TL;DR
Young Founders Lab is a startup-focused program for high school students who want to build a business or nonprofit with mentorship and hands-on guidance. The program offers two main startup-building options: a team-based program with 30 hours of live workshops and an individual program with 12 hours of personalized coaching and a flexible start date. The published price is $2,900 for the team-based program and $3,500 for the individual program, with financial aid available.
What is the Young Founders Lab?
Young Founders Lab is a startup-focused program for high school students who want to build a business or nonprofit around a real-world problem. Throughout the program, you’ll work through the early stages of building a venture, from developing an idea and researching the market to creating a product, testing your concept, and preparing to launch.
The experience combines live workshops, startup development, mentorship, and hands-on work. You’ll develop skills in areas such as entrepreneurship, product development, marketing, and pitching while working toward a venture that you can continue developing after the program.
What kind of mentorship does Young Founders Lab offer?
Mentorship is a central part of Young Founders Lab. You’ll work with experienced founders and industry professionals who can give you feedback as you develop your venture and work through challenges.
Its mentors include Kevin Junker, founder and CEO of Fintech Launch and a Cambridge, Google, and McKinsey alum, and Michael Bervell, founder and CEO of Billion Dollar Startup Ideas and an HBS MBA and Microsoft alum. Depending on your interests and venture, you can work with mentors whose experience is relevant to the type of startup you are building.
The goal is to give you direct feedback while you move from an initial idea toward a product, business model, and launch.
Who can join the Young Founders Lab?
Young Founders Lab is designed for high school students, and you do not need previous entrepreneurship experience to apply. You can start with an early-stage idea or develop a venture from the beginning of the program. Admission includes an application and interview process. Shortlisted applicants complete an interview before receiving an admission decision.
Where does Young Founders Lab take place?
Young Founders Lab is fully online. The team-based program uses live, interactive workshops, while the individual program is built around personalized mentorship.
The virtual format means you can participate without relocating or paying for housing and travel. If you live outside the U.S., it is still important to check the schedule for your specific cohort before applying because live sessions can require participation at particular times.
How is the program organized?
The experience is divided into three main stages:
- Phase 1 focuses on foundational topics like business principles and startup ideation.
- Phase 2 emphasizes user research, market analysis, and building a working prototype.
- Phase 3 is all about execution – launching your product, generating traction, and aiming for real revenue. The program ends with a demo day, where participants present their ventures to a panel of guests, including potential investors.
How is Young Founders Lab structured?
Young Founders Lab takes you through the practical stages of building a venture rather than focusing only on entrepreneurship theory.
You’ll work through areas such as:
- Problem identification and startup ideation
- Business fundamentals
- User and market research
- Product or prototype development
- Business and revenue planning
- Launch preparation
- Pitching and presenting your venture
The team-based program includes 30 hours of live, interactive workshops. The individual program includes 12 hours of personalized coaching and a flexible start date.
What are the application deadlines for Young Founders Lab?
Application deadlines vary by cohort, so there is no single deadline that applies to every Young Founders Lab session.
Before applying, check the YFL application page for the cohort you want to join. The application process includes submitting an application and completing an interview if you are shortlisted.
How much does Young Founders Lab cost?
Young Founders Lab costs $2,900 for the team-based program and $3,500 for the individual program. Financial aid is available for students who demonstrate financial need. Because program dates and pricing can change between cohorts, check the current application information before submitting payment.
Is Young Founders Lab legit?
Yes. Young Founders Lab has a structured application and interview process, named mentors, defined program formats, live instruction, startup-building work, and a final presentation component. Students work on actual ventures and retain ownership of the businesses they create.
Participants have shared positive testimonials describing their experience with teamwork, mentor feedback, and the practical process of building a venture.
Taken together, the program’s structure, named mentors, student work, and available participant feedback provide several ways to evaluate the program beyond its marketing claims.
Young Founders Lab program options
| Program type | Duration | Schedule flexibility | Mentorship structure | Cost |
| YFL Team-Based Program | 30 hours of live, interactive workshops | Cohort-based schedule | Team-based guidance with experienced founders and industry professionals | $2,900 |
| YFL Individual Program | 12 hours of personalized coaching | Flexible start date | 1:1 mentorship based on your interests and venture | $3,500 |
How does Young Founders Lab compare to other startup programs for high schoolers?
