Friday7:00 PM-8:30 PM90 min

Idea Generation

Niche & POV. Where every business starts.

The point

Generate volume, then commit to one. Nobody leaves this block undecided.

Time blocks

5 sections · 90 min
  1. 0–10Frame the search
  2. 10–35Generate wide
  3. 35–60Grid and narrow
  4. 60–75Commit
  5. 75–90Prepare the pitch

Facilitator cue sheet

Run this block

90 min · 9 cues

Friday · block 01

Idea Generation Module

7:00 PM-8:30 PM · Lead: MC or Workshop Guide

90 minutes

Timebox

0 → 90 min
  1. 0–10Frame the searchExplain niche and point of view with one concrete example.
  2. 10–35Generate wideStudents produce possibilities without evaluating them; mentors prompt with categories.
  3. 20Mentor checkFind anyone with fewer than twenty ideas; help them generate categories, not evaluate.
  4. 35–60Grid and narrowTest specificity, reachability and genuine interest before choosing.
  5. 45Room callHalfway: everyone should be narrowing a large list, not defending a first idea.
  6. 55Mentor checkCheck quiet and younger students before they narrow; make sure they explored enough options.
  7. 60–75CommitEvery student chooses one idea and decides whether to work solo or seek a team.
  8. 75–90Prepare the pitchWrite the one-minute version and identify students ready for the optional fast track.Finish check: Broad idea list · One idea chosen · One-minute explanation readyReady early: A student who has completed the full ideation flow may open the MVP starter and begin a rough landing page Friday. The whole-room MVP workshop still runs Saturday.
  9. 75Room callFifteen minutes: commit to one idea and prepare the one-minute version.

Say this

“Fill the page first. Pick later. Give yourself enough ideas to find one worth the weekend.”

Finish line

Every student has committed to one idea and can explain it in one minute.

If late: Shorten neighbour pitches. Do not cut the wide idea-generation phase.

The deck · 7 slides

PDF ↓
Slide 1 of 71 / 7

Speaker notes

Slide 1

0:00Live demo · niche to business

  • Ask the room what they watch videos about. Take the first shout.
  • Walk it to a business live. Think out loud, including the dead ends.
  • Land it: that took four minutes and I'd never thought about it before today.

Say this “Name something someone here watches videos about. Any answer works. We'll turn the first one into five business ideas together.”

1In the roomCallouts
Too broad: "an app for students"
"Which students? Name three. Where do they hang out?"
Too big: "an AI tutor for every subject"
"What's the one-weekend version? What's the smallest piece someone would pay for?"
Only four ideas, with too much time spent on each
"Stop judging. I want 15 more in ten minutes. Bad ones count."
Locked in on a pre-existing idea
"Great. Do the exercise anyway. If yours is still the best at the end, you've proved it."
A kid is stuck at zero ideas
Don't offer them one. Walk the seven questions with them. The block is almost always question 4: what annoys you.
Everything in the room is an app
Stop the clock and re-run the five shapes with one live example. This is the best use of an interruption here.
Running long at the 50-minute mark
Cut the neighbour pitch to five minutes. Never cut the wide phase.
  • Mentors watch for the first four situations above and use the response beside each one.
  • Do not tell a kid their idea is bad. Both retros are clear: the market filters weak ideas, and that's the lesson. A $5 desk-cleaner app dies on contact with a real customer, and that is what they'll remember.
  • Do push on specificity, on who exactly, and on whether they can reach that person this weekend.
  • During the wide phase, no quality feedback at all. Prompt with Grid questions instead.
  • Never compare two kids' ideas out loud. Peer ranking happens in Module 3 with structure around it.