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Lasse Leponiemi

Chairman, The HundrED Foundation
first.last@hundred.org

StartupToGO

place Qatar + 1 more

Startup in a bottle for high schoolers

Most students learn about entrepreneurship without ever experiencing it. StartupToGo is an AI-powered programme that runs inside schools, guiding students from first idea to live pitch through structured, hands-on modules. Students graduate with a real venture they built — not just a theory they studied.

Overview

Information on this page is provided by the innovator and has not been evaluated by HundrED.

Updated July 2026
Created by

Startup To Go

Visit Organisation's Site
Web presence

2026

Established

1

Countries
Students upper
Target group
I want schools to stop preparing students for a world that no longer exists. The old model — memorise, test, repeat — doesn't build the people that the next decade needs. The change I'm working toward is simple but radical: every student, regardless of where they're from or what resources they have access to, should leave school having built something. Not a project for a grade. An actual attempt at solving a real problem in the world. AI makes this possible at scale for the first time. It levels the playing field between the student with a mentor and a network and the student with neither. When a teenager in Doha or Nairobi or Jakarta can use AI to validate an idea, research a market, and prototype a solution — the gap between "I have an idea" and "I tried something" collapses. The shift I hope to see isn't just in entrepreneurship education. It's in how schools think about what a student is capable of. Not a passive recipient of knowledge, but an active creator who has already proven they can take an idea from zero to something real — before they ever leave the school gates.

About the innovation

Why did you create this innovation?

I watched talented students go through years of schooling and come out unable to answer one basic question: "How do I turn an idea into something real?" Entrepreneurship was everywhere on the curriculum — but the actual doing of it was missing. I created StartupToGo because students don't need another business theory lesson. They need a structured, safe space inside their school to try, fail, build, and pitch — with AI as a co-founder that makes the process accessible to any student, regardless of background.

What does your innovation look like in practice?

A class or cohort of students works through a series of AI-guided modules — identifying real problems, validating ideas with peers and mentors, prototyping solutions, and presenting a final pitch to a live audience. Teachers don't need to be entrepreneurs themselves; the programme is designed so that any motivated educator can facilitate it. [Add: typical programme length, e.g. "The programme runs over 8–12 weeks"] Each student ends the experience with a documented project they can show universities, employers, or future investors.

How has it been spreading?

StartupToGo launched in Qatar, where the demand for innovation-focused education is growing rapidly alongside the we have graduated 17 students this year and looking to 4X that next year

If I want to try it, what should I do?

signup as a school or education and training center at startuptogo.app and we will contact you

Implementation steps

Students begin Module 1: Problem Finding.
Each student or small team is guided through identifying a real problem they care about. The AI tools help them articulate, pressure-test, and refine their problem statement before moving forward.
Progress through the build cycle.
Students move through validation, ideation, prototyping, and business modelling — one module at a time, at their own pace, with structured checkpoints and teacher visibility into progress.
Pitch Day
The programme culminates in a live presentation to an audience — classmates, teachers, parents, or invited guests. Students present their venture, what they learned, and what they would do next.
take it to market
Students can partner with us to take their innovation to market

Spread of the innovation

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