- Age
- 13–14
- Duration
- 8 weeks
- Format
- Live online · weekly 90 min
- Cohort
- Small group · near 1:1 access
- Level
- Beginner-friendly · no coding needed
- Starts
- Term 3 2026
Who built this
One named person leads every session.
Tarun Chaudhary
Ex-Amazon, on the Alexa team, 30-plus products shipped over a decade. Also a parent of an 11- and 14-year-old making these exact decisions at home, which is why this program exists. Builds and ships first, then teaches, in that order.
"Your child should leave with a thing they made, not an opinion they borrowed."
How the method works →The outcome
By Week 8, your child has a working AI agent, a small, focused assistant they designed around one thing they already care about. Shipped and shareable means it lives at a real link they can send to a grandparent, a coach, or a friend. Not a slide deck. Not a certificate. A thing that exists in the world.
The honest-coach behaviour is wired into that build: the agent challenges them instead of flattering them. When the work's thin, it says so. When they cut a corner, it asks why, against a standard they wrote down themselves.
Building it that way teaches the two ways AI fails them, making things up, and telling them what they want to hear, and how to catch both. That's the real protection: a young builder who can see through AI rather than one who's simply been walled off from it.
The blueprint
The 8-week build, phase by phase
Each Build ends with an artefact that didn't exist the week before. The agent matures across the eight weeks, by the end, it's deployable and shareable.
- BUILD 01
Pick the one thing worth coaching
Your child narrows from a vague interest in 'AI' to one specific passion (chess, cricket, drawing, songwriting, debate) and one specific weakness they want to get better at.
Artefact · A one-page brief: who the agent is for, what it coaches, and the honest weakness it targets.
- BUILD 02
Sketch the agent they wish existed
Before any building: what would it say? When? How blunt? Whose tone, a strict coach, a calm mentor, a sharp older sibling? Design first, build second.
Artefact · A written behaviour spec, sample prompts, sample replies, the lines it will and won't cross.
- BUILD 03
Set the standard: what 'good' looks like
We define the bar together. The agent has to challenge them, not flatter them. We write down exactly what a great answer looks like versus a lazy one.
Artefact · A scoring rubric the agent uses to judge its own responses.
- BUILD 04
First working version, ugly but real
Your young builder has an AI agent they can actually talk to. It's rough. It misfires. But it exists, it responds, and they built it.
Artefact · A live v0.1 agent, running in a shareable link.
- BUILD 05
Pressure-test against the hardest cases
We deliberately try to see through it. Where does it make things up? Where does it just agree to keep them happy? They learn the two ways AI fails, inventing facts, and flattering the user, and how to catch both. This is where the judgment gets built: they critically evaluate their own creation instead of trusting it.
Artefact · A logged set of failure cases and the fixes for each.
- BUILD 06
Tighten the voice and the answers
Refine until the agent sounds like someone whose opinion is worth listening to, specific, direct, kind but not soft.
Artefact · A v0.5 build with a consistent, defensible voice.
- BUILD 07
Add a memory of their progress
The agent starts to know your child: 'You worked on this last week. The thing you struggled with was X. Show me you've moved past it.' Accountability, baked in.
Artefact · An agent that tracks sessions and references prior work.
- BUILD 08
Ship, demo, and hand it to family
Final polish, a written 'how I built this' page, and the link they send to grandparents.
Artefact · A deployable, shareable agent at a real URL.
- CAPSTONE
The final shipped agent
Live at a public link, with a short written walkthrough of how they built it and what they learned. Theirs to keep, extend, and show off.
- SHOWCASE
Live family demo + parent debrief
An end-of-program live demo where your child shows the agent to family, in their own words. Followed by a private 30-minute debrief with the founder on what to do next.
What's included
- Eight 90-minute live sessions with the founder, cameras on
- Cohort kept small, every child gets real airtime every week
- Near 1:1 founder access between sessions for stuck-points
- A reusable agent starter template they keep forever
- A curated resource library matched to the build
- End-of-program live family demo
- Private 30-minute parent debrief with the founder
Who it's for
A great fit if…
- · Your child has a real interest: chess, cricket, music, drawing, debate, writing, coding, anything they already care about.
- · They can sit through a 90-minute live session and contribute.
- · They're curious about AI but you don't want them just consuming it.
- · You'd rather they build one thing well than collect five certificates.
Probably not a fit if…
- · You're looking for homework help or exam prep.
- · You want a self-paced video course they can binge alone.
- · They aren't interested in committing to a small project for 8 weeks.
No prior coding experience required. The build is configured, not coded from scratch.
How it works
- ①
Choose your stream
13–14 is open now. 15–17 is waitlist only (below).
- ②
Book your seat or join the waitlist
A $100 refundable deposit holds a spot in this intake.
- ③
Pre-start onboarding
A short welcome call, a parent consent form, and a 'pick your passion' kit for your child.
- ④
Term 3 begins
Week 1 starts, live, cameras on, building from session one.
Readiness check, parent to parent
Not selective-entry theatre.
They have one thing they're already into
Anything they'd voluntarily spend a Saturday on.
They can sit in a 90-minute live session, camera on
Shy is fine, most warm up by Week 2.
They're allowed to fail in front of you
Building real things means rough drafts and dead ends; if a failed attempt is a household crisis, this isn't the right fit.
You're OK supervising the basics
Devices, schedule, follow-through. We handle the program; you handle the home environment.
Key dates
Parent FAQ
+What does it cost, and what am I paying for?
The introductory price for this intake is $450 (standard price when the program opens publicly is $700). You're paying for a small group with near 1:1 founder access and a young builder who walks out with a real, shipped build, not class hours.
+How much time does my child need each week?
Plan on ~2–3 hours total per week: the 90-minute live session plus a small amount of build time between sessions. We don't pile on busywork.
+Is 13–14 really the right age?
Yes. They're old enough to scope a real project and stick with it, and young enough that building something themselves still feels powerful instead of routine.
+Can my young builder really ship something in eight weeks?
Yes, because the scope is deliberately small and the format is live, not self-paced. Every week ends with an artefact. Week 8 ends with a working link they can share.
+What is the agent, in plain English?
A small assistant they design around one thing they already care about. It watches what they do, asks the question they'd rather avoid, and tells them when the work isn't good enough yet. They set the bar, and have to live up to it.
+What if we change our mind?
The $100 deposit is fully refundable any time before Week 1, no friction, no email tennis. The remaining $350 is due before the program starts.
+Is it safe? What about content and data?
Sessions are live, small, and supervised. We ask for parent consent up front and collect minimal data. The deeper point, landed here rather than led with: the build itself makes them safer, by teaching them to catch AI when it's making things up or just telling them what they want to hear.
In design · waitlist open
A deeper build for older teens.
Same live, founder-led format as the current stream, taken further, a longer-scoped build, more independent work between sessions, and a portfolio-grade output worth putting in front of an admissions officer. We'd rather take an extra term to get the scope right than ship "the 13–14 program but longer."
- Age
- 15–17
- Status
- In design
- Format
- TBA
- Starts
- TBA
This stream isn't purchasable today. The only thing we're asking for is your email.
- · First access before any public announcement
- · Introductory pricing locked in for the first intake when it opens
- · An optional 20-minute call to shape what it covers
- · An honest 'not yet' email if your child would be better served elsewhere
- · No spam
Email only. No purchase. Unsubscribe any time.
$450 $700
$100 refundable deposit
Hold a seat in this intake
Term 3 2026, small group, founder-led. A $100 refundable deposit holds the seat. Walk away any time before Week 1 and it comes straight back, no processing fee, no friction.