Youth Startups
2026
History
80
Student Participants
Recommendation Score (4.6/5)
Satisfaction Score (4.3/5)
Day 1: Problems
Useful overall links:
- Bae HQ IncuBaetor video
- YC Finding Startup Ideas video
- Bae HQ Finding Problems video
- Researching Problems and Customers Slides
- Chapter 2 of Startups for Outsiders
Ways to come up with problems:
- Work challenges
- Personal challenges
- Family/friend challenges
- Groups you care about
- Second-order effects (e.g. AI is creating demand for energy)
- Country differences (e.g. DoorDash existed in US so Deliveroo was made in UK)
- Industry challenges (e.g. bring current tech to old school market)
- Trends
Useful links:
Problem Scorecard (rate out of 5 for each problem):
- Intensity - How painful is this problem? How badly do potential customers want it fixed?
- Size - How big is the market? How many people have this problem x how much they'd be willing to spend
- Stickiness - How long will this be a problem for? Is it transitory?
- Access - How easily can you access potential customers for research?
- Excitement - How enthusiastic are you about this problem?
- Edge - Do you have a secret sauce which makes you better than others?
Defining your Ideal Customer Profile:
Demographics:
- Age
- Gender
- Marital status
- Job title
- Location
- Annual income
- Education
Psychographics:
- Values
- Attitudes
- Habits
- Lifestyles
- Interests
Useful links:
Customer Research:
Key resource:
Where to find people:
- Social media (IG, TikTok, Reddit)
- Classmates
- Friends of friends and friends of family
- Referrals from complimentary companies
- Cold outreach
Interviews:
- Ask:
- How do you currently...
- How do you feel about...
- What are the best and worst parts?
- Have you tried to do anything about it?
- Tell me about the last time you...
- Why does this matter to you?
- How much do you spend on this?
- Avoid:
- Would you use this?
- Is this a good idea?
- Isn't this so annoying?
- Don't you wish you could fix this?
- How would you solve this?
Surveys:
- Try to get as many responses as you can
- Ask quantifiable/multiple choice questions
- Use the MOM test principles
Day 2
4 Cs:
- ✅ Clear - Investors can't invest in something which confuses them.
- ✅ Credible - You need to make them believe you can build it.
- ✅ Contagious - Investors should catch your enthusiasm and conviction.
- ✅ Commercial - You're not a charity. You need to make investors money.
Pitch deck reviews
- Check out the companies in this megadeck and present which one you think is the best and why.
Build the solution
Key resource: Greg Isenberg - Business on Easy Mode
- Figure out what the key aspects are needed in your solution based on the customer feedback.
- Spend some time mapping this out and designing how the app will look and feel.
- You all have one technical person in your team and freedom to use whatever software you're comfortable with.
- Go back to people you did research with and ask them to test it out and give you feedback.
Take responsibility for part of the deck
Overall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLHna-enmiE
Get feedback on your deek: https://www.deckgenius.ai/
Pitch deck examples: https://www.pitchdeckhunt.com/
- Storyteller - Explaining the problem effectively, crafting the narrative.
- Competition research - What's out there already and how are you different?
- Product - Making the product as best as possible.
- Market Size - How big is the market? What is the TAM/SAM/SOM?
- Customer research - Explaining customer pain points and the research you did.
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- Business model - How will this make money?
- The ask - How much money do you need to run this for 12 months? Why?
- Go-To-Market - How will you get your first 100 customers? First 1000? First 10000?
Cohort 3 Timelines
2026 TBA
Applications Open
2026 TBA
Applications Close
2026 TBA
Programme Starts
2026 TBA
Programme Ends
