Feature 1
Real voices from the street
Students talk to people in English to collect problems and reactions. Textbook English becomes English that gets understood.
Middle schoolHigh schoolUniversity
Entrepreneurship Program
Students find a real problem on the streets of Vancouver and solve it with a Japanese product or service. They interview, test and pitch to local entrepreneurs, in English, as a team.
- For
- Middle school, high school and university
- Length
- 1 to 2 weeks, intensive
- Format
- Study trip (Vancouver and Seattle)
- Group size
- Planned per school or group
Overview
Leave the classroom and meet real customers
Students form teams and head into Vancouver with local high school facilitators, with a trip to Seattle, so the program spans Canada and the US. They look for problems through street interviews, form hypotheses, build prototypes and pitch in English to local entrepreneurs and investors.
We rebuilt the lean startup and customer discovery methods used in entrepreneurship education around the world so that even middle and high school students can run them. Facing open questions in English is the lesson.
Methods we useLean startupCustomer discoveryDesign thinkingWorking with AIPitching
Track record
In summer 2026, 24 middle and high school students from across Japan took part
Next runs planned for spring and summer 2027
- Open enrollment, from all over Japan
- Run in two countries: Vancouver, Canada and Seattle, USA
- Five presentations in English
- About 90 minutes of street interviews
- English speeches before hundreds of people at a Japanese Canadian festival (volunteers)
Features
What makes it different
Feature 2
One team with local students
Local high school students join each team as facilitators, running market research and ideation together in English. Team members take roles such as CEO and CFO.
Feature 3
Pitch to entrepreneurs
On the final day, teams pitch problem, solution and vision to local entrepreneurs and investors, and get feedback on the spot.
Program flow
From an idea to a pitch
A 1 to 2 week intensive, moving through three phases in daily activities.
- PHASE 1
Discover and hypothesize
Start from a problem in Canada and imagine a Japanese product or service that solves it.
- Self-introductions and presentation practice in English
- Idea generation
- Problem and customer hypotheses
- Market and channel research
- PHASE 2
Test and improve
Go out, test the hypotheses and rebuild based on what people say.
- Street interviews
- Testing and revising hypotheses
- Prototyping
- Pricing and promotion
- PHASE 3
Pitch
Pitch in English to local entrepreneurs and investors and get feedback.
- Structuring the pitch
- Pronunciation and delivery
- Pitch to entrepreneurs and investors
- Reflection
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