Program Dates
BETA Academy is a 12 week interactive entrepreneurship program that runs February 4 - April 29. Live interactive sessions are held every Saturday from 12 - 3:30 pm EST.
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‍Session Timing
Live sessions are held once a week and are 3.5 hours long. Beyond this time for live sessions, students typically spend 1 hour on the student portal going through on-demand lectures of the week, 3-10 hours working on their startups, and 1 hour at BETA Camp socials each week.

Curriculum and Startup Team Details
Students in the School Year cohorts form teams of 5-6 at the end of Week 2 based on a combination of their own selected team members and those matched based on personality, skillset, and interest by the BETA Camp staff. Students will receive weekly startup guidance in this 1:5 format.

Students will follow the same curriculum as in the summer but will instead have 2 weeks to complete each module.

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Program Dates
BETA Camp Summer 2023 is a 6 week program running June 26 - August 4, 2023. Workshops are held Monday-Thursday, 12-3 pm EST.

Curriculum and Startup Team Details
Startup teams of 5-6 are formed in the second week of BETA Camp. Students will have many opportunities to meet and work together with peers to choose their own teams. Startup teams receive two 30 min startup guidance sessions/week

See below for a week-by-week curriculum overview:

What the live sessions of a week would look like:

The Summer and School Year program follow the same curriculum. The primary difference is the duration and time commitment.

The school year program, BETA Academy, is a part-time program with one weekly live session on Saturdays. The total time commitment is 10-20 hours per week.

The summer program, BETA Camp, is a more in-depth and condensed program with 4 live sessions per week, Monday-Thursday, 12 - 3 pm EST. There are additional guest speakers, company challenges, and workshops. The total time commitment is 20-30 hours per week.

In both programs, students participate in live sessions (including workshops, company challenges, and group activities), and work directly with their startup team and their startup advisor.

You should choose the best timing for you based on your schedule, and what you hope to get out of the program. Please contact us, or join an info session to learn more or for personal guidance.

In order to participate, students must be 13-18 years old. Gap year students are also able to apply.

Our ideal candidate is a high school student or rising high school student who is ambitious, driven and curious. They are forever learning and keen on taking action within their circle of influence.

We do not require any previous knowledge in business, technology, or entrepreneurship - only an open mind and demonstrated passion.

1. Are you curious?

At BETA Camp, we look for people who are always looking to learn new things, whether it be about emerging technologies, different aspects of entrepreneurship, or potential career paths in business!

We provide so many resources at BETA Camp so we hope to find students that are going to be a sponge and soak it all up!

2. Are you driven?

We value the self-motivated go-getters! What have you done to pursue your interests and make a difference in your community?

We look for people who are always looking for problems and thinking about solutions.

Building a startup is no easy task and the weeks at BETA Camp will be intense. We are looking for motivated students that are going to push through and put a lot in to really get that transformation!

3. Are you open-minded?

Are you open to new ideas and concepts? Furthermore, are you willing to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself in different ways? If so, you'll make the most out of BETA Camp!

A piece of advice that our Camp Directors and Camp Counselors give every cohort is that "If you want to grow really fast, you need feedback loops from people you trust."

People that you trust to give you good feedback to act on is often hard to find, but not at BETA Camp.

You'll receive feedback at every workshop and weekly at your startup guidance sessions.

Imagine making the same mistakes or doing the same thing over and over again without anyone to show you how to do it better or not even knowing there's anything you could be doing better!

This is why we need students open to receiving feedback and surrounding themselves with smarter people. Ask for feedback on your work, your leadership skills, and your growth.

At BETA Camp, the only competition you have is with yourself. Admission is selective but we don't have an enrollment cap. All qualified students will be accepted and accommodated for without losing personalized attention and experience. We prioritize two things: your ability to contribute to a team and your go-getter attitude.

The application process includes 3 short answer questions and your school transcript. We do not include an interview in the application process; rather, we use your short answer questions to evaluate your fit with the program.

We accept students on a rolling basis prior to our application deadlines.

Application Deadlines:
BETA Academy Spring 2023:
Early Application Deadline: December 1, 2023
Application Deadline: January 15, 2023

BETA Camp Summer 2023:
Early Application Deadline: December 1, 2023
Application Deadline: January 15, 2023
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Instead of trying to make a offline program adaptable online, we designed for this program to be virtual from the start. We plan on always sticking to a virtual program.

There are so many advantages to online learning.

1. We can continue bringing in instructors from the world’s top companies so students get exposure and discover careers outside of their communities. For example, the Head of Innovation at IKEA based at IKEA headquarters in Sweden teaches our Design Thinking workshop.We’ve had exceptional instructors like senior engineers at Waymo, Google’s self driving car unit, to CEOs of billion dollar companies come in to run workshops. You can’t find that at your locally based extracurricular program.

2. Students can work with likeminded peers across the continent and the world.Being able to work across cultures with people from different backgrounds is a skill all employers will look for. Our students love that they can be in Toronto and work with team members in Florida, Saudi Arabia, Ecuador, London England, and Vancouver!

3. Tech-enabled learning is better than offline learning. With the internet, the world is at your fingertips. We use remote work tools instead of what's available for their online school. For example, we use https://miro.com/app/ for collaborating. It's so much better than pen and paper or a whiteboard. Students can use templates, color code, set timers to vote for the best ideas, paste in information from elsewhere on the internet. Most of our weekend workshops involve building a landing page and using existing online tools to reach customers, build products/services, and do research - all done online anyway.