Young Founders Lab is one of several programs that let high school students work on startup ideas with mentorship and structured guidance. The main differences are cost, program length, format, and how deeply each program takes you into building and launching a venture.
| Program | Format | Mentor background | Output | Financial aid available |
| Young Founders Lab | Online; team-based or individual | Startup founders and industry professionals | Startup or nonprofit venture, including product development and launch work | Yes |
| LaunchX | Online and in-person | Entrepreneurs, startup professionals, and industry mentors | Real startup; flagship programs include customer sales and a final pitch | Yes |
| Leangap | Online or in-person | Experienced entrepreneurs and startup mentors | Startup developed through team-based execution | Yes |
| UC Berkeley Haas High School Startup Launchpad | Virtual team-based program | University students, alumni, academics, and industry professionals | Startup ideas and solutions developed through an academic-year program | Limited need-based scholarships |
LaunchX offers several formats. Its Online Flagship Entrepreneurship program is a five-week program starting at $6,495, while its Online BootCamp starts at $1,995 and its Online Innovation program starts at $4,495. Financial awards are available.
Leangap’s online entrepreneurship program costs $6,450 and runs for four weeks, with classes, teamwork, startup resources, and mentorship from entrepreneurs across time zones.
UC Berkeley Haas High School Startup Launchpad’s Gold Virtual Cohort costs $6,450 for California residents and $6,950 for out-of-state students, with limited need-based scholarships available. It runs across an academic-year schedule rather than as a short summer-only startup program.
What are the pros and cons of Young Founders Lab?
Pros
- You build something tangible. The program focuses on developing a real venture rather than only learning entrepreneurship concepts.
- You can choose between two startup-building formats. The team-based program gives you a collaborative environment, while the individual program provides personalized mentorship.
- The program is fully virtual. You can participate without relocating or paying for housing and travel.
- You do not need previous entrepreneurship experience. You can start with an early idea and develop it through the program.
- You can continue working on your venture. The business you create remains yours, allowing you to keep developing it after the program.
- Financial aid is available. Students who qualify can apply for financial assistance.
Cons
- The price is a significant investment. At $2,900 for the team-based program and $3,500 for the individual program, YFL is a substantial extracurricular expense.
- The program moves quickly. You’ll need to make decisions, test ideas, and act on feedback within a concentrated period.
- Live sessions require scheduling flexibility. Students outside U.S. time zones should check the schedule before committing.
- Your results depend on the work you put in. A short program cannot guarantee that every venture will become a sustainable business or generate significant revenue.
- Admission is selective. The application and interview process means applying does not guarantee admission.
Does Young Founders Lab help with college admissions?
Young Founders Lab can give you substantial extracurricular experience to discuss in college applications. You can develop a venture, conduct market research, build a product or MVP, pitch your work, and explain the specific role you played in the process.
YFL says that, based on responses from more than 340 past participants, its alumni were four times more likely to get into an Ivy League university or Stanford. However, this is a program-reported association, not evidence that participating in YFL causes higher admission rates. Students who apply to a selective entrepreneurship program may already differ from other students in academic achievement, extracurricular involvement, resources, or entrepreneurial interest.
The strongest admissions value comes from what you actually accomplish. A venture you develop, customers you reach, product you build, or problem you solve can give you concrete material for your activities list, essays, and interviews.
What happens if your startup is not finished by the end?
You do not need to build a large, fully established company during a short program for the experience to be meaningful. The important part is moving an idea through meaningful stages such as identifying a problem, researching users, developing a product, testing the concept, and preparing a pitch.
You can also continue developing the venture after the program. YFL’s program materials describe students continuing to work on their businesses beyond the program itself.
Do you need a business idea before joining Young Founders Lab?
No. You do not need previous entrepreneurship experience or a fully developed business plan before joining.
You can begin with a problem you care about, develop an idea around it, and use the program’s mentorship and structured process to turn that idea into a more defined venture.
