Club and lesson series: Launch Your Own Business
In short
Launch Your Own Business is a twelve-week club or lesson series for ages 12-14, about 55 minutes a week, with a 45-minute route for shorter lessons. Teams of 3-4 find a problem, interview customers, build and retest a prototype, cost it, take pre-orders, sell at a real market day and show their results in week 12.
Included in the £49 educator licence. One zip file, about 22.4 MB.
- Time
- 12 weeks of 51-60 minutes, plus a market day
- Group
- Teams of 3-4
- Prep
- An evening, plus booking the market
- Screen
- Optional, with tool spots
Look inside
Real pages from this kit. Have a flick through.
Slides pupils can read from the back row, a guide with every word you need and printables that look great in black and white.
Slide: twelve weeks and a market day
The term on one slide: twelve weeks, a production slot and a market day. Nobody uses their own money.
What pupils make and take home
- A Venture Canvas and a decision log, kept week by week
- A prototype, tested, improved and retested with real customers
- A batch that matches their pre-orders, sold on market day
- Real results and a pitch at the week 12 showcase
Why it works in a real classroom
- A catch-up card for every week, so missed sessions don't matter
- A decision log that keeps the team's reasons from week to week
- A 45-minute route for shorter lessons
- A real market day, or a no-trading route if your school can't sell
Get the kit
How to download the Enterprise Club
Four quick steps. Everything comes as one zip file with numbered folders, so you always know what to open first.
- 1
Sign in
Use your We Can Be account, or create one free in a minute.
- 2
Unlock with the £49 licence
One payment covers every teacher and leader in your setting, for good.
- 3
Download the zip
One file, about 22.4 MB, with everything in numbered folders.
- 4
Unzip and open folder 01
Windows: right-click, Extract All. Mac or iPad: double-click or tap. Then open 01 Start here.
The whole kit, in one download
Slides, guide and every printable · zip file · 22.4 MB
Included in the £49 educator licence. Sign in first and we'll check your access.
Stuck? Get in touch and we'll sort it.
12 x 55-60 minutes
Week by week
Week 1
Think like an entrepreneur
Founder stories, the sticky-note wall and a confidence check.
Week 2
Find a problem
Teams, roles, a Venture Canvas and a problem hunt.
Week 3
Customers
Problem interviews, a target customer and competitors.
Week 4
Ideas, AI and a reality check
8 ideas, a vote and the five checks.
Week 5
Prototype and test
Version 1, tested, and three things to fix.
Week 6
Version 2 and retest
A better version, tested again, and a decision.
Week 7
Money 1: costs and price
Two kinds of cost, a price and what each sale leaves.
Week 8
Money 2: break-even, cash and the first order
Break-even, a cash check and a materials order.
Week 9
Build the brand
A name, a look, a voice, a USP and packaging.
Week 10
Marketing, pre-orders and the pitch
A marketing plan, a pre-order window and a pitch plan.
Extra slot · Production slot
Week 11
Make it, ready to sell
A batch that matches the orders, and a stall plan.
Extra slot · Market day
Week 12
Results and showcase
Count up, repay the loan, pitch with real results and awards.
What's in the zip
Everything you need, in numbered folders
Open folder 01 and it tells you what to print, what to read and what to press. No hunting through files the night before.
01 Start here
- One page: agree the market day, print week 1, read, press play
02 Guide
- 29 pages: the term on one page, planning, every week step by step, selling safely, a no-trading route, a 45-minute route, assessment and a source register
03 Slides
- Twelve weekly decks, 119 slides, editable and as PDFs, with the script in the speaker notes
- Teacher sheets and an editable Venture Canvas
04 Print
- Venture Canvas (A3), worked example, team roles and a decision log
- Catch-up cards for anyone who misses a week
- Founder story cards and nine founder mission cards
- Sheets for every stage, from the problem hunt to the money sheet
- Order book, sales log, market run sheet and results sheet
- Pitch planner, score sheet, learning and individual checks
- Something changed cards, certificates and tools with QR codes
- Interest slips for the no-trading route
Real UK founders
Founders pupils will meet
Real people who started with a simple idea, some while they were still at school. Every fact is checked against a published source, and the guide shows you how to invite a local entrepreneur too.
Lucie Macleod
Hair Syrup
Hair oils, first mixed in her student kitchen.
Rikke Rosenlund
BorrowMyDoggy
Matches dog owners with dog lovers nearby.
