer key is yours.

Adaptive Learning Paths

Different roles need different modules. Agent assigns the right path on hire and adjusts based on quiz performance.

Methodology Pipeline — 6 ID Frameworks Built In

ADDIE, SAM, Agile ID, 70-20-10, Bloom's Taxonomy, and Backward Design (UbD) — each walked phase-by-phase with AI assistance available on every field. Pick your craft; the software respects it.

Completion Proof On Demand

Auditor wants harassment training completion? Filter by period, export CSV. The receipts an auditor wants — without an audit-prep project.

SCORM 1.2 Export

Export any course as a SCORM 1.2 package. Works with any SCORM 1.2-compatible LMS. Ship the .zip, you're done.

PDF + JSON Export

Same content, three formats. PDF for print and review. JSON for backup or migration. SCORM for the LMS. One source of truth.

For Small & Mid-Sized Businesses

The L&D function you don't have to hire for.

For 1-to-100-employee companies that need real training — onboarding, compliance, role-specific upskilling — but can't justify hiring an instructional designer. The methodology is in the software so your operations lead, HR generalist, or capable line manager can run it.

"We need to onboard new hires, train on the new product, and prove people actually completed safety training — but we have no L&D person and no time to be one."

Training at SMBs is a Loom video and a Notion doc. Maybe a checklist. Definitely no recertification tracking, no completion proof, no learning paths.

When the auditor or insurance broker asks "show me 100% completion of harassment training," you're scrambling through Slack messages from 8 months ago.

LearningByDesign drafts the courses, tracks completion, sends recert reminders, and generates compliance proof on demand. The instructional design rigor is in the software so a capable line manager can run it. Here's what that looks like in practice:

No L&D Background Required

The wizard walks you through every step. Pick a topic, answer plain-English questions about your team and goals, get a published course. The instructional design rigor is in the software — you don't have to bring it.

Onboarding That Runs Itself

New hires get auto-enrolled in your onboarding path. Day 1: welcome video and role expectations. Week 1: product training. Month 1: compliance modules. Set it up once; the system handles every new hire after.

Compliance Training, Audit-Ready

Annual mandatory training, recurring recerts, completion records on demand. Sends reminders before certifications lapse. Generates the proof when your auditor asks. No spreadsheets, no panic.

Save A Hire You Couldn't Make Anyway

An Instructional Designer runs $85K base — closer to $110K fully loaded. You weren't going to make that hire — your ops lead was going to handle it on top of their actual job. We make that not painful.

Your Ops Lead Becomes Your Training Director

Any capable manager can run this. No instructional design certification, no specialized credentials, no expensive consulting engagement to onboard. The system brings the rigor; your people bring the context only they have.

The Tools The 50,000-Person Companies Use

Six instructional design frameworks. SCORM 1.2 export. Kirkpatrick L1–L4 evaluations. Verifiable certificates. The same craft enterprise L&D teams pay six figures for — at a price a 50-person company can write off.

Try it free — 14 days + 3 downloadable training programs

The Math

What you'd save by not hiring an Instructional Designer.

Drag the slider. Watch the math do the selling.

How many employees do you have?

50 employees

Your LearningByDesign cost

$4,788/yr

$249/mo — flat, everything included

Cost to hire an Instructional Designer

$110,500/yr

$85K base + ~30% benefits & overhead

Your annual savings

$105,712/yr

Most of an ID's salary, back in your budget

Based on national-average Instructional Designer total compensation (~$85K base + ~30% benefits and overhead). Local market and seniority vary. Tier auto-suggests based on company size; your usage and feature needs may push you to a different plan.

How It Works

From spreadsheet to autopilot in a week.

No implementation team. No 90-day rollout. The agent's running by Friday.

Pick A Topic

Tell the agent what you need to teach: 'security awareness for office staff', '90-day onboarding for sales hires'. Pick the audience.

Review The Generated Course

Agent builds modules, quizzes, scenarios. You read through, edit voice, swap examples for your real product. Publish.

Auto-Enroll & Track

New hires enrolled on day 1. Recerts queued by cadence. Completion proof exportable any time. The agent runs it.

Tom Christian — founder of LearningByDesign

Thomas Christian — Founder

Built by an L&D veteran. Not a software company.

Enterprise capability. SMB pricing.

Because the 50-person team deserves the same tools as the 50,000-person team.

I'm Tom Christian. I've spent 25 years building training, support, and operations functions for SaaS start-ups. I hold a Master's in Adult Education. I've seen exactly where small teams hit operational walls — and exactly what specialist work they can't afford to hire for.

LearningByDesign is built for that org: the 1-to-100-employee company where the budget is real but the headcount isn't. Every workflow is designed so a capable line manager can run it — no instructional design background required. The methodology is in the software. Your judgment stays on top.

This is a bootstrap boutique. Customer count is capped on purpose. No investor roadmap. No exit plan. If you buy in, you're buying the relationship — not a logo that gets acquired in three years.

And onboarding isn't a help doc and a prayer. The AI tunes the product to your business before you sign in — but because you're an early customer, you also get a free one-on-one onboarding session with me to get your first course built and published. You probably won't need it. You'll have it anyway.

Years in L&D

Many

SaaS start-ups served — L&D, Support, Ops

M.Ed.

Adult Education

1–100

Employee sweet spot

"Twenty-five years watching SMBs get priced out of good software. So I built one they can afford."

Pricing

Pricing.

One license. Every framework, every workflow, every learner. No per-seat surprises.

FOUNDING PARTNER PROGRAM · 5 SEATS

Help shape it — free for a year.

I'm hand-picking five founding partners: LearningByDesign free for a year, a direct line to me, and a seat shaping the roadmap — in exchange for honest feedback as you use it (and a testimonial if it earns one). Hand-picked, not first-come, and separate from the early-adopter pricing below.

Apply to be a founding partner

EARLY-ADOPTER PRICE LOCK

Lock $249/mo for life.

One price. Everything LearningByDesign does, for every learner — no tiers, no feature gates, no per-seat fees. Lock in as an early adopter and your rate never rises, even as the price climbs for everyone who comes after you.

Early Adopter

$249/mo

Locked for life — your rate never rises

Everything LearningByDesign does — no features held back
AI course generator
SCORM 1.2 export (any LMS)
Auto-assignment + reminder/escalation engine
Compliance training calendar
Auto-issued certificates + verifiable URLs
LMS analytics
BYOK AI — your keys, no markup
Every learner — no per-seat fees