Introducing KiddoScout: Promoting Youth Financial Literacy Through Venture Capital

Authored by John Gannon, Co-Founder of GoingVC

Today we’re excited to announce that we’re opening enrollment for KiddoScout, a new youth financial literacy course offered by GoingVC. To request more information and jump onto the waitlist, click here.

There’s been tremendous innovation in FinTech over the last few years, particularly around democratizing access and financial literacy for elementary school kids, teenagers, and their parents.

As a parent of three elementary and middle school kids and an investor in startups, these initiatives mean a lot. Love them or hate them, venture capitalists direct the capital — and the clout — that powers our economic engine. But unfortunately most people don’t have access to VC. Our mission is to change that, and we think the best way to do that is to start early.

But even though there are so many great companies and apps out there, there’s still a huge gap in the market: there’s no great way for kids to learn about one of the primary driving forces of the economy — Venture Capital.

At the same time, there’s another trend afoot in the hyper-competitive early stage venture market. Every VC firm is trying to get access to companies earlier and earlier, and this is putting pressure on investors to deliver “value add” well before they’ve written a check.

In an environment like this one, funds are being forced to get increasingly creative.

To do that, some are investing right into VC funds themselves. Some are launching fellowship programs. And some are doing it through scout programs.

At GoingVC our mission is to build a VC ecosystem that is open, fair, and operating at its full potential.

We believe that to truly achieve that lofty goal, that we must democratize VC education and investing all the way to the earliest stage.

That is why today we are announcing the launch of a first of its kind program: KiddoScout

The lack of innovation within school curriculums often creates challenges later in life when students are faced with college major or career path decisions. Those same curriculums too often ignore what matters most when it comes to getting ahead: clout. KiddoScout is the first and only program that combines venture capital education and investing within the late elementary, pre-teen, and early teen demographic.

That’s why our team likes to say that this program is an onramp to VC for kids who are too old to be carried, but have enough financial literacy to start earning some carry.

“I’ve recommended KiddoScouts to friends who are parents, and one of their kids now has some carry in their 529 plan. The only possible downside I see? Colleges might not exist by the time the carry is realized. Nonetheless, enrolling your kