Junior Board Members: Get on the Board
A Weekly Boardroom and Business Incubator for Kids Ages 8–14
SURF is opening its startup community to the next generation.
For years, adults have come to SURF Incubator to build companies, test ideas, solve problems, meet collaborators, and learn from other founders. Now, Seattle’s young people get that opportunity too.
Junior Board Members is a weekly, hands-on business incubator where kids can develop real businesses, products, services, inventions, books, games, media concepts, community initiatives, and other creative projects—inside an actual Seattle startup incubator.
Big Ideas Start Young
What Is Junior Board Members?
Junior Board Members combines a real business incubator with a kid-friendly board meeting.
Participants may bring something they are already building or use their first few meetings to discover what interests them.
They may:
- Build an ongoing business or creative project
- Start something completely new
- Explore several possible ideas
- Join another member’s project
- Bring a question or problem to the board
- Experiment until they discover something they genuinely want to pursue
This is not a traditional class where every child completes the same assignment.
Some members may spend several months developing one business. Others may explore different ideas, change direction, collaborate with another member, or complete one project and begin another.
Participants may attend once, join us occasionally, or return every week to continue building.
What Can Junior Board Members Work On? Members may:
- Brainstorm business and project ideas
- Develop products and services
- Create names, brands, logos, advertisements, and prototypes
- Explore pricing, costs, revenue, profit, and budgeting
- Develop books, shows, games, channels, and other media concepts
- Practice marketing, public speaking, selling, and pitching
- Research customers and competitors
- Test ideas and collect feedback
- Solve problems with help from the board
- Collaborate with other young founders
- Build confidence in their ideas and voices
Every meeting offers a new conversation, challenge, and opportunity to make meaningful progress.
What Happens During Each Meeting? Each two-hour session combines project work, a kid-friendly board meeting, and direct access to a visiting founder or professional.
First Hour: Junior Board Meeting and Incubator
Open Boardroom As members arrive, they begin working on their businesses and projects. They might design a product, calculate a price, create a logo, conduct research, improve a prototype, prepare a pitch, or ask for individual help.
Call to Order and Member Reports We officially call the Junior Board Meeting to order and review the day’s agenda.
Each member gives a short update:
- What am I building?
- What did I work on?
- What progress, decision, or discovery did I make?
- What question or obstacle do I have?
- What help do I need from the board?
New members who do not yet have a project may share their interests or the ideas they are considering.
Old and New Business We revisit goals and questions from previous meetings before discussing new ideas, proposals, and challenges.
Members may ask the board for help with a product name, design, price, customer, marketing plan, prototype, pitch, or other decision.
The group asks questions, shares ideas, and offers respectful, constructive feedback.
Incubator Challenge and Project Work Each meeting includes a practical business or creative challenge, such as:
- Who is your customer?
- What makes an idea valuable?
- How should you choose a price?
- What makes people trust a business?
- How can you test an idea without spending much money?
- What should you do if nobody buys?
- What problem do children understand better than adults?
- What could you build with only $20?
Members apply the topic directly to their own projects and use the remaining time to build, research, revise, or prepare.
Second Hour: Founder of the Week
Founder Presentation — Approximately 15 Minutes
Each week, an adult founder, entrepreneur, creator, professional, or community leader will be invited to visit the boardroom.
The Founder of the Week may share:
- What they have built
- How they got started
- What their work is really like
- An important decision they made
- A mistake or challenge that taught them something
- What they wish they had understood when they were younger
Questions from the Junior Board — Approximately 10 Minutes
Members may ask the guest questions about their business, career, industry, experiences, and advice.
This is an opportunity for kids to have a real conversation with someone actively building, leading, or creating in the world.
Young Founder Pitches and Guest Feedback
Several Junior Board Members will then present their businesses, products, projects, or current challenges to the visiting founder.
The guest will listen, ask questions, offer suggestions, and help members think through their next decisions. Other Junior Board Members may contribute feedback too.
Pitching opportunities will rotate so returning members have regular chances to receive focused advice.
Depending on the size of the group, pitches may include:
- A quick one-minute update
- A product demonstration
- A request for feedback
- A business decision
- A current obstacle
- A more developed founder presentation
Next Moves and Adjournment Every member ends the meeting by identifying one concrete next step: - What will I build, test, research, or decide next? - We record the action items, confirm the next meeting, and formally adjourn the Junior Board.
Participants are not expected to build an entire business in one afternoon.
Junior Board Members gives them a consistent place to return, receive support, develop their ideas, and watch their projects grow over time.
Weekly Meetings Mondays, 4:30–6:30 PM After-school meeting Thursdays, 1:00–3:00 PM Daytime meeting especially accessible to homeschool, alternative-learning, and flexible-schedule families
Both meetings follow the same general format. Families may choose whichever meeting works best or attend both.
Ages Junior Board Members is designed for children ages 8–14.
No previous business experience is necessary—only curiosity and a willingness to create.
Food Participants are welcome to bring a snack, meal, or drink to enjoy during the program. Please do not share food with other participants without permission. Children may have allergies or dietary restrictions.
Pricing Early-Bird Admission: $45 per child Standard/Same-Day Admission: $59 per child Early-bird pricing ends 48 hours before each meeting.
Advance registration is required. Space is limited so every Junior Board Member can receive meaningful guidance and feedback.
Sponsor a Young Founder Don’t have a child attending but want to help one participate? Community members, founders, companies, and supporters may contribute to the Junior Board Members Scholarship Fund.
A $59 sponsorship covers one early-bird admission for a young person whose family may not otherwise be able to participate. A $200 sponsorship covers approximately one month of weekly meetings.
Smaller and larger contributions will be combined and used exclusively to reduce or cover admission for participating families.
You do not need to have a child enrolled to sponsor a young founder.
Scholarship Options
- Sponsor One Young Founder: $59
- Sponsor Two Young Founders: $108
- Sponsor Approximately One Month: $200
- Contribute to the Scholarship Fund: Choose your amount
- Request a Full or Partial Scholarship
Families will not be required to publicly explain or prove their financial circumstances. Sponsorship tickets do not include admission for the purchaser and are not currently tax-deductible. Let’s make sure money isn’t the reason a young person’s idea never receives the opportunity to grow.
Interested in Becoming a Founder of the Week? We welcome founders, entrepreneurs, creators, professionals, and community leaders who would like to share their experiences and advise the next generation.
Visiting founders should be prepared to:
- Give a short, kid-friendly presentation
- Answer questions from Junior Board Members
- Listen to several young founders pitch their ideas
- Offer thoughtful, constructive feedback
Let us know when you register if you are interested in becoming a future Founder of the Week.
Location, Parking, and Parent Waiting Area SURF Incubator 999 Third Avenue, Suite 700 Seattle, Washington 98104 SURF is conveniently located in downtown Seattle near Symphony light-rail station and multiple bus routes.
A parking garage is located in the building. Guests can receive a flat $10 parking rate. Additional parking instructions will be provided to registered families. Parents and guardians are welcome to remain onsite.
SURF has a lobby and common areas with restrooms where adults can sit and wait while Junior Board Members is in session.
Additional arrival, pickup, supervision, and participation information will be sent to registered families.
Junior Board Members is created and facilitated by Kelly Tutors in collaboration with SURF Incubator.
About Kelly Tutors My most successful entrepreneurship student began working with me when he was only five years old. Since then, I've helped young people brainstorm, build, launch, and grow real businesses and creative projects. My students have earned hundreds of dollars per week from their ideas, appeared on Good Morning America, and participated in ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
After teaching more than 10,000 students internationally, I know children are capable of far more than adults frequently assume. Now, they have a physical place in Seattle to build.
SURF has helped generations of founders build what comes next.
Now, the next generation gets a seat at the table.
