NonProfit NewsPod: Junior Achievement's Ideas to Income Startup Lab July 27th & 28th at Golden One Center

Jeff Holden: [00:00:00] Welcome to this nonprofit podcast, NewsPod, where we amplify the voices of nonprofit leaders making a difference in their communities. I'm joined by Chris Marshall, President and CEO of Junior Achievement Sacramento, to share some important news about an event that's just around the corner, Junior Achievement's Ideas to Income event.

Chris, welcome.

Chris Marshall: Thanks for having me.

Jeff Holden: So this is Junior Achievement of Sacramento's first Ideas to Income Startup Lab. What inspired the event, and why is entrepreneurship so important for high school students today?

Chris Marshall: Well, I mean, when we're thinking about launching new events, I mean, we wanna give ourself the largest opportunity for impact.

And I think with this event, being able to do something during the summer as part of a larger entrepreneurship initiative [00:01:00] that's part of a three-event series, and expose this material to new schools and new students, and there's already 17 different high schools that are represented in the students who have registered for this event, and that's, that's massive for us to be able to help reach the students in those schools that don't have JA programming yet.

And why entrepreneurship is so important to me and, and why it's a point of emphasis for JA here in Sacramento is, you know, it's about inspiring and empowering, you know, young people with the tools that they need to be successful. I mean, entrepreneurship as a concept and the things that you need to start your own business and launch your own business are things that make you successful in private business, even if you are not working for your own business.

We're giving them tools that will help them to be successful, but I think the important thing is putting people in front of these students who are entrepreneurs, who have done it, and then giving them the confidence and the belief that this is something that they can accomplish, and empowering them with the tools that they need to be successful.

So i- [00:02:00] it's, it's just an exciting, exciting topic, and I'm looking forward to it.

Jeff Holden: Well, and I love the concept of integrating these kids into these opportunities because they have great ideas, and with the technology that's available to them today, they can actually implement with proper guidance. And it looks like that's where this is all going to lead.

Chris Marshall: Absolutely. And so, you know, with the programs we're going for, it's just the foundation for, for any business. And, you know, to your point, it's never been easier to produce a commercial or to code an app or to build a website. I mean, you've never been closer to, you know, MVP, where it's like you can have a prototype at the end of these two days in a theoretical sense depending on what your idea is because of the tools and the power, you know, of AI and the computing power, and then just having a, a 4K camera that you can edit from in your pocket.

So I, I, I think, you know, there'll be no shortage of creativity and ideas coming from the students, and I think what's important for [00:03:00] us is to help provide the guide rails. So it's like, here's how to keep your ideas on the right track to make sure you're solving the right problem, to make sure that it's something that can be successful, and that you're doing the research that you need to give your product the best chance.

Jeff Holden: You were kind in not including podcasts in that development of technology and, you know, simplicity of things happening. But, but it is happening in our space as well. I mean, even this app, you know? I mean, even having the opportunity to, to use something like this to record, you know, makes it so much easier to, to be able to see each other and have these conversations.

Chris Marshall: I mean, I, I, I love the jump in technology right now

Jeff Holden: This event's gonna be taking place at Golden 1 Center. What will the, the kids actually be doing over the course of those two days, and, and how interactive do you expect that experience to be?

Chris Marshall: Absolutely. So they're gonna be entering through the VIP entrance on L Street.

They'll be going through the ground level, kind of the bowels of the arena, the same sort of entrances and the same paths that the [00:04:00] players take and the press take. They'll be able to see kind of behind the curtain a little bit in the arena. I mean, there are some things that they'll have the opportunity to look at that you otherwise would not have the opportunity to see.

And so we're excited for that in itself, but also it's taking place in the press conference room. And so it's set up in a way that's conducive for someone being up on stage and delivering a, uh, a talk, and it's also where the players are, where the press is, a- and it's stuff that they'll recognize from on TV.

And so it- it's, it's just a... I mean, I'm getting fired up just talking about it. But-

Jeff Holden: Uh-huh

Chris Marshall: ... being able to be in the same space that the players are in, to, to be in the arena, a space like that, and then to, to have a space like that where the students can really feel like they're part of the, part of the press or part of the team, and we're eating in the, the cafeteria right next there under, under the stadium.

So I mean, these are, these are places you would not otherwise get to go if you weren't doing this program.

Jeff Holden: Well, how exciting for everybody. A- again, to your [00:05:00] point, they've never been there before, and they're actually experiencing something before the real experience of the Ideas to Income.

Chris Marshall: Right. Well, and that's, and that's the point, you know?

I think when you are approaching especially a new program and with, with young people, you know, there needs to be a hook for them to wanna do school during the summer, and I feel like this is a pretty good one. And also it was intentional. I mean-

Jeff Holden: Yeah.

Chris Marshall: The Golden 1 Center is center of the universe in Sacramento.

Everyone knows where it is. All of the public transit goes there. So we're, we're hoping that that is something that will alleviate some of the potential issues that would, that would stop someone from coming to one of these programs. So being able to take public transit and know exactly where it is is something that's important.

And then just the, the curriculum itself we're super excited about. And so, you know, day one we're gonna be going through creative problem-solving, and, uh, there's four lessons in that, and they'll be going through design thinking. So just creating a problem statement, which is one of the most [00:06:00] difficult things to do 'cause you always wanna jump to the solution, but how do you narrow your focus down to solving for a problem?

And, and this leads into our social innovation challenge, which is all about solving a problem in your community and building a business or a product that helps with that. So this is a tool that gets them into that regional and national competition for social innovation. And so as you work through design thinking, at the end of day one-

Jeff Holden: You're gonna hopefully have an idea that you feel pretty good about.

