Young Entrepreneurs: Build Your Business

What Will You Do?

• Spot problems and business opportunities

• Build an original venture with a Lean Business Model Canvas

• Research customers and estimate demand for your idea

• Compare competitors and sharpen your value proposition

• Calculate pricing, costs, revenue, and a break-even point

• Pitch your venture in a Fast Pitch Challenge

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Explain why a real-world problem could become a business opportunity

• Use customer research and financial evidence to improve a business idea

• Explain how a venture creates value for its customer

You’ll leave with your market research, completed business-planning canvas, professional pitch deck and a certificate of completion.

Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter

A strong approach to entrepreneurship teaches students to notice problems, investigate what people need, and improve ideas through evidence and feedback. Market research develops careful listening and analysis because a business concept must respond to a real customer rather than an assumption. The Lean Business Model Canvas helps students see how the problem, solution, market, costs, and revenue connect.

Building a pitch adds communication and decision-making practice. Students choose the strongest evidence, explain why the idea creates value, and respond to questions without losing the central point. These skills support school projects, leadership roles, collaboration, and further exploration across business, design, technology, and social impact.

Who Should Attend?

For students who have completed 6th, 7th, or 8th grade.

An idea for a better product or a problem your student wants to solve can be a starting point here. The course suits interests in business, creating things, and helping people, with NFTE tools giving an idea more shape. Collaboration, customer research, basic calculations, and presenting to an audience all contribute to developing one venture.

Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.

Based on students surveyed in 2026 about Summer Discovery programs at Yale University campus.

The Institute for the Gifted program takes place on Yale University’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut.

The setting gives middle-school students a memorable place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life. New Haven’s connections to law, theater, science, and the arts, along with the campus’s courtyards and academic spaces, make exploring a subject feel different from an ordinary school day. The program combines active academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students grow comfortable in a new community. Students can try challenging ideas, meet peers who share their interests, and build age-appropriate independence.