Run mode · pick a weekend

Choose a city and the app becomes one screen: who is in the room, every block on that weekend’s real clock, and what is still left before doors.

Part five · Event ops

Everything that has to be true before doors.

01The shape of it

Format and logistics.

  • Who
  • Laptops
  • Pre-work
  • Mentor ratio
02Tech preflight

Power on every fallback.

  • Before doorsCharged · connected · tested
03What we provide

The box.

  • Venue
  • The build stack
  • CoFounder Light Access
  • Templates
  • Filming
04Payments

Solved once, centrally.

05Safety & legal

Non-negotiables.

  • The packet
  • Insurance
  • Background checks
  • Mentors
  • Event doors close at 9pm
  • Outreach and age
06Summer calendar

Seattle is the beta. The Hamptons is the flagship.

  • Seattle · Jul 17-19
  • Chicago · Jul 24-26
  • San Francisco · Jul 31 to Aug 2
  • Los Angeles · Aug 7-9
  • Iteration window · Aug 10-27
  • Hamptons · Aug 29-30
07Still to lock

11 things still to lock.

  • No weekend pickedThis weekend, counted back from doors
  • Venue
  • Staffing
  • The modules
  • CoFounder Light
  • Front door
  • Payments
  • Legal
  • Guests
  • The box
  • Freebies
  • Submissions

01Event opsThe shape of it

Format and logistics.

Doors to awards. Three days in most cities and two in the Hamptons, with the published hours for each on the run of show. Alpha campuses and rented venues. Free for accepted participants, with a lightweight application: name, age, school, why this, and a link to anything they've built. Target oversubscription and curate for fit.

Up to 40-50 students. Ages 8-16. Solo or teams of up to three. Later cities may split into two age tracks.
Students bring their own, but the room carries charged spare laptops or tablets with keyboards, common chargers and power strips. Pre-event tech setup (credits redeemed, backup accounts available, wifi sorted) is verified on the actual devices before doors.
Signed packet with acceptance: liability waiver, medical authorization, media release. No packet, no participation. We film everything.
One mentor per five to eight students.

02Event opsTech preflight

Power on every fallback.

A spare only counts if it is charged, connected and ready for a student. Put every device through the room's real wifi, power and presentation path before doors.
Charged · connected · testedBefore doors

Equipment manifest

Pick a weekend in the header to make these checks shared.

5 checks

  1. 01
    Spare laptops or tablets with keyboards are charged and assignedBefore doorsOps LeadOpen +

    Test: Record the count, power on every spare and connect each one to venue wifi.

    If it fails: Give each student a named partner and assign a staff device before the first build block.

  2. 02
    USB-C chargers, common adapters and power strips are in the roomBefore doorsOps LeadOpen +

    Test: Place and count them at the help point; test every power strip under load.

    If it fails: Mark powered tables and rotate devices through the staff charging station.

  3. 03
    Venue wifi holds on every device the room depends onBefore doorsOps LeadOpen +

    Test: Join the student, spare and presentation devices to venue wifi, then publish and reopen one test page.

    If it fails: Put staff hotspots at the help point, keep the presentation laptop wired and pair students before the first build block.

  4. 04
    The live build demo works on the presentation laptopBefore doorsWorkshop GuideOpen +

    Test: Build, publish and open one throwaway page using venue wifi and the projector.

    If it fails: Use the prepared example and narrate one real failed prompt plus recovery.

  5. 05
    Presentation submission path and device are testedSunday morningOps LeadOpen +

    Test: Submit a test entry, open it on the presentation laptop and confirm the three-minute timer plus the landing-page or PDF fallback.

    If it fails: Collect presentation paths on paper, open each team's landing page directly and run the same three-minute report.

03Event opsWhat we provide

The box.

Everything a city needs, shipped the same way every time. Verify each item before doors; students feel every missing piece.

Space, food, strong wifi, tested power, spare chargers, screen and projector. Any second room in use passes a sound-bleed check.
Replit, ChatGPT, Canva, and Alpha-held Stripe payment links. One path, one tutorial.
Every attendee gets an account. Permanent access: the retention mechanic, not a weekend tool.
Idea-generation rubric, POV one-pager, offer-design rubric, outreach log, sales-script template, 90-day plan and presentation script.
Filming station plus AV crew. Slots booked before the room flips; presentation links collected, finalists preloaded and landing-page or PDF fallbacks tested.

04Event opsPayments

Solved once, centrally.

Minors can't open Stripe accounts, the floor is 18. So Founders Weekend team holds a master account and issues a unique payment link per team. Earnings are tracked per link and remitted to families after the weekend.

The First Dollar bell rings when a customer converts.

05Event opsSafety & legal

Non-negotiables.

All participants must have completed their signed packet or they will be unable to participate.

Waiver, medical authorization and media release bundled into acceptance, collected before arrival.
Certificate of insurance for rented venues. Confirm Alpha campus coverage extends to non-enrolled minors.
Visiting mentors and speakers clear Alpha's standard check.
Ratios per Alpha standard.
The playbook wraps day one at 9pm. Publish the city's real wrap time because parents own all transport and plan pickup around it. Staff never transport minors.
Parents get nervous about kids DM-ing strangers. Keep the youngest on email and parent-network outreach; reserve social for teens. No parent has complained about Nat's existing enrollment challenge.

06Event opsSummer calendar

Seattle is the beta. The Hamptons is the flagship.

Monthly in every Alpha city from Fall 2026. The goal is to become the entrepreneurship weekend for ambitious teens.

Beta run. Consider capping: 19 confirmed, 28 pending as of 7/10.
How do we incorporate tech week?
San Francisco · Jul 31 to Aug 2
Expect to reject some of ~70 applicants. Consider two age tracks.
Full retro, playbook v2, fix what broke.
The polished flagship, over two days.

07Before a city opensStill to lock

11 things still to lock.

Each item has an owner outside this playbook and must be settled before the city opens.

Pick a weekend in the header and this fills in: the mentor bench that city's capacity asks for, and every date below counted back from its doors.

Lock Seattle venue and logistics. Top priority.
Confirm a West Coast support person good with younger kids. Liam first.
Build out the five workshops as repeatable modules: demo script plus rubric or template each.
Ship v1 for Seattle. Nat has already built the underlying skills.
Landing page and application form live.
Alpha Stripe master account plus per-team payment link workflow.
Counsel review of the waiver, medical and media packet.
Mentor and guest speaker list per city. Audition Chase for the sales role.
Build the Weekend in a Box. Assign the single owner.
Partnerships confirmed.
Form built.