{
  "id": 19775,
  "title": "'I'd do things differently than Elon Musk': The free founder crash course teaching teenagers to break into tech",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/07/29/id-do-things-differently-than-elon-musk-the-free-founder-crash-course",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-07-29T10:40:06.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Sifted",
    "slug": "sifted",
    "url": "https://sifted.eu/articles/founder-crash-course-for-teenagers/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Merlin Mani, a 17-year-old from London, aspires to start a tech company in the future. She manages a mini Dragons' Den entrepreneurship club at her secondary school. Mani admires tech leaders like Elon Musk but has a different perspective on how he would use his resources. She believes Musk should donate some of his wealth to charity. Mani is currently participating in a five-day course for teenagers in London, designed by angel investors Deborah Gruenberger and Isobel McDermott-Spencer. The course aims to provide young people with the necessary knowledge and experience to enter the tech industry. However, Mani acknowledges that school curriculums and job markets can be challenging for aspiring tech founders, especially with the increasing use of AI in startups. The course covers the fundamentals of building a startup and the investment process. During the course, students will have the opportunity to act as investors and evaluate a healthtech startup called Zonova Technologies. Zonova's CEO, Georgia Fleet, is eager to participate in the exercise but admits that pitching to teenagers is a daunting task. Angel investors Gruenberger and McDermott-Spencer created the course due to the declining opportunities for under-18s in the tech industry. Research shows that only 35% of young people receive enterprise education in secondary schools, with girls being less likely to do so. The government plans to introduce subjects related to manufacturing and AI in secondary schools starting from Year 10, providing students with a clearer pathway into the tech industry. Mani, who plans to study maths at university, believes that there will be a decline in software engineering due to AI advancements, but she remains determined to become a founder on her own terms.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}