Parent handbook
The boring details, in full, before you apply.
Jr Founder asks your child to talk to strangers about money. That only works if the structure around it is tight and you can see all of it. Here it is.
Safety and supervision
- Background checks
- Every adult in the building — staff, mentors, and guest founders — clears a background check before the weekend. No exceptions, including for volunteers who only attend one session.
- Ratios
- One mentor per six kids on the floor, plus a program lead and a floating safety lead who is not assigned to a pod. Kids are never alone with a single adult.
- Hard wraps, no overnights
- Both days end at 5:00 PM and the building closes. Times are published before you apply. If we run long on stage, we cut the stage, not your evening.
- Open door
- Parents are welcome in the building at any hour of either day. You do not need to tell us you're coming, and there is no part of the weekend you are not allowed to watch.
- Meals
- Two breakfasts and two lunches are included. We collect allergies and dietary needs at registration and label every item. Nut-free by default.
How we keep customer outreach safe
- Customers are invited, not found
- The Saturday Customer Gauntlet uses people we brought in on purpose: staff, mentors, partner businesses, and consenting adults from the local community. Kids are not sent into the street to approach strangers.
- Nothing personal gets published
- No child publishes a phone number, home address, personal email, or school name. Products launch behind a program email alias and a program phone number that routes to staff.
- Supervised channels only
- Any outreach that leaves the building — a DM, an email, a post — goes out from a supervised account with a mentor reading over the shoulder. Saturday's homework is one message, and we tell you exactly what it is before you leave.
- Real money, handled by adults
- Payments run through a program-operated account. Kids see the dashboard, the receipt, and the number. They do not hold the credentials, and funds are reconciled and passed to families after the weekend.
- Media consent is opt-in
- If you don't tick the box, your child stays out of frame — in photos, in the Demo Fair recording, and in anything we publish. It has no bearing on the application.
What to bring
- A laptop if you have one
- Any laptop that opens a browser is enough. If you don't have one, say so at registration and we will have a loaner waiting — this is common and not a problem.
- A phone, or a parent's phone
- Used for filming the 90-second video and nothing else. Sprouts (8–10) can share a pod device.
- A notebook and a pen
- Gate 2 requires notes we can actually read. Paper beats a screen for this and we will say so all weekend.
- Water bottle, layers
- Build rooms run cold. Kids move between rooms all day.
- Nothing prepared
- No deck, no prototype, no business plan. Arriving with nothing is the intended starting position.
After the weekend
- The 30-day plan
- Every kid leaves with one page: their next ten customers, their next price, and one ship date. It is written on Sunday, not emailed later.
- Two check-ins
- We write at day 30 and day 90 and ask a single question — did you get another customer? Kids who keep going get mentor intros. Kids who stop owe us nothing.
- The alumni room
- A moderated group chat for alumni, with parents able to view. Moderated by staff, not open to the public.
- Your data
- We keep applications to run admissions and the two check-ins. We do not sell them, we don't add you to a marketing list you didn't ask for, and you can have your family's record deleted by emailing us.
Still have a question?
Email us before you apply. A human answers, usually the same day.