Last month, Future Founders launched our first-ever national cohort of the Be Your Own Boss Internship powered by Fetch, bringing together students from across the country to explore the startup ecosystem, network with professional entrepreneurs, and build community with peers from all different backgrounds.
This exceptional cohort of Be Your Own Boss comprised 28 students representing 25 high schools in 13 different states. Through our paid four-week virtual internship, these young entrepreneurs had the extraordinary opportunity to learn the ins and outs of entrepreneurship, ultimately collaborating to develop and pitch their original business ideas to a panel of esteemed judges, who declared one team the overall winner.
“The biggest issue with my classes in school is that many of them don’t allow students to apply what they learned. In [Be Your Own Boss], I got to actually design a business with a team and pitch to a group of judges. Not only do I know the terms, but I also applied them to a real-life situation.”
– Dalima Lappia, Pennsbury High School, Fairless Hills, PA
Another highlight of the program was the students’ inspiring discussion with Wes Schroll, Founder & CEO of Fetch, who answered their many questions and shared valuable lessons from his own founder journey.
“Getting to talk with Wes about being an entrepreneur showed me that CEOs are normal people just like us, and that anyone can start a business!”
Future Founders would like to extend our sincerest thanks to Wes and the whole team at Fetch, as well as to the amazing set of volunteers who made this program possible, including:
*denotes present Future Founders Fellow and/or program alumni
If you’d like to know more about the prize-winning ideas from this year’s pitch competition, read on for the full list of winning teams:
Event with Me: a website that allows schools to plan parties easily by giving them access to DJs, venues, and party decorations in one place. This website makes it easy for the student government to plan events while focusing on their academic studies
Sunny: A website/marketplace that helps students fight against procrastination by introducing planning material such as meal plans and schedules to help students stay on track with different tasks.
The next cohorts of Be Your Own Boss will run from Tuesday, April 18 – Thursday, May 11 and Tuesday, May 30 – Thursday, June 22, 2023. For more information or to apply, visit our program page.
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