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Buildojo
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First Cohort · Summer 2026 · Ages 12–19

The next generation offounders starts here

A 6-month founder cohort for ages 12 to 19. Mentored by founders who've shipped, raised, and sold.

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● Applications closed · Waitlist open

Why now

AI just collapsed the cost of building. A 14 year old can ship a working product in a weekend that would have taken a team of ten a year. The jobs your kid will hold haven't been invented yet. The skills that compound, finding problems, building things, talking to strangers, shipping under pressure, are not taught in a textbook. They are learned by doing them. The next wave of founders is starting younger because the tools are finally in their hands.

The Mindset

Schools lag the market.
We train value creators.

School was built for an economy that no longer exists. The market today rewards people who notice what is missing, build something that did not exist, and put it in front of other people. We call them value creators. Our 25-session program is a practical apprenticeship in becoming one.

01

Notice the gap

See the problem before anyone names it. Especially in communities you already belong to, where adults cannot see what you see.

02

Make something

Turn the observation into a thing that exists in the world. Rough is fine. Existing is the point.

03

Put it in front of strangers

Not friends. Not family. People who actually have the problem and have no reason to be polite about whether it works.

04

Ask for value back

Time, attention, a referral, real money. Something is exchanged. The exchange is the proof.

05

Own the result

Wins and misses both. Nothing is wasted. Both are evidence about what to do next.

By the end of the program, this is not an idea. It is a habit.

Join the waitlist

Founders Circle

Mentored by founders who've actually shipped.

Every month a working founder joins the cohort live. Operators who've built, sold, and scaled real companies, not coaches with slides.

Nour Alkhatib

Nour Alkhatib

Founder & CEO · Buildojo

Founding PM at Instacart through their Nasdaq IPO. Previously shipped products at Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. Founded ThinkHive and Buildojo.

Rami Alhamad

Rami Alhamad

Founder · Alma

Founded PUSH, the fitness performance tracker acquired by WHOOP. EIR at Menlo Ventures. Now building Alma, a new-generation coaching platform.

Robleh Jama

Robleh Jama

Co-Founder · Tomorrow (AI Studio)

Founded Tiny Hearts, acquired by Shopify. Kept going and founded Tomorrow AI Studio and Boom Vision. One of Canada's most prolific consumer app builders.

Jon Boyer

Jon Boyer

VP of Sales · Blacksmith

Led sales at Zapier and Slack during their hypergrowth years. Now VP of Sales at Blacksmith. The go-to voice on closing enterprise deals at scale.

Mohammed Ridwan

Mohammed Ridwan

Co-Founder & CEO · Pluto

Raised $6M and built Pluto, a personal finance super-app. Former operator at Shopify and Cash App with deep roots in fintech product and growth.

Zain Abiddin

Zain Abiddin

Founder · GrowthPad

Led subscription growth at Canva before founding GrowthPad. Stanford-educated operator who understands what makes users stay and pay.

Michael Kokot

Michael Kokot

Founder · Snowbear.ai

Holds a GenAI patent and built production AI systems at Instacart. Now building Snowbear.ai, bringing AI agents to enterprise workflows.

Abdulwahab Omira

Abdulwahab Omira

Co-Founder & CTO · ThinkHive

Co-founded ThinkHive and Farmitix. Stanford-affiliated builder at the intersection of AI and agriculture, shipping real products in both.

Meet the full Founders Circle

The Program

Learn the framework.
Apply it to your own business.

Six months of curriculum applied to your own startup, week by week, with a working founder as your 1:1 mentor.

The framework

Six phases, applied to your own business idea each week.

Weekly 1:1 mentor
01

Week 1 to 4

Team & Business

Form a team. Run a weekend business.

02

Week 5 to 7

Talk First

Interview real strangers. Behavior over opinion.

03

Week 8 to 11

Build It

Paper first. Ship with AI tools.

04

Month 3 to 4

Launch

Your first user is a stranger.

05

Month 4 to 5

Grow

First sale. Retention before reach.

06

Month 5 to 6

Demo Day

Pitch live. Honest story on the line.

How it runs

Weekly online lessons

Concept session plus hands-on exercises. Frameworks applied to your own business idea.

Weekly 1:1 mentorship

One hour with a working founder. Focused on your idea and what to build next.

Monthly Toronto meetups

Guest founder speaks. Cohort meets in person. Network builds face to face.

5 to 7 hrs / week

Building your business alongside a community of other founders.

Skills that compound

Six things the program teaches that founders use for the rest of their career.

01
Customer Discovery

Talk to customers

Real interviews from week 5. Behavior over opinion.

02
Build Fast

Ship with AI tools

Paper sketch first, then the modern AI builder stack.

03
Real Revenue

Ask for money

The first dollar is the validation signal.

04
Founder Judgment

Iterate or pivot

The hardest call in building. Evidence over ego.

05
The Honest Pitch

Tell the real story

What you believed, what changed, what you built.

06
Network

Build alongside founders

Cohort, mentors, a network that compounds.

What they walk away with

Tangible outcomes. Things they built and earned.

🚀

A real product

Shipped. Used by a real stranger.

💵

A real money attempt

One ask. Often a first paying customer.

📓

An evidence wall

Your interviews, decisions, pivots.

🧠

Founder judgment

Thinking that transfers to every problem next.

Summer 2026 Cohort · First-Cohort Pricing

$120/month

$720 one-time · or $125/month × 6 ($750)

Weekly Mentors

A working founder in your corner, every week.

Every founder is paired with a mentor. A working operator who joins live each week to review progress, unblock you, and push you further.

Demo Day

Pitch live to founders, mentors, and investors.

At the end of the cohort every team pitches their startup to a panel from the Founders Circle. Honest feedback. Live pressure. The way it works once you leave.

Cohort applications closed · Waitlist open

Apply to join the 2026 waitlist.

The application deadline has passed and the cohort is full. You can still apply, solo or with a team of up to four (ages 12 to 19). We will reach out if a spot opens up, or hold your application for the next cohort.

01
Cohort full

Join the waitlist

Individuals or Teams

The current cohort is full. Submit your application to join the waitlist for any opening that comes up, or for the next cohort.

02
On invitation

Interview

Short 20-min call

If a spot opens up, we will reach out for a quick conversation. We want to hear how you think, not just what you know.

03
Rolling

Acceptance

Cohort confirmed

Accepted founders receive their cohort details, team assignments, and first session date.

04
June 20

Kick Off

Day one

The journey begins. Meet your team, meet your mentors, and start building.

FAQ

Questions parents and young founders ask.

Anything not covered here? Book a free call →

Who we are

Built by founders and operators in tech.

Parents, builders, and operators who have shipped at scale across some of the most ambitious companies in tech. We are building this for our own kids too.

“We built Buildojo because the workforce is changing with AI. The entrepreneurs of tomorrow are starting today. There is no reason to wait.”

Nour AlkhatibNour Alkhatib, Founder & CEO

Still deciding? Talk to a founder.

A free 15-minute call with one of our founders. No pitch. Just a conversation.

Book a free call