Run it as a camp, a club or an after school program

Young people plan a small business, pitch it to people who know them, sell something real and report back on how it went. You pick how far along that road your program goes.

Create a free accountRead the lessons first

Free, with no licence and no per-participant charge.

Two calendars, two different answers

A program that runs alongside the school year and a camp that runs through the summer are not the same problem, so we have stopped pretending one plan suits both.

The two program calendarsAn after school program runs from September to June, about 35 weeks. A summer camp runs from late June to August, about 9 weeks.SepOctNovDecJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugAfter school programabout 35 weeksSummer campabout 9 weeksBoth can reach a pitch night. Only the longer one is certain to reach a market day.

September to June

About 35 weeks. Even meeting once a week, there is room for the whole venture loop, including selling something and writing back to the people who backed them.

June to August

About 9 weeks. A camp meeting most days has plenty of time for the full loop. A camp meeting once or twice a week is better aiming at a pitch night.

Pick a finish line

Each one produces something the young person can show somebody. Stopping at one of these is a proper ending, not an unfinished course.

  1. They understand the idea

    What entrepreneurship really is, and how to spot a problem worth solving. No business plan yet.

    Modules
    1 to 2
    Lessons
    37
    Assignments to hand in
    4

  2. They can pitch

    Most programs stop here

    The problem, who it is for, the solution and why theirs. That is enough for a pitch page they can share and a pitch night you can run.

    Modules
    1 to 4
    Lessons
    83
    Assignments to hand in
    8

  3. They can sell

    Adds how it reaches people, what it costs to make and what to charge. Enough to open a shop page and hold a market day.

    Modules
    1 to 6
    Lessons
    127
    Assignments to hand in
    12

  4. The whole thing

    Adds tracking the money, knowing whether it worked, and writing back to everyone who backed them.

    Modules
    1 to 8
    Lessons
    185
    Assignments to hand in
    15

Plan by assignments, not by weeks

We could tell you a program takes six weeks, but that would be made up. A camp meeting five mornings a week and a club meeting one afternoon a week will turn the same material into wildly different calendars.

The number that actually paces a program is the assignments. The videos are short and a group can watch several in one sitting. An assignment is where they stop, think and produce something, and that usually takes a session on its own.

Count your sessions, then pick the finish line with about that many assignments in it.

What you get for running it

One link brings your group in

Send a link or a list of email addresses. Everyone who joins through it appears on your list automatically.

You see who is where

Lesson by lesson, not a single percentage. You can tell at a glance who is stuck and who has run ahead.

You read their work and reply

They hand in writing, a file or a link to something they made. You write back, and they get an email telling them to look.

Nothing to grade

There is no mark, no score and no gradebook on assignments. You leave comments, which is the right shape for a club.

A pitch night at the end

Set up a showcase, let them enter their pitch, and have the room vote. Nothing is visible until you approve it.

A real market day

Each young person gets a shop page. Customers reserve, then pay them in person on the day. No card, no float, no cash box to reconcile.

Things worth knowing first

  • You will sign up as a teacher. There are only two kinds of account. The teacher one has the tools you need, but the wording says teacher in places where it should say something broader.
  • It is not matched to a curriculum. We have not published a mapping to any provincial document. That rarely matters for a camp, and it might matter for you.
  • The videos are on YouTube. They are unlisted, but if your venue blocks YouTube then 106 of the lessons will not play. Everything written still works.
  • Module 9 has no leader guide. The other eight do. Module 9 covers personal finance and sits outside the venture loop anyway.

Questions we get

I run a camp, not a school. Which account do I make?
Sign up as a teacher. There are only two kinds of account, student and teacher, and the teacher one is what gives you the group list, the progress view and the feedback tools. The wording says teacher in a few places, which we know is not quite right for a camp leader.
How many sessions do I need?
That depends on how long yours run, so the honest answer is to count assignments rather than weeks. Videos are short and a group can watch several in a sitting. An assignment usually takes a session on its own. Modules 1 to 4 have eight of them, modules 1 to 6 have twelve, and modules 1 to 8 have fifteen.
Do we have to start at module 1?
It is much better if you do. The business plan builds up from module 3 onward, and each part is attached to the assignment that produces it, so skipping ahead leaves gaps in what they can pitch. Modules 1 to 8 are readable without an account if you want to plan against the real thing.
Can the young people take part of it home?
Yes. Their account is theirs, and their work stays in it after your program ends. If they want to carry on through the rest of the modules on their own, nothing stops them.
What does it cost?
Nothing, for you and for them. There is no fee, no licence and no per-participant charge.
Is it matched to any curriculum?
No. We have not published a mapping to any provincial curriculum document. For most camps and clubs that does not matter, but it is worth knowing if your program has to report against one.

Have a look before you plan around it

Modules 1 to 8 are free to read with no account, so you can build your sessions against the real material.

Create a free accountSee how the venture part works

Running something we have not thought of? Tell us about it.