Your child is full of
so they shouldn't have to figure it out alone.
NextGen Founder Class gives ambitious young people the environment, mentors, tools and confidence to start building their future. An international founder movement for ambitious 10–20 year-olds — opening its first chapter in Phuket in 2026, and online for ambitious children worldwide..
The gap school can't fill — and the path ambitious children need.
NextGen was created for families who want more than academic success. Families who want their children to grow in confidence, think independently, understand the real world, use technology wisely and learn how to build. A selective pathway for parents who refuse to choose between excellence and kindness, between Phuket and the world, between school and real life.
The world is changing faster than school.
AI, new business models, remote work, global teams and new forms of wealth creation are reshaping the future. Most of it will never appear on a report card. Your child needs a parallel path that prepares them for the world they are actually entering.
Confidence grows through real experience.
Theory alone does not build confidence. Ambitious children need to create real projects, meet real people, make real decisions, receive feedback and try again. That is how confidence is built: through doing, supported by adults who believe in them.
Phuket should not limit ambition.
For too long, ambitious families in Phuket have felt that serious exposure, mentors and opportunities live somewhere else. NextGen is building that path here — so students can start building from Phuket, without waiting until they leave.
Kindness is not optional. It is the engine.
Pressure breaks talent. Kindness, trust and high standards together unlock it. Every cohort is designed around psychological safety, so students dare to speak, try, fail, recover and build.
Skills fade. Character compounds.
We don't only teach them to build companies. We help them become the kind of human people want to build with.
Ambition
Aim higher than what feels comfortable.
Bienveillance
Kindness as the foundation of confidence.
Integrity
Build value, never extract it.
Curiosity
Ask, build, test, learn — endlessly.
Resilience
Failure is data, not identity.
Open-mindedness
Cosmopolitan by design, global by reflex.
Not lessons. Experiences they'll remember at 40.
The core membership includes one structured founder session every week, term challenges, long-term project follow-up and access to the Demo Day pathway. Beyond the weekly program, students may also access selected à la carte experiences such as hackathons, bootcamps and international immersions.
Weekly Founder Sessions.
One structured session every week of the school year, focused on entrepreneurship, AI, communication, confidence, money, leadership and real-world project building.
Weekend Hackathons.
Mixed teams. Real briefs. 48 hours to design, build and pitch in front of a jury.
Intensive Bootcamps.
Multi-day deep dives during school breaks: AI, product, storytelling, sales, finance and leadership.
International Immersions — San Francisco.
Future trips may include global innovation hubs such as San Francisco, where students can meet founders, visit companies and understand how ideas become real-world ventures.
International Immersions — Shenzhen.
Inside the world's largest hardware ecosystem. Future immersions in Shenzhen and other cities where students see how ideas physically become products at global scale.
Eight foundations, term after term.
A complete founder's curriculum, woven through the year — practiced in every session, every challenge, every pitch.
Founder Mindset
Confidence, resilience, initiative and healthy ambition.
Problem Discovery
How to identify real problems and understand people's needs.
AI as a Builder Tool
How to use AI to think, create, research, prototype and improve.
Product & Offer Design
How to turn an idea into something people understand and want.
Money & Business Basics
Price, cost, margin, value, profit and simple business models.
Storytelling & Pitch
How to communicate an idea clearly and present with confidence.
Sales & Validation
How to test demand, ask questions, receive feedback and sell ethically.
Leadership & Teamwork
How to collaborate, lead, listen, decide and deliver.
One school. Three founder ages.
The same eight foundations, taught at the right altitude for each age. Students grow inside the school — and the program grows with them.
Spark
Curiosity, creativity, first projects.
Discover ideas, build playful prototypes with AI, learn to speak in front of others and ship a first mini-project they're proud of.
Build
Ship a real product.
Find a real problem, design a solution, validate with real users, learn ethical sales — and present a working project on Demo Day.
Launch
Founder track.
Launch a real venture: brand, first revenue, small team, fundraising basics — and pitch to a jury of entrepreneurs and investors.
Take the full program home. Read it with your child.
Three terms. Three competitions. One Demo Day.
A full year structured like a real founder's calendar. Each term ends with an internal competition. The year ends with a Demo Day in front of a jury that matters.
Team challenge.
Students form teams, tackle a real-world brief, and compete inside the school. One winning project per cohort.
Market sprint.
Teams meet customers, validate, iterate, learn ethical sales — and compete again at the end of the term.
Solo founder challenge.
Each student ships a personal project — their own story, their own brand, their own pitch — judged in front of their peers.
Demo Day.
Top projects pitch on stage in front of a prestigious jury of entrepreneurs, investors, mentors and parents.
One stage. One jury.
A moment they will never forget.
Founders, investors, school directors and mentors — the kind of room most adults wait decades to be invited into. Our students earn it before they turn 20.
A weekly rhythm — and a values compass that stays.
One real session every week, all year long. The same coaches. The same standards. The same values — patiently transmitted, week after week.
- ·One structured session per week — every week of the school year
- ·Long-term follow-up on each child's projects, progress and posture
- ·Values transmitted by example: ambition, bienveillance, integrity, resilience
- ·A trusted adult relationship that lasts well beyond the cohort
Confidence first. Results follow.
My son finally found a place where ambition is treated like a strength, not a problem. He came home from his first pitch saying 'I want to build something real.'
The combination of bienveillance and high standards is rare. Our daughter is more articulate, more curious and more confident in three months than in three years of after-school activities.
