Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators
Startable is a free program that teaches students entrepreneurial and engineering skills through the design and commercialization of hardware products. Participants build their own businesses, keep all profits from their products, and pitch for prize money at our final event.
Startable participants gain a wide range of skills through the program and beyond. Participants learn product design basics from experts and gain experience forming equitable partnerships, managing meetings, creating and executing project timelines, and budgeting.
Together, participants design prototypes, marketing materials, and develop sales pitches. The program culminates in a final community event where friends and family cheer on the competitors in a pitch competition. Startable provides students with a startup community foundation, giving them support throughout the program. Students receive support through mentorship, supplies, tools, networking connections, and potentially cash investment. Returning students can benefit from internship and junior instructor opportunities.
Through Innovation Works, Startable’s mission has always been to create a learning experience, drawing upon participants from a variety of backgrounds and to promote entrepreneurship as a viable career path. Startable has helped facilitate over 300 youth-run product ideas and businesses, and supports alumni through internship opportunities, additional funding, networking, and educational opportunities.
Entrepreneurs of All Ages
When it comes to ideas, children start early and don’t stop. The Startable program curriculum includes opportunities for three age groups of students as part of after-school and community-based programming. Each group has its own pitch competition and prize money.
Elementary Startable
As students mature, so do their ideas. This level of entrepreneurship curriculum captures the unique perspective of middle school students and provides a supportive outlet for building ideas that could become something bigger. Not only do they compete for prizes, but gain valuable confidence readying students for high-school and secondary education.
Middle School Startable
Designed for young learners with big ideas, this free program integrates with existing school curricula and offers participants the opportunity to work through every stage of the entrepreneurial process while gaining practical experience and confidence.
High School Startable
Students participating in Startable at the high school level get the support and feedback needed to go from student to entrepreneur by building life-long skills and sparking interest in developing a foundation for creating exciting technologies that can be turned into sustaining businesses.
How It Works
Startable is a free program that integrates with existing school curricula, offering in-school and after-school programs. Participants work through every stage of the entrepreneurial process — from designing a product to pitching their ideas — while gaining practical experience and confidence.
Offered as a four-month after-school program in the fall and a for-credit course in the spring, Startable equips students with the tools, resources, and mentorship needed to see entrepreneurship as an exciting and achievable career path. The program culminates in a final community event where friends and family cheer on the student entrepreneurs in a pitch competition for prize money.
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
- Inclusive opportunity: Startable’s purpose is to reach students regardless of their position in the education system and expose them to the possibilities of invention and entrepreneurship they may not have known about or considered.
- Life-long skills: Hands-on learning gets beneath the surface of students’ interests so they can more clearly articulate the purpose and intent of their ideas. The program instills confidence and provides a base for skills these students will need as they mature throughout life.
- Enriching tech education: Startable goes beyond the often elementary school curriculum for technology, putting students in the driver’s seat to create the next wave of innovation.
Interested in Startable?
Bring Startable to your school and inspire the next generation of innovators. Contact us to learn how to integrate this free program into your curriculum or after-school activities, and provide your students with hands-on opportunities to explore entrepreneurship, product development, and engineering.
