My high-school student entrepreneurs
Our world needs many more creative technologists to solve the pressing needs of society.
Just yesterday I learned something new about dying! Yes, you heard it right! This is about death and salvation. You see… my step-dad works with a local hospice as a mental health therapist! Of the 30-odd patients he has worked with, many died painfully. Yet these were the same people who were full of regret. They left knowing they did not make a meaningful impact on anyone’s life. Clearly, we all aspire to live a purposeful life.
I for one enjoy mentoring high school students. Five years ago, I discovered a knack for effectively communicating with young minds. It happened while guiding my older daughter in high school with her college admissions. Over the years I have helped several more students as part of my affiliation with a large non-profit agency called Science Gurus.
I’ve recently taken my mentoring platform a step further. And that’s what I’m here to tell you about and how you all can help. Just last week (07/17/2021) I finished teaching a technology business internship summer program for high school students.
“The passion for experimenting is our gift to the future generations” — Harpal
The admission criteria were simple: The applicant profiles should have:
- Prior programming experience
- Intent/plan to create a digital product or service
- Demonstrate entrepreneurial zeal, and passion
Our team received 26-student applications to the program. Of those seven students dropped out after I interviewed them. I just prodded their passion for being an entrepreneur :-). And the remaining 19-stayed on with me to complete the program. It was a grueling 6-week long program with a commitment of 25–30 hours per week of work from the students. For example, just in week one, my students learned the following:
- Understand what is a business model canvas using examples such as Netflix, and a local bike store.
- Observed a local business store in action, create a business model canvas, and present the findings.
- Presented their digital product idea to the team.
- Made a case to their assigned team why theirs was the best idea, agreed on the team decided product.
We formulate their teams around the strongest 4-ideas. Those project ideas were then developed in the remainder of the program. Over the 6-weeks they learned to perform market analysis of their ideas. They pivoted a few times on researching more. We taught them sound marketing, finance, and accounting principles. We dived into development methodologies such as Agile, and Scrum. We even taught the students about Machine learning and Blockchain business ideas for future startups.
The hardest session though was the students had to tell a personal story to the group. The feedback they'd receive was about the core values that were exhibited. The revelations surprised some of the students. The bottom line is the students came out of my program way more confident and ready for the practical world. And that was the main intent in the program.
Awesome Mentors
Here’s an African proverb: “It takes a village to raise a child” This means it takes an entire community of people to inculcates values to build a child.
Now, I wasn’t as fortunate to have received much mentoring support in my early years. But watching my students learn from Sohail, Rick and so many distinguished speakers, that made me whole.
In Sohails words, “Life is too short to be working for the wrong person”. One of the teaching assistants of our class had an epiphany hearing Sohail say that. The talk gave him the much-needed confidence and a timely jolt.
Rick’s perspectives on the translated value of such a unique internship experience to college admissions were priceless. Mustansir advised the students on an 8-week formula to be successful in a retail job, one of the easiest ways for a teenager to build their confidence. My 16-year old went and got a job at Jamba Juice just 2-days after hearing that advice. Divya took the students through a day the life of a Venture capitalist. Bob told them stories from his time served in Vietnam and how that experience helps him be a better CEO. Hetav talked about the impact of Amazon’s 14-Leadership principles has had on his work.
My dear ex-colleague and friend, Pundalik talked to the virtues of grit. How he fought back from a major life-threatening illness, He’s now back roaring and even more successful. Vishti told her stories of failing and then succeeding. She has risen from being one of the youngest in her group to a Sr Data Scientist at LinkedIn.
Shalini challenged the students to the art of presenting ideas to senior leadership. What is innate confidence like, and how one can be groomed? Raji asked students to make a habit early of giving back to society. “You have a lot to tell, that we can all learn from,” she said. Vinay and Vishal, the Berkeley twins guided the students to the path to success at college and the first year of their job, the hurdles and learnings.
Student Deliverables
The students were tasked with four deliverables.. of that the most notable was something familiar, the Business Model Canvas. It’s an effective framework to brainstorm a business model or idea. The Minimum viable product was an awakening for many students who wanted to boil the ocean too fast and too soon.
In closing
The world absolutely needs more technology entrepreneurs. We need their help to solve the pressing needs of society. With this program, I have laid the groundwork. I see this as the start of a larger global movement. At present, I’m improvising the contents from the pilot experience. I will deliver the next class in the winter.
In September, I will teach a course for interested adults who’d be:
- Willing to teach a part of this class at a future date
- Be a teaching assistant in checking the turned in course work
- Mentor the students during the course.
Feel free to get in touch with me on the details listed here. https://www.successkoach.com/techbiz-entrepreneurship-program.html