I've been looking for this for years. Real mentors, a real project, a real stage. Exactly what serious families have been missing in Phuket.
A global class. Phuket first.
NextGen Founder Class is built to become an international movement — a global network of founder cohorts in the cities where the next generation is being raised. We're starting where the need is most personal to us: Phuket, in 2026.
For too long, ambitious families here have faced the same choice: keep your child close, or send them away to find serious mentors, peers and opportunities. The first chapter is our answer — a program rooted here, connected to everywhere, designed from day one to scale to other cities around the world.
Roots in Phuket.
A movement going global.
A local home base. A global founder education. A worldwide cohort of peers your child will grow up with — wherever the next chapters open.
In-person in Phuket. Online for the world.
NextGen runs as a single founder season, in two complementary formats. Same curriculum, same standards, same mentors, same Demo Day. Families choose the path that fits where they live.
Phuket Cohort
The founding cohort, on the ground in Phuket. Weekly in-person sessions, term challenges and the Demo Day in front of a prestigious live jury.
- ·Weekly in-person session, all school year
- ·Term I, II, III + Demo Day on stage
- ·Hackathons, bootcamps and international immersions
- ·Founding cohort · Limited seats
Global Online Cohort
The same founder season, fully online — for ambitious children anywhere in the world. One live session per week, real projects, real mentors, and an international Demo Day broadcast live alongside the Phuket finale.
- ·1 live session per week, in cohort time-zones
- ·Terms I, II, III mirroring the in-person season
- ·Real project follow-up between sessions
- ·International Demo Day · in-person + online jury
Same curriculum. Same mentors. Same Demo Day. Whether your child grows up in Phuket or anywhere else in the world.
Emmanuelle Vandepitterie.
French entrepreneur, business mentor and former HR executive — and, before all of that, a high-potential student who needed more than school could offer.
She was that student — ahead in class, restless, full of energy, looking for somewhere to channel it. She was lucky: her family, a few mentors and the right encounters turned that drive into a career. Most teenagers never get that bridge.
15 years across entrepreneurship, executive search and international leadership hiring. She built and scaled a company to ~€2M revenue, 35 employees and a multi-million valuation, before it was acquired by a publicly listed group.
For 7 years she led an association for teenagers — 100% Baccalauréat success rate — and saw the same pattern again and again: young people with real potential waiting for someone to take them seriously.
“The people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones who do.”
Business Genius™ — the expression of a lifelong drive. Helping high-potential young profiles find — and build — the path that is truly made for them has always been Emmanuelle's deepest motivation. Years of listening to ambitious profiles, understanding how each one thinks, creates and leads, and walking with them until their own direction becomes obvious. Not a course. The reason NextGen exists.
Her vision: you don't have to find your place in the world — you can build it.
Built for students who want more.
A founder cohort is only as strong as its culture. NextGen selects students who show curiosity, drive, creativity, kindness and the willingness to grow.
Selection is not about perfect grades. It is about potential. We look for young people who are ready to be challenged, encouraged, stretched and surrounded by others who also want to build.
The process includes
- ·Application reviewed personally by the founder.
- ·Private conversation with the child and the parents.
- ·Final selection by the admissions committee.
- ·Limited seats in the 2026 founding cohort.
A premium pathway — for selected families.
One structured session every week of the school year — long-term follow-up on each child's projects, the values we transmit, and the cohort they grow with. Internal competitions and Demo Day are included.
Hackathons, bootcamps and international immersion trips (San Francisco, Shenzhen) are à la carte — booked and priced separately, kept at cost for selected families.
Begin your applicationFree 20-min discovery call · No commitment · Reply within 48h
Everything parents ask before applying.
Membership pricing is shared after the discovery call so we can match the right track and format to your child. The annual membership includes one weekly founder session, term challenges, project follow-up and the Demo Day pathway. Hackathons, bootcamps and international immersions are à la carte.
Ages 10 to 20, split into three tracks: Spark (10–12), Build (13–16) and Launch (17–20). The same eight foundations are taught at the right altitude for each age.
The program runs in English. Mentors speak French and English; some sessions are bilingual. Russian-speaking families are welcome — our team can support onboarding in Russian.
The first chapter opens in Phuket, Thailand, in 2026. An online cohort runs in parallel for ambitious families worldwide. International immersions (San Francisco, Shenzhen) are à la carte.
School teaches subjects; we teach how to build. Every term ends with a real competition and the year ends with a Demo Day in front of a prestigious jury. Students leave with shipped projects, mentors, and a global peer group — not just grades.
Selective by design. We review every application personally to protect the quality of each cohort. We look for curiosity, kindness and willingness to build — not perfect grades.
One structured weekly session during the school year, plus personal project time between sessions. Hackathons and bootcamps run on weekends and school breaks.
Founders, operators and investors with real-world track records. Every cohort is anchored by lead coaches who follow the same children all year — long-term relationships, not one-off talks.
We review your application, then schedule a free 20-min discovery call with you and your child. If it's a fit, we invite you to the founding cohort. We reply within 48 hours.
Psychological safety is the foundation of the program. Every coach is vetted, every group is small, and parents are kept in the loop with regular updates.
Apply for your child.
Free 20-min discovery call · No commitment · Reply within 48h
Apply for your child.
Every file is reviewed personally by the founder. Shortlisted families are invited to a private interview within 7 days. Submissions are confidential.
Free 20-min discovery call · No commitment · Reply within 48h