When used properly, an online environment is more engaging for learning. You can read all the testimonials our students have written about our virtual learning and how our alumni have found BETA Camp to be more engaging and interactive than online programs they have been part of in Success Stories.
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BETA Academy Spring 2023 is $750 / month or $2,000 for the 3-month program.

BETA Camp's summer program is a more in-depth experience with additional guest speakers, hands-on company challenges, and programming Monday-Friday. Tuition is $3,000 for the full 6-week program.

We offer financial bursaries that cover up to 80% of the fees for students whose family or caregivers earn a combined income of less than $100,000 (USD equivalent) per year.

Students must apply for financial bursaries in their application.

BETA Camp helps middle and high school students build leadership skills and find their passion. But why is this important?

Passion

Harvard looks for passion. Google looks for passion. Startups look for passion. BETA Camp also looks for that internal spark of passion.

What exactly is passion and why does every competitive program or opportunity look for it?

Everyone has something they are passionate about. It could be a book you have read, a game you play, a side hustle, an instrument, a sport, a movie, playing video games - whatever. Everyone has something.

When someone asks you what you are passionate about, it's a chance for you to be a teacher and show clarity, enthusiasm, and lucidity.

By talk about passion, we get to see if you are a learner.

Whether you dig beyond the obvious.

Whether you break down and reason why things are the way they are as you spend hours pouring over this passion.

Labels fall away when you talk about passion and you see a person who cares about something to know it better than anyone else in the world (in their mind).

Many top students who go to top schools suddenly look like boring, box-checkers and are too busy following the normal path to have a passion so they talk about something safe.

The people who truly think for themselves are able to talk about aerospace, poverty, League of Legends, anime, and find the unique points that only someone who is passionate knows. You become a genius hidden in plain sight, it shows us how hard you can work to be the best when you are committed.

What we encourage students to do at BETA Camp is to pursue their passion. We validate that only by being passionate and seeing beyond the obvious will give them insights to build something amazing.

For example, a team that loved playing video games have built a monetized community and competition for small Twitch streamers to network. Another team passionate about mental health built a digital marketplace where teens get to try out group therapy before committing to a therapist.

Leadership

Before leaders become great at inspiring followers, they are first doers.

Leaders take action.

This can start in middle school and high school. But what does true leadership mean?

Who sounds more impressive to an admissions officer:

1. Someone who built a game as a side project and got hundreds of users from the appstore, did an unpaid internship at a local startup helping with backend development

OR

2. Someone who claims they want to be an engineer but has never written a line of code outside their computer science class?

Another example:

1. Someone who has written multiple marketing articles and started a marketing agency providing social media and content marketing services to small businesses by sourcing them through direct messaging on Instagram

OR

2. Someone who claims they are passionate about business but has just created marketing posters for fundraisers at school?

Who shows more genuine interest and passion? Who looks like they would be a good leader in the student community with sufficient experience?

At BETA Camp, students are passionate creators. You have to build and create the change you see in the world and it's not done through writing business plans or theoretical proposals!

We know there are an abundance of amazing middle school and high school summer or school year programs, entrepreneurship programs, and leadership programs for high school students - what makes BETA Camp different?

1. You have full ownership of your startup. You have the freedom to choose what to build and where you take it after BETA Camp.

Unlike Junior Achievement where "JA" needs to be attached or accelerators that take a percentage of ownership in your company, what you build at BETA Camp is fully yours!

2. BETA Camp is not a case competition, design project, proposal, mockup, or a hackathon. You will learn to build a REAL business with REAL world implications and monetization strategies. You may fail as many first time founders do, but you'll learn more from this hands-on experience than in any classroom.

There are no strict guidelines on what you can accomplish at what time. Your startup is your baby and you own your own success or failure with it. But we will provide you structured guidance and the exact playbook to make it successful!

You get to see immediate results when you put what you learn to the test and learn on the fly!

There are no tests, quizzes, or preparation for a case. Your results on your startup will show for itself! This is not online school where you get lectured at! All workshops are interactive and hands-on and we don't treat you like students - you are business owners!

3. All of our lessons and workshops are taught by Camp Counselors who are industry professionals working at the forefront of innovation. They are business leaders, tech innovators, and founders with real experience in what they are teaching.

Since they are working in the fields you want to be in, they also bring relatable and insightful information when it comes to career development and jobs.

No fluff, we give you the hours they work, the problems they solve, and the boring daily tasks they still have to do. We learned that CEOs double as janitor and the delivery person for their startups + everything in between!

Being born virtual, these Camp Counselors come from all around the world. Hear from engineers from Google, investment bankers from Wall Street, digital nomads traveling the world, and founders from Silicon Valley.
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BETA Camp Fellowship
‍After BETA Camp, students may be invited to continue their startup and entrepreneurship journey with BETA Camp's Fellowship program, an invite-only opportunity for students who have shown dedication and effort during the BETA Camp experience.

During the Fellowship, students take deeper dives into different fields and career paths within tech and entrepreneurship with guidance and 1:1 support from industry mentors and coaches. The goal is to continue to develop real-life skills & assist with securing internships early. Please reach out to us if you would like to learn more about life after BETA Camp!

‍Alumni Network & Beyond
‍All students are invited to our alumni community where students have the opportunity to remain connected with our vast network. Staff host bi-monthly events including networking opportunities.

Some teams choose to continue with their startups (BETA Camp takes no equity or ownership with their startups). Others move to build new startups or non-profits with either the same team, their friends, or solo.

We also see keen students land internships through the network they built at BETA Camp.
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