About – Startup School Asia

Entrepreneurship: Cruise Ship Vs Surf Board

In teaching young people about entrepreneurship, we adopt a simple analogy. Many programs put their entrepreneurs on a cruise ship. This means, they are protected and given all the support for their first few ideas. This makes failure difficult and expensive. In this program, we put you on a surfboard. Imagine: you will need to slowly get used to the idea of a fast moving world where things change. You need to learn to ride the wave. You will fail, fail. You will learn to climb back up quickly. You will feel the joy of a small win. We will celebrate small wins. You will learn to enjoy the sun of hope on your face, the wind of change. You may fall again. This is the period where you will build test ventures. You will climb back on the board until you are able to surf confidently. This is when you will build something really meaningful. Our aim is to help you learn and enjoy the process of building the test-ventures or projects. Don’t worry about building something big yet. Learn to love the process. Enjoy solving problems. You will eventually surf like a pro! – Let’s get started!

Frequently asked questions

1. Why should my child attend Startup School Asia programs?

Most current education systems do not prepare children to solve real life problems. Children between the ages of 8-17 years have very little exposure to engineering, technology and entrepreneurship within the school system other than as a consumer. Startup School Asia wants to encourage youth to go beyond being a consumer and become creators and unleash their innovation and creativity.

Every two years, new technical information doubles. This means that halfway through a four-year degree, students will already be left trailing behind the industry, even before finishing. The problem is, graduating students firmly hold the belief that their degrees qualify them for a number of different jobs, when in fact, many employers seek candidates with degrees that no one seems to provide.

We cannot change the education systems and policies, but we recognise that in today’s highly competitive global “knowledge economy,” our youth need new skills for college, careers and citizenship, as traditional school based learning increasingly becomes insufficient. Looking at our education system, we must acknowledge that schools are not moving at the same pace as the world.

Startup School Asia has a sole purpose to advance the skills of the young generation and enable them to reach their full potential by providing them with a deep dive into the area of innovation, coding and tech industry. We focus on Tech, Coding, “Problem Solving and Solution Building” and “Communication & Teamwork”. Through project based and fun filled learning of tech and entrepreneurship we aim to encourage more children to pursue education in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) and follow career paths in these fields.

2. When are your programs?

The majority of Startup School Asia’s programs take place on the weekends and school holidays (Sat-Sun 9am-5pm). Specific dates and topics are available here.

3. I don’t think my child will be an entrepreneur, can she/he still attend Startup School Asia?

SSA programs are crafted with the objective of creating a more entrepreneurial mindset in your child while learning valuable technology skills. This mindset is always valuable whether your child aims to be an entrepreneur or an engineer, an actuary or a research scientist and is useful in their day-to-day lives long after the program ends. Many corporations are looking to hire people with the entrepreneurial mindset and its best to develop it at an early stage.

4. My child doesn’t know how to code or build, will it be difficult for him/her to learn?

This is very understandable. Our programs are structured for young people with various coding capabilities including complete beginners. Our friendly facilitators will be on hand to help your child through the program step by step going through the basics using engaging exercises in a fun way. If your child has some knowledge of coding then they will be challenged with more difficult tasks and exercises. Our trainers are very experienced in working with young people and are also comfortable in both Bahasa Malaysia and English. We recognise each participant is unique and they will be encouraged to learn at their own pace while working in groups to explore this new world of technology and entrepreneurship.

5. What building tools will he/she learn?

We will be focusing on different areas of Tech for the different programs.

6. Who are the trainers?

Our team of trainers are a diverse group of young people from Malaysia who share the same passion of teaching younger people. We combine teachers from universities with experienced professionals and they all go through a stringent training and vetting process. We are NOT a traditional school program. We focus on hands-on experience and experiential learning.

7. How can my child continue to learn after attending the program?

We will be offering more advanced programs depending on demand. They will also be able to join our soon to be launched vibrant online community of coders and creators taking part in competitions and online exercises to increase their knowledge base. We will also direct them to online resources available where they can continue their learning

8. Is it a must to complete all days of the program?

Yes attendance on all days of each program is compulsory. However, if your child is unable to attend a certain day due to sickness or for any other reason, we need to be notified on beforehand.

9. Who are the people behind Startup School Asia?

Startup School Asia is powered by StartupMalaysia.org. We focus on initiatives that targets young aspiring entrepreneurs – from schools through universities and also youth in general. Read more about StartupMalaysia.org and meet the team.

10. Can I get a discount if two or more of my children join Startup School Asia or if I join more than one program for the same batch?

Yes, your second child will get a 5% discount to join the program. If you sign up for more than one program you can also enjoy a discount of 5%. Contact us at hello@startupschoolasia.com for more details.

11. Can parents stay and observe one of the courses?

Parents are invited for the Demo Day which is the day where the students showcase their projects depending on the program. Other than that we do not allow parents to stay in and observe the program. We will inform all parents prior to program commencement if your selected program has a graduation day.

12. What is the fee for the program?

Fees will vary depending on which program is selected. Kindly have a look at the programs page for further reference.

13. Is there any additional cost? What do I need to bring?

No, you don’t have to worry about unexpected additional costs! We provide all meals during the program and any materials required. Students will only have to bring their Laptop (Windows). If they don’t have one, please let us know beforehand.

14. How to make a payment?

Once you have registered for the program you can either pay via :

PayPal.
Offline via bank in transfer.

All payments must be made at least 48 hours before the commencement of the program.

15. Can I request a refund?

Unfortunately, all payments are non-refundable.

16. Can I drop off my child earlier or pick them up later on my way to and from work?

We are offering a special service for you to drop your child off as early as 8am and pick them up as late as 6pm. We will have some fun activities for them before or after the program during this time as a value added service.