We're excited to share that our Term 3 Ideas Challenge (IC) pilot program has kicked off with a bang, with 57 teams representing 14 schools being invited to take part in our inaugural run!🤩
In a nutshell, the Ideas Challenge is an online extra-curricular entrepreneurial skills-building program where high school students from Years 7-12 benefit from a mix of live instructor-led sessions and self-paced learning content to build a fully-fledged startup pitch from an initial idea in just 6 weeks.
We have 23 founders flying solo, with the rest working in teams. In total there are around 140 students taking part!
Here are some of the initial data we've put together about our first IC cohort👇
With our help every step of the way, participating students are completing three voluntary extension tasks; one for each module on offer: Planning, Prototyping and Pitching.
These are marked on a pass/fail basis, with all passing students receiving digital certificates from Macquarie University and Young Wisdom to recognise their efforts throughout the program.🏅
Teams that go on to unlock all three digital certificates and end up in our Top-10 will be invited to pitch in person at Macquarie University on Thursday 26 September (Week 10) from 6pm. Doubling up as an end-of-term celebration, the pitch night promises to be an extraordinary event showcasing student ingenuity, agency and effort through a fun yet challenging 6-week program.
Best of all? You can come and watch (or at least join the livestream)! Please just register here to take part.
First online workshop - 20 August
We had a ball on Tuesday afternoon with over 50 students attending our first Zoom session of the program. In addition to stepping through the Challenge in detail and all of the resources needed to successfully complete assessment 1, Tash and I also asked questions of our audience like, "What does the word 'entrepreneur' mean to you?’ (see the handy word cloud below!)
We explored many of these different interpretations and a couple of examples to illustrate key points, along with our go-to definition for the program: a professional creative problem solver (someone who is making a career out of solving important problems in novel and sustainable ways).
Another important term to define was 'startup', as we tend to take a much broader view than that of the tech-based, "global from day one" Silicon Valley dogma. Of course we're very happy working with tech startups, but equally so working with small business ideas, services, physical products, not-for-profits, initiatives and events of all descriptions; so long as they are looking to solve problems and create value in a sustainable manner.
One thing the IC promises is to introduce students to concepts they probably haven't encountered before, and may not even encounter at university (if that's where they intend to go). Module 1 used Lean Startup Methodology and specifically the Lean Canvas as the primary 'planning' tool, given its accessibility and focus on real-world validation (prioritising feedback from potential users and customers over our own ideas, opinions and biases as founders).
This is one way we as entrepreneurs learn to be a little more methodical, rational and data-driven through what can be an incredibly ambiguous, emotional and tumultuous startup journey.
And like any founders trying to be a little more data-driven, we had to throw in a feedback question to see how we did!
We are so excited to see how the cohort goes through the next extension tasks as they work their way towards the pitch night. Just judging by the vibe on our first call, it's going to be something to behold - that's for sure!
Hopefully you can join us then, or at least drop us a line about how we can visit your school in Term 4 to start promoting the next Ideas Challenge for Term 1, 2025. We're aiming for 200 students then!
There are also other upcoming opportunities for schools, including our popular Student Startup Bootcamp excursions and new incursion options - both virtual and in person. If you’d like to chat about any of the above, please feel free to email our team at hello@youngwisdom.com.au or incubator@mq.edu.au