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Startable Pittsburgh

Startable Pittsburgh • Empowering Young Entrepreneurs • Creating the Innovators of the Future!

Startable Pittsburgh™ is a free program that teaches high school students entrepreneurial and maker skills. Students work in teams to design, prototype, build, brand, and market products of their own creation. Participants earn a stipend, keep all profits from their products, and pitch for more funding at our final event.

Shortlisted

Overview

HundrED shortlisted this innovation

HundrED has shortlisted this innovation to one of its innovation collections. The information on this page has been checked by HundrED.

Web presence

2015

Established

-

Children

1

Countries
Updated
December 2018
My favorite part of the program was having the ability to work freely and decide what I wanted to make, all while having the guidance and resources to go above and beyond my initial thoughts of my products.

About the innovation

What is Startable Pittsburgh?

Startable Pittsburgh™ is a program of Innovation Works, which provides free business startup programming for teens and access to our nationally ranked accelerator communities, facilities, mentors, and founders. Our curriculum encompasses the philosophies of Lean startup methodology and the engineering design process.

Startable teens gain a wide rage of skills through the course of the program and beyond. Participating students will learn electrical, mechanical, computer, and industrial engineering basics from experts in the fields. They gain experience forming equitable partnerships, managing meetings, creating and executing project timelines, and budgeting.

Together participants create a prototypes, product packaging, and marketing materials. They then sell, present, network, and acquire further funding for their businesses. The program culminates in a final community event, where friends and family can see product demonstrations and cheer on the competitors in the Pitch Competition.

All of this amazing work is built on the foundation of community. Working in several locations, with many community entities allows for students to continue tapping into local resources and utilize these long after the program ends.

The support students receive during the program includes cash stipends, lunch and snacks, transportation, supplies, tools, networking connections, and potentially more cash investment. Beyond these, returning students can benefit from internship opportunities and our Alumni in Residence program.

Implementation steps

Bring Startable to your Community!

If you'd like to serve as a Mentor for Startable, fill out the job application on the Innovation Works Website.

If you'd like to bring your students (of any age) for a tour of our facilities, let us know!

Spread of the innovation

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