Free · Self-paced · No account

Can't get to a city? Clear the same six gates from your kitchen table.

The Jr Founder Course is the weekend, unpacked. Six modules, about eight hours of real work, and the same finish line: a working product, ten real customer conversations, and one dollar from somebody who is not related to you.

Start module oneSee the syllabus
Modules
6
Work
~8 hrs
Ages
8–14
Cost
Free

How it works

Read, do, check. There is no fourth step.

  1. 01

    Read the module

    Ten minutes. Each one is written to be read by the kid, not the parent, and every module ends with a specific thing to go and do.

  2. 02

    Do the mission

    The real work happens off the screen — writing ten problems, having ten conversations, making ten asks. Reading a module without doing the mission clears nothing.

  3. 03

    Check the gate

    Every module has a definition of done, and it is binary. If you cannot tick all four lines honestly, you have not cleared it. Nobody is watching, which is exactly why this only works if you are honest.

Parents, three jobs: agree the list of ten people before module two, sit nearby for the conversations in modules two and five, and own the payment account in module five. Your kid should see every number and hold none of the credentials.

Your progress

— / 6

Saved in this browser as you go.

Enrol (optional)

Optional. The course is open either way — enrolling just gets you a nudge per module and a certificate at the end.

A parent's email, not a child's. We never ask a kid to make an account, and we don't sell or share the address.

Syllabus

Six modules. Six gates. Each one is cleared or it isn't.

  1. Gate 01

    Name it

    Find a problem worth solving

    Write one sentence that names a real person, a real annoyance, and what they do about it today.

    45 min

  2. Gate 02

    Talk to ten

    Ask before you build

    Interview ten real people about the problem and come back with their exact words.

    90 min

  3. Gate 03

    Ship it

    Make the smallest real thing

    Put something live that a stranger can use without you standing next to them.

    120 min

  4. Gate 04

    Price it

    Put a number on it

    Choose a price and say it out loud without apologising.

    45 min

  5. Gate 05

    First dollar

    Ask for money

    Collect a real payment, or a written commitment to pay, from someone who is not related to you.

    120 min

  6. Gate 06

    Tell it

    Say it in ninety seconds

    Film a 90-second video that makes a stranger understand what you built and what you proved.

    60 min

What this course is not

There are no videos, no quizzes, and no badges for reading.

You cannot pass this course at a desk. Five of the six gates require you to speak to somebody who is not in your family, and one of them requires you to take their money.

That is the entire design. The reading is the short part. It exists to make the next hour of your real life less frightening, and then it gets out of the way.

Questions

Before you start.

Is the course really free?

Yes, and there is no account to create, no card to enter, and no locked modules. It is the same six gates we run at the in-person weekend, rewritten so a kid can work through them at home over a few weeks.

How is this different from the weekend?

Compression and company. The weekend does all six gates in two days with mentors at your table and customers in the room, which is a far stronger forcing function. The course gives you the same gates and the same standards, at your own pace, alone or with a parent. Plenty of kids do the course first and arrive at a weekend already having sold something.

What does a parent need to do?

Three things. Agree the list of ten people before module two. Sit nearby for the conversations in modules two and five. And own the payment account in module five — kids should see every number and hold none of the credentials. Everything else they can do on their own.

How long does it take?

About eight hours of real work. Most families spread it over three to six weeks, one module per sitting. Module five is the one that takes longest, and it is the one worth slowing down for.

Does my kid need a laptop or coding skills?

Neither. Module three can be cleared with a paper sign and a table. If they do want to build software, the module walks through describing it to an AI tool in plain words instead of writing code.

Is progress saved?

Yes, in your own browser, so it survives closing the tab but does not follow you to another device — and we never ask a child to create an account. If you enrol with a parent email we will also send the next module and the certificate.

Gate one takes forty-five minutes. Start it now.

And if you want the compressed version with mentors in the room, the weekend is still free.

Start module oneApply for a weekend