Chris Marshall: You're able to get the problem statement, have a broad arch in terms of the ideas, and then narrow it down to something that, that makes sense for, for the consumer. And then day two, rapid business planning is all about lean business planning. And so there's a matrix that will help you organize your thoughts in terms of planning for lean business that makes it as easy as possible.

Uh, there's different boxes that you need to fill, whether it's marketing or valuing the business, pricing, revenue, market research. I mean, these are all [00:07:00] pieces that are foundational to having a successful business, and no matter where they go from here, something that I think will be helpful to them. And so I'm excited.

I'm excited for the students. I'm excited for this group of speakers. I think we've got a really, really good group.

Jeff Holden: And relative to those, those mentors, keynote speakers that are taking place during the two days Is it the expectation that the student will actually have at that point, at the completion of, of those two days, a viable product that they can then take on to further the competition?

Chris Marshall: So I think the idea now at this point is to just give them the tools. And as they get into our entrepreneurship summit, which is November seventh, it's gonna be at Sac State, you know, that's when you really wanna give them more of the refinement and speakers on how to give a pitch and mindset and how you're approaching it.

Now it's like here's the tools where you can find the problem that you [00:08:00] want to solve, and now you'll know how to get from A to B. But there's so much time between, you know, the end of July and June of next year when the national competition would take place that it gives them a lot of time for refinement.

And, you know, that's really what it takes. You need to iterate and go over things over and over before you really get to that final idea, unless you're very lucky or very smart. But, you know, that's, that's part of the process, and that's why we were so intentional with the speakers. Our, our keynote on Tuesday is Casey Kittula from Delta Printing.

And, you know, his story of growing one of the, the biggest printing companies in the region and starting at 18 as a janitor and now the way that he's growing his business through acquiring other complementary businesses in a very challenging space like printing is, is a remarkable story, and the students are gonna get to interact with him.

And when you look at the people that are giving these other talks, it's what they do in their daily life. You know, it's this is what I do for a living, and [00:09:00] here's the curriculum, here's the framework to help you with it, but also here's my experience living this, and here are some mistakes that I've made, and here's how you can learn from those.

So we were intentional in making sure that, you know, the person delivering the marketing talk on the different channels you can use does that for a living. And, you know, same with design thinking. You know, we have Beth Taylor Toledo, who owns a consulting company that does marketing, and she's gonna do ideate and define, and that's what she does for a living.

And so I think trying to inspire the students with people who are actually doing what they might wanna do but also providing that extra input that you get from like a real practitioner, someone who sees it every day

Jeff Holden: Well, you know, in spite of the idea that they have, maybe the idea isn't necessarily something that's feasible when they get through the whole process, but they're g- getting the experience of recognizing other job opportunities, you know, from, you know, Delta Printing or from a consulting agency that's a marketing firm.

Chris Marshall: They get [00:10:00] to see these other opportunities that maybe that's a career path that they might wanna go down as well.

 Absolutely. And so we have people that own their own business, a marketer, Tanisha Minor from Golden One, who does performance marketing. We have a legislative director, or director, uh, Colin Hawley, who works for, uh, Greg Wallace out of the, out of the desert, and he's talking about a project that he's working on.

So there'll be all of these different industries and people that give them an opportunity to find someone to relate to. And, you know, that's the, that's the real magic, right? Where you find someone that gets that one spark. I mean, it could be, you know, a couple of sentences, one volunteer that helped them, even maybe someone that's not speaking, that's able to help them with one of the activities that we have planned for them.

And that could be that, that spark that's like, "Wow, I believe I can do this. They believe that I can do this. You know, I'm gonna give it a go.

Jeff Holden: " Wonderful. Let's get some of the details before we wrap. Who should attend? What's it cost? How do the [00:11:00] students, parents, or the schools register and, and help spread the word too?

Chris Marshall: Sure. So it's the 27th and 28th. Goes 9:00 to 3:00.

Jeff Holden: Of July.

Chris Marshall: Of July.

Jeff Holden: Of July, yes, yes, coming up.

Chris Marshall: Of July, 9:00 to 3:00 PM.

 And, you know, the, the best way to find it is to go to our website, you know, jsac.org. Under the events, Idea to Income is, is the top one. It's free for students. There's a code, scholarship, that you can put in.

Uh, otherwise, if you are interested in making a, a donation, if you're able, we are more than happy to take those as well. But it is free for students who would like it to be free, and it's for high school students, so rising ninth through 12th graders. You know, the reason that we're doing that is 'cause those are the students that will be eligible for the Social Innovation Challenge and our pitch competition.

So we want them not only to get the tools where they can be successful, but also potentially meet some partners, and hopefully from a different school that, you know, kind of forces them to collaborate with their groups outside of their normal circles. And so, you know, if you're interested in [00:12:00] just learning the basic business concepts and things you need to be successful, or you have an interest in entrepreneurship, then I can promise you that you are gonna get a lot of value out of this event.

Jeff Holden: I will be sure to put this information in the show notes as well. So for anybody that's listening to the details here, don't worry about it. They're there. You can just click on them. They'll be very easily accessible as well. Chris, thank you. Good luck. I'm excited now because I can only imagine if I was a high school student, what this would feel like, how neat an experience all the way around, from entering the building to the outcome, which could be a year from now to where you actually see your idea come to some semblance of fruition.

Chris Marshall: Absolutely. And again, that's the 27th and 28th of July. I know it's gonna be special, and I look forward to the results.

Jeff Holden: Chris, thank you.

Chris Marshall: Thanks so much.

Jeff Holden: Thanks for listening. If you like our program, please subscribe, give us a positive review, and share with someone you know. This nonprofit podcast, NewsPod, is a production of Hear Me Now [00:13:00] Studio.