Your child can run this one themselves

They plan a small business, pitch it to people who know them, sell something real, and write back about how it went. You do not have to sign up for anything on their behalf.

Sign your child up freeRead the lessons first

Free, with no card and no subscription.

The awkward thing nobody tells you

If your child wants to sell something online, the obvious answer is a proper shop platform. The catch is that they cannot hold the account. A person under the age of majority generally cannot enter a binding contract, so somebody else has to be the merchant.

That somebody is you. You accept the terms, and the earnings sit against your name. Your child ends up helping run a business that is legally yours.

Whether an adult must hold the account on each platform
PlatformAdult must hold the accountWhat that means
ShopifyYesAccount holder must be an adult
EtsyYes13 to 17 only on a parent's account
SquareYesNo provision for minors at all
HatchableNoNo merchant account to open

The age of majority is 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec and Saskatchewan, and 19 in British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon. In those seven, even an eighteen-year-old is still too young. Checked August 2026.

Why it works differently here

We take no payment at all. There is no merchant account, so there is nothing your child is too young to sign.

How the money movesA backer pays your child directly, by cash or e-transfer. Hatchable sits to one side and only writes down what was promised and what arrived. No money passes through Hatchable.Family ora customerYour childkeeps what they earncash or e-transferdirectly, in personHatchablewrites it down

Somebody backs your child, or buys what they made, and pays them the way your family already moves money. Hatchable keeps the record straight and never touches a penny of it.

What your child actually does

  1. Step 1

    They work out the idea

    Who has the problem, what the answer is, what it costs to make. It builds up over the course rather than being written in one go.

  2. Step 2

    They pitch it to people who know them

    A page with their idea and what they are asking for. It has a private link. Family and friends can pledge support, and your child writes down what arrives.

  3. Step 3

    They sell something real

    A simple shop page. Customers reserve what they want and pay your child in person when they collect it. No card is entered anywhere.

  4. Step 4

    They report back

    What happened, what they learned, what is next. Everyone who backed them sees it. This is the part most young people remember.

What we do about safety

Their pitch is private

It is only reachable by a link your child chooses to send. There is no directory, and no way to browse from one child's page to another.

Search engines are told to skip it

Pitch, shop and showcase pages are marked noindex, so they do not appear in search results.

First names only in public

Anywhere a stranger could see, your child is shown by first name. Their full name stays inside their own account.

They can switch it off

Unsharing hides the page immediately. Generating a new link breaks every link already sent, in case one went somewhere it should not have.

A teacher approves class showcases

If a class runs a pitch night, nothing is visible outside the class until their teacher has approved it.

No card details, from anyone

Not from your child, not from you, not from anyone who backs them. There is nowhere on Hatchable to enter one.

Questions parents ask

How old does my child need to be?
Twelve. The course is written for students aged 12 and up. We ask for an age when a student signs up, but it is optional.
What do you store about my child?
Their name, their email address, and their age if they chose to give it. Then the work they do on the course: which lessons they have finished, what they have handed in, and anything they write into their own plan, shop or report. No home address, no phone number, no date of birth, and no payment details, because there is nowhere to enter any of those.
Does my child owe tax on what they earn?
We are not able to give tax advice, and a project at this scale is unlikely to raise the question. For what it is worth, the Canada Revenue Agency expects anyone with income to file regardless of age, but the federal basic personal amount was $16,129 for 2025, so earnings below roughly that level attract no federal tax. Contributions to the Canada Pension Plan are not required under 18. If your child's project grows into something substantial, speak to an accountant.
Why can my child not just use Shopify or Etsy?
They can, but not in their own name. Those platforms require the account holder to be an adult, because a minor generally cannot enter a binding contract. That means you would sign up, you would accept the terms, and the earnings would sit against your name. Your child would be helping run a business that is legally yours. Here there is no merchant account, so there is nothing they are too young to sign.
Is somebody supposed to be supervising this?
A teacher can be, and if your child joined through a class then their teacher sees their progress and reads their work. A student can also do the whole course on their own. Either way you are welcome to sit with them, and the whole course is readable without an account if you want to look first.
What does it cost?
Nothing. There is no fee, no subscription, no premium version and no card required, for students, parents or teachers.

Have a look before you decide

Modules 1 to 8 are readable without an account, so you can see exactly what your child would be doing.

Sign your child up freeSee how the whole thing works

Questions? Ask us anything.