Why now

Something's gone quiet in a lot of young people, and most parents feel it before they can name it. The world asks a great deal of them and promises little back, so doing nothing can start to feel safer than trying.

The way through isn't more pressure. It's the proof that arrives when they create a business and a real customer says yes - and pays. Motivation returns the moment their actions count, and that's what starting a business gives a young person.

Twelve weeks in, here's what you'll have

• an idea you've chosen on purpose, tested in conversations with real people
• a written offer with a price, and the words to pitch it in ten seconds and in three minutes
• a name, a one-line description and a simple website people can buy from
• the numbers that matter written down, and a target for your first $2,000
• your first sale, or a clear, specific reason to change the idea and the next step to take

And the founder who finishes isn't the one who started. They've been useful to strangers, been paid for their own ideas, and picked themselves back up when something didn't work. That stays.

The twelve phases

The same twelve in the course and in the Workbook, so the video and the page in front of you always match.

1. The real world is the best teacher. Score where you are, train your eye to spot problems worth solving, and write down your why.
2. Ideas that matter. Generate ideas, filter them, check them with real people, and commit to one in writing.
3. Offers that work. Turn the idea into an offer with a price, and pitch it in one line and in three minutes.
4. Brand design that stands out. Set what your brand promises, name it, and write the one line that says what you do.
5. Marketing that connects. Pick your channels, plan a one-page website, and set up a way to capture interest.
6. Make money on and with purpose. Set a price you can say out loud, and track the numbers that keep the business alive.
7. Build systems, not chaos. Turn a job you repeat into a simple system you can hand off.
8. Make it real, make it legal. Register properly and put the basic protections in place.
9. Momentum and growth. Audit what's working, add a second income stream, and plan one bold move.
10. The founder's mindset. Write a five-year picture of your week, build a reset routine, and set your goals.
11. The integrated founder. Rewrite the voice in your head, close the gaps, and hold ambition and rest together.
12. Graduation challenge. Re-score where you started, write your founder statement, and set your next thirty days.

How it works

Each phase opens with a short intro video, then a short walkthrough for every activity, so you watch how it's done and then do it yourself. Around 120 short videos across the twelve phases, plus a lesson PDF for every activity and four bonus guides: AI Is Your Co-Founder, Real Founders Making Impact, Show Your Work Online and Offline, and Digital Nomads. You do the activities in the printed Workbook, on your own idea.

The videos are short and made to watch right before each activity, and one phase a week is the natural pace. You can start any week and there's no group to keep pace with.

Access: digital, the day you join, kept for 12 months. The printed Workbook ships to you and is yours to keep.
Support: post your questions in the learner community and get them answered there.

Who it's for

Young people starting a first business, from around 15, and the parents backing them. You don't need an idea yet. The first two phases are where you find one that fits you. You don't need any business experience either. You bring the idea and the hours, the course brings the order to work in.

Why it starts with the person

The first two phases are about the founder before the business, because a business copied from someone else's idea runs out of fuel by month three. There are no six-figure formulas here and no talk of a millionaire mindset. You start a real business, and as you build it, it builds you back.

The Kit is included

The course comes with the Young Founders Kit. The Playbook holds the stories and the thinking. The Workbook is where you run every exercise on your own business. If you'd rather work through the books on your own without the filmed lessons, the Kit is sold by itself from $67.

Want it done with you?

When you'd rather not do it alone, Young Founders coaching is twelve weeks live with Charbel and a small group of young founders, two calls a week, building alongside you. It's the step up from this course, and a Kit of your choice is included.

See Young Founders coaching

About Charbel

Charbel is a serial founder, a creative and an educator. He's been starting businesses since 1988, across agency, design, technology, food and beverage, FMCG, streetwear and fiction, founded Academy Xi, an education company, grew it to a $22 million valuation and sold his stake for seven figures, and has coached 8,500 people. He built each of those businesses, and each one built him back.

If you can see a spark in your young person and you're not sure what to do with it, this is what he built for exactly that: real work that grows them while they do it.

Meet Charbel