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The Challenger program
How it is funded

For applicants and incoming Challengers

How Gauntlet
costs you nothing

Sound too good to be true? Find out how we provide flights,
housing, food,
and world-class
training at $0 to you.
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The loop

Companies pay first

Partners put in the money.Gauntlet spends it on you.You put in the work.

The funding loop: hiring partners buy credits for access to the cohort, which funds your seat. Gauntlet trains and verifies you and books your interviews. You get hired and the credit is redeemed. 01 02 03 Hiring partners Buy credits for access to the cohort. Those fees fund your seat. Gauntlet Trains and verifies you. Books your partner interviews. You Interview and get hired. Their credit is redeemed. Prepaid fees A funded seat A hire What you pay $0
  1. 01
    Hiring partnersBuy credits for access to the cohort. Those fees fund your seat, and the partner holds the credits.
  2. 02
    GauntletTrains and verifies you, then books your interviews with the partners who paid.
  3. 03
    YouInterview and get hired. Their credit is redeemed, and the loop starts again with the next cohort.

The model

A recruiting fee,
paid in advance

Gauntlet is not a bootcamp and it is not a scholarship.It is a hiring pipeline companies pay to access, and that payment funds your seat.
01

Partners buy hiring credits upfront

A credit is the standard recruiting fee companies pay to find engineers. Partners pay it before the cohort begins.

They pay early on Gauntlet's reputation
for finding and forging top AI talent, cohort after cohort.

02

Those credits fund your seat

Your seat includes training, flights, housing,
food, laundry, and interview coaching.

The credits cover all of it. No tuition, no deposit, nothing to repay.

03

A hire redeems the credit

When a partner hires you, their prepaid credit is applied to the fee.

Gauntlet is paid in advance. Partners come back only when they hire, which keeps the program pointed at the outcome you want.

The investment

A five‑figure investment
in every Challenger

Funded by pre-purchased hiring credits.Billed to you: nothing.
  • Ten weeks of trainingCovered
  • Round-trip flightsCovered
  • Six weeks of housingCovered
  • Every meal on siteCovered
  • LaundryCovered
  • Interview coachingCovered
  • Partner introductionsCovered
  • Demo DayCovered
  • Billed to you$0

The ten weeks

Four weeks remote.
Six weeks in Austin.

Hiring partner introductions begin in week five and run through week seven.
Weeks 1 to 4 remote Weeks 5 to 10 in Austin Weeks 5 to 7 partner introductions
Before week 1Admissions

You earn the seat before anyone pays for it

Admission is merit based.Clear a rigorous cognitive assessment and show us you can build.
  • No fee to apply. No fee to attend.
  • Partners prepay for people who cleared the bar, so the bar does not move.
Weeks 1 to 4Remote

Build from wherever you are

The first four weeks are remote.You work full time inside the curriculum, shipping with AI at every stage.
  • 80 to 100 hours a week.
  • Evaluated every week. Not everyone continues.
  • This is where the roster gets built. Partners prepay for the people who make it through.
  • Round-trip flights on us: to Austin at the end of week four, home after Demo Day.
Week 5Arrive in Austin

Land in Austin. Everything else is handled.

From week five on, you live and work in Austin.Housing, food, laundry, and logistics are covered, so the only thing competing for your attention is the work.
  • Partner introductions begin this week.
  • Partners have been waiting since before week one to meet this roster.
  • A workspace built for the pace of the program.
Weeks 5 to 7Hiring partner introductions

Interviews are scheduled for you

Partners who prepaid for access meet the cohort, and the introductions are booked for you. Your guaranteed interviews for $200K+ roles start here.You do not cold apply. You do not chase recruiters. You show your work.
  • Curated introductions matched to your stack.
  • Hiring Partner Event Day in Austin.
  • Interview coaching before and between loops.
A visiting hiring partner talking with a Challenger on the atrium bleachers at Gauntlet HQ
Hiring partner visit, Gauntlet HQ
Weeks 8 to 9Interview loops and offers

Offers are earned, not guaranteed

Interview loops continue and offers come in while you are still building.
  • Your guaranteed $200K+ interviews began in week five.
  • Offers are yours to win. The program exists to make sure you are ready for the room.
Week 10Demo Day and graduation

Ship it in front of the people who hire

Demo Day closes the program. You present what you built to hiring partners and the cohort.You graduate as a Champion, available to start.
  • The partner who hires you redeems the credit they paid before you ever arrived.

The track record

This has been working
for a while

Train-to-hire program, est. January 2025

$200Kto$950K*

Offers received and accepted from attending the program

*Range of cash compensation for offers accepted from Hiring Partners in our program.

1,350+

Individuals transformed

Across train-to-hire and corporate training.

100+

Commercial partners

Across train-to-hire and corporate training.

Abhay Dalmia, VP of Engineering at Nerdy

From a hiring partner

We've shifted our dev cycles from monthly to almost daily. That's a level of iteration we've been able to achieve with the Gauntlet engineers.
Abhay DalmiaVP of Engineering, Nerdy

The hard part

The catch is the work

Partners prepay because the roster is worth it.It stays worth it because the program stays hard.

80to100

Hours a week

Ten weeks at an intensity most people have never worked.

That pace is the program, and it is why partners trust what comes out of it.

10of10

Weeks evaluated

Evaluated every week against a clear standard.

Not everyone admitted makes the partner roster.

6of10

Weeks in Austin

You relocate for the back half. Flights and housing are covered, but your life is in Austin for six weeks.

Partner introductions, interviews, and Demo Day all happen there, in person.

Apply now

Start your
application.

Submit this form and the assessment link lands in your inbox.
A Challenger at a laptop on the mezzanine at Gauntlet HQ in the evening
Heads down, Gauntlet HQ

Questions we hear

Asked by almost everyone

Do I ever pay Gauntlet?

No. No tuition, no deposit, nothing to repay.

Partners fund the program through credits bought before the cohort begins.

Why would a company pay before meeting me?

They already pay recruiting fees, and those searches take months.

Prepaying gets them early access to a roster that has been tested every week.

Those that are truly living, breathing, eating, sleeping AI are still diamonds in the rough. To find them, and to really ensure they've dug as deep as we need them to, was difficult for us to not only source, but screen.
Rian SchilligoChief People Officer, Nerdy

What does a partner get for a credit?

Roster access, curated introductions, and interview time with engineers whose work they can see.

When they hire, the credit is applied to the fee.

Is the interview guarantee real?

Yes. Interviews for roles paying $200K and up are guaranteed, booked for you from the partner network starting in week five.

The offer is yours to win.