Founders Lab Instructor (Part-Time)

Summary

Founders Lab is our AI-first startup accelerator for creative technologists. Students form teams, validate real business ideas, build working products, and pitch live on Demo Day in front of investors and industry leaders.

We piloted it this past July as a ten-day intensive with support from Comcast, closing at Hearst Tower before a panel of investors and operators. Students left with a Net Promoter Score of +55, and two-thirds told us it changed how they think about their major or career path.

Who You Are
You thrive in high-energy rooms and know how to build trust with young people fast. You have been in startup environments and speak the language, and you lead with curiosity rather than ego. You have a real point of view about when to reach for an AI tool and when to build directly, and you take students’ own judgment on that seriously. When a team hits week five with a half-working product and two members who have stopped talking to each other, you know how to steady them without taking the wheel.

Qualifications

Required

• Recent hands-on experience building with AI coding tools. You can help a stuck team debug in real time rather than pointing them at documentation
• Experience guiding teams from idea to shipped product, whether through founding a company, working in product or engineering, running an accelerator or venture studio program, or teaching entrepreneurship 
• A track record facilitating engaging learning experiences for teens or young adults
•  A demonstrated commitment and proven track record to supporting young people from underrepresented communities as future leaders in tech
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent professional experience

Preferred

• Experience pacing a multi-week build where teams had to sustain progress across gaps
• Background running accelerators, hackathons, bootcamps, or intensive academic programs
• Track record with high school students in STEM, creative, or entrepreneurship settings

 

Duties

Facilitation and Teaching

• Lead studio sessions for ~20 students in grades 10 through 12, working in four to five teams, with support from an alumni teaching assistant
• Adapt the existing curriculum to a twice-weekly cadence and sustain team momentum across the gaps between sessions
• Coach teams through problem definition, customer discovery, prototyping, product-market fit, and pitch
• Guide hands-on use of AI development tools, including judgment about when to use them
• Bridge content across sessions so students connect what came before to what comes next

Student Support

• Build authentic relationships with students quickly
• Facilitate team formation using the Entrepreneur Archetype Framework
• Read team dynamics and address friction, disengagement, or imbalance before it compounds
• Celebrate wins publicly and redirect struggles privately
• Adapt your approach to meet students where they are, from first-time builders to experienced designers to natural salespeople
• Advise students and help them identify and articulate how the skills and experiences they develop in Founders Lab can support their post-secondary goals.

Program Coordination

• Prepare teams for guest mentor sessions and brief mentors on where students are
• Track attendance and team progress, and share weekly updates with the Game Academy team
• Run pitch rehearsals and give deck feedback in the final weeks
• Lead students through and support logistics of Demo Day