Many faculty make the mistake of trying to start with an online degree. Administration, administrative policies and even other faculty are not necessarily ready for completely online programs. Large-scale programs are risky in the eyes of administration. Putting a program online will often involve decisions at multiple levels, months for business plan development and long-term marketing schemes to determine if there is an audience for such a program. By the time approval is given, the faculty members responsible for the initiative could be too worn out to follow through with the plan. Simply starting with a course or a certificate provides a less-risky approach for administration. It allows other faculty to teach a course or two to see the possibility and pedagogical opportunities with online learning and it gives time to work out the bugs associated with changing hundred-year-old institutional policies (e.g., differentiating between in-state and out-of-state students, something that is not necessarily applicable online). In this article, the authors provide suggestions for bottom-up design of online programs and discuss the technical, administrative, curricular and academic issues surrounding online education and online program development.