Victoria Jenkins
Unhidden
An adaptive fashion brand.
Honor & Cat Black
Maiden Cricket
Cricket kit designed for girls and women.
Solveiga Pakštaitė
Mimica
A food label that turns bumpy when food has gone off.
Pip Murray
Pip & Nut
Nut butters, first blitzed in her own kitchen.
Cassandra Stavrou
PROPERCORN
PROPERCORN popcorn.
Kim Innes
Humble Crumble
Crumbles, from a market stall to bakeries.
Segun Akinwoleola
The Gym Kitchen
High-protein versions of familiar ready meals.
Nick D'Aloisio
Summly
An app that summed up news stories for your phone.
Mark Rushmore & Gyve Safavi
SURI
A repairable electric toothbrush with plant-based heads.
Fraser Doherty
SuperJam
Jam from his gran's recipes, sweetened with fruit juice.
Ben Francis
Gymshark
Gym clothes, first made in his parents' garage.
Omari McQueen
Dipalicious
His own vegan dips.
Cross-curricular
Curriculum links, life skills and tools
Curriculum links
- England: PSHE and citizenship (economic wellbeing, money), D&T (designing for a user), English spoken language, maths (costs, profit, break-even)
- Scotland: Developing the Young Workforce and the Career Education Standard
- Wales: Careers and Work-Related Experiences (CWRE)
- Northern Ireland: Learning for Life and Work
- Gatsby Benchmarks 4 and 5, with a business owner who talks with pupils about their work
- Works as an after-school club or as a KS3 lesson series, with a 45-minute route
Life skills it builds (Skills Builder)
Optional tools on a screen
The kit runs on paper. These free tools add a bit of magic on the big screen.
AI · Kit Add-on Studio
Add exactly what your group needs
A warm-up, a themed version, a stretch task or an adaptation for one child. Describe it and the studio writes it to fit the enterprise club, ready to print.
AI · Kit Add-on Studio
Ask for exactly what your group needs
A warm-up, an adaptation, a themed version or an extension. It's drafted inside the kit's rules: teams of 3-4, adults hold any money, the teacher runs any AI tool, low-ink printables, UK English.
Free account: 3 a day. Never include pupils' names.
What you'll get
- Where it fits in the kit, and how long it takes
- Timed steps with words to say
- What to gather, and a low-ink printable if it helps
- Ways to support and stretch, and what success looks like
Print it, or copy it straight into your plan.
More for ages 12-14
The same story, other lengths
Answers
Questions about this kit
Yes. Sessions run 51-60 minutes, and the guide has a 45-minute route that says what to trim each week.
Every week has a catch-up card: what the team did and what to do on return. The decision log on the team's canvas fills in the rest.
In an extra slot between weeks 11 and 12: a break, lunch, after school or a parents' evening. There's also a 30-minute production slot between weeks 10 and 11. Adults hold all the money, and the no-trading route covers schools that can't sell.
Never. Teams borrow from a start-up loan the school or PTA provides, an adult holds it, and they repay it from their takings before working out their profit.
Pricing
Free taster, then £49 once for your setting
Start here
Free
Taster lesson, with a free account
- A complete one-hour lesson, not a cut-down sample
- Slides, a step-by-step guide and every printable
- Founder story cards and a problem hunt
- Exit tickets and a founder mission for every pupil
Educator licence
£49 once
Every teacher and leader in your school, club or group. No subscription.
- Every kit, in every format, for every age group as it's released
- Editable slides, word-for-word guides and every printable
- Unlimited Kit Add-on Studio
- Everything in the £29 plan too: every course, every tool with unlimited AI, the role models and all the resources
- Yours for good, with free updates
Get started
It's included in the £49 educator licence. Join the list and we'll email you the day the hub opens.
Explore More from We Can Be
Courses, tools, AI coaching and resources to help young people start building.
Courses for Every Age
Story-led enterprise courses for ages 6–18 covering branding, finance, marketing and more.
Explore courses for every age →Fun Tools to Build Skills
interactive AI tools that build skills - pitch builders, brand creators, calculators, generators and quizzes.
Try the fun business tools →Female Founder Role Models
250+ real UK female founders across 11 sectors. Real stories that inspire every kid.
Meet 250+ female founders →Beyond We Can Be
Curated third-party youth enterprise programmes, career resources and learning materials for ages 9–18.
See external programmes →Contact Us
Questions about courses, tools, partnerships or resources? Get in touch.
Get in touch →