Is Young Founders Lab more like a business class or a startup incubator?
Young Founders Lab is closer to a startup incubator than a traditional business class. You’ll learn business fundamentals, but the focus is on applying those ideas to a venture you are actually developing.
That means your time is spent on practical work such as researching a problem, developing a product, thinking about customers and revenue, receiving mentor feedback, and preparing to pitch the venture.
Is Young Founders Lab only useful if you want to study business?
No. Entrepreneurship can be useful for students interested in technology, engineering, healthcare, design, sustainability, social impact, and many other fields.
Your venture can be built around a problem in an area you already care about. The experience can also help you develop skills in research, product development, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, regardless of what you eventually study in college.
Can you do Young Founders Lab alone, or do you need a team?
You do not need a team to participate. Young Founders Lab offers both a team-based program and an individual program. The team-based option is built around collaboration with other students, while the individual option gives you personalized mentorship and a more flexible schedule.
How competitive is admission to Young Founders Lab?
Young Founders Lab uses an application and interview process and selects students through that process. However, there is no verified overall acceptance rate that should be used to estimate your chances.
The best way to approach the application is to clearly explain your interests, the problem you want to explore, and why you want to build a venture.
Are the live sessions manageable if you are not in U.S. time zones?
The program is fully online, so students can participate from outside the United States. However, live sessions can still create scheduling challenges depending on your location and the specific cohort schedule.
If you live in Asia, Europe, or another region with a large time difference from the U.S., check the schedule before committing. The individual program provides more flexibility because it is built around personalized coaching.
Is Young Founders Lab worth the cost?
Young Founders Lab is worth considering if you want a structured environment for actually building a startup and expect to make meaningful use of the mentorship and feedback.
At $2,900 for the team-based program and $3,500 for the individual program, it is less expensive than some intensive startup programs while still offering hands-on venture development and mentorship. For example, LaunchX’s flagship online entrepreneurship program starts at $6,495, while Leangap’s online program costs $6,450.
The decision ultimately comes down to what you want from the experience. If you mainly want to learn business fundamentals, a shorter or lower-cost option may be enough. If you want to take an idea through product development, mentorship, and launch, YFL’s structure is much more closely aligned with that goal.
Our review: Should you apply to Young Founders Lab?
Verdict: Young Founders Lab is a strong choice for high school students who want to build a real venture with direct mentorship, especially if they value a fully virtual format and practical startup experience.
The biggest strength of Young Founders Lab is its focus on doing. Instead of limiting the experience to entrepreneurship lessons or case studies, you get a structured process for identifying a problem, developing an idea, researching the market, building a product, and working toward a launch.
The mentorship model is another major advantage. You can receive feedback from experienced founders and professionals while developing your venture, giving you guidance that can be difficult to access when you are trying to build something independently.
What students often ask about Young Founders Lab
Young Founders Lab is less expensive than several comparable startup programs. LaunchX’s flagship online program starts at $6,495 and Leangap’s online program costs $6,450, while YFL’s team-based program costs $2,900 and its individual program costs $3,500.
Each week combines live instruction with hands-on work on your own venture, moving through stages like ideation, market research, product development, and pitch preparation. The exact mix of workshop time versus independent work depends on whether you’re in the team-based or individual program, so check the current cohort schedule for specifics.
Yes. The program is built around solving a real-world problem, and that can take the form of a for-profit business or a nonprofit venture, depending on the idea you want to pursue.
Yes. The venture you create during the program remains yours, and you’re free to keep developing it after the program ends.
The team-based program costs $2,900, and the individual program costs $3,500 based on published YFL pricing. Financial aid is available for students who demonstrate financial need, so it is worth checking the current aid requirements before applying.
You do not need a fully developed business idea before joining. You can start with a problem or early concept and develop it through the program’s ideation, research, product development, and mentorship process.
The program is focused on building a real venture rather than only studying business concepts. You’ll work through areas such as product development, market research, business planning, and pitching, although completing the program does not guarantee that every venture becomes a successful company.
Image source: Young Founders Lab