Future Changemakers,
I’m guessing you have questions about higher education, starting businesses, landing purposeful career paths. Before you decide to take the plunge, you want to really understand what it entails to work at the forefront of innovation, and to become a founder. Maybe you have some of the same kind of questions we had back when we were in school:
- How do I start my own business as a teen?
- Can you actually teach me how to do this?
- Will this be helpful for my future internship, college, scholarship application?
- Will I gain more clarity on my career paths ahead?
- Is it worth it to do an apprenticeship and start a passion project?
Short answer. YES. Capital Y, Yes.
Let me answer in a bit more detail.
But FIRST
If you are new, welcome to OCE’s weekly newsletter curated for the ambitious youth…here are some articles you missed from previous weeks:
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USE THIS: Land your dream (summer) opportunity
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Best tools for building your passion project
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Build your tribe find your vibe
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Why don’t you host the program more often (multiple cohorts a year)?
We get asked this question a lot. Most of the youth innovation programs run for 3-4 weeks focusing on business idea generation/validation which means they can be easily hosted multiple times a year. However, the fast pace also means that such an experience may be limited in scope.
The reason OCE only runs once a year is, so we deliver a 10-week holistic experience. Expand your horizon, dive deep into research, develop valuable skills such as sales/marketing, financial management and legal to run a sustainable business.
Meaningful learning takes time. Our goal for you is to achieve long term success through building strong foundations, powerful networks and a continuous community that vies for you every step along your journey.
What will I learn? Can you teach me this?
This 10-week virtual program consists of two main components: co-creation with world-class founder to tackle pressing global issues in Southeast Asia as well as weekly live workshop with experienced tech leaders from Silicon Valley and beyond.
We walk you through the case studies given at Big Tech interviews, conducting due diligence, how to protype, scripting your sales pitch, building financial models, and how to ask good questions.
We will help you start completely from scratch - beginning with ideation, aligning skill with vision, getting ready to build and finally by the time our program is done, build your first project.
At the end, you’ll just wonder why you waited so long?
What does the live workshop entail?
The OCE community of mentors (click here for more) is the group I wish I had when I were starting out in tech and business. It’s a group of vetted tech leaders and founders who are aligned under one goal, to drive innovation, to cultivate young talents, and to build our economy through a pursuit of purpose in working.
In the past, we have had Directors from Meta, Microsoft, Discord and Forbes30U30 founders give interactive exercises (like LUMA ideation), share frameworks, answer Q&A, offer stories of success and failure.
This is where your accomplishment will be seen and heard by those at the center of influence. We think it is by and far the most valuable thing we are building. Expect weekly live sessions with yours truly and tech leaders, regular meetings with founders, daily lessons, and most valuably the only place where ambitious youth can all leverage their collective knowledge.
I have other school/extracurricular commitments, Do I Have Time for this?
Most people join our program along with another extracurricular or work/class commitment. The truth is you can participate in our weekly programming in less time it would take you to binge scroll through TikTok. So the answer, yes, you have plenty of time. Aside from our live weekend workshops, the co-creation project is coordinated between your peers and flexible around your schedule. We give an MBA in innovation inside of a 10-week program doing less than 2h a week working through the project. You can do it.
How will I know if this program is right for ME?
Great question. This program will be perfect for you if you're a high-school or undergrad student interested in tech, policy and entrepreneurship. You have a burning desire for innovation and building for your community in a meaningful way.You want to build concrete skills and develop an unique world-view through impactful projects and leverage it for your future application – college, scholarship, job. Most of our successful students are ambitious, curious, and want to take their learning as well as network to the next level. You are the most important part of the equation. If you have an open mind and are willing to do the work, this program is for you.
Can I really start a project?
If you have identified a pressing problem, you can start a project. It’s usually as simple as that. If you are motivated, you can use the strategies from our workshops and project to develop it further. And for those who have marketable skills you can even start without any capital at all. However, if you are already committed to 10 extracurriculars, part-time jobs, have personal responsibilities and are concerned about having time to sleep, starting a project should not be your next priority. You need to get your life in order. But if you are curious, motivated and have a balanced schedule, you’d benefit tremendously from building a portfolio project.
One more truth for you, if you don’t start today you are going to wish you had. This skillset of becoming a builder is the single greatest skill I have ever developed. It’s the skill that generates the most opportunities, it’s the class no one taught.
PS. This summer, we are going to tackle pressing global issues and drive innovation in regions (such as your own community) where it is needed the most. Want in?
We run a summer cohort for ambitious youth (high school and undergrads) to work directly with world-class founders while learning from Silicon Valley leaders.
You can also explore purposeful opportunities through our Impact Internship Opportunities Database.
Get Curious.
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Lena
https://www.openclassroomexperience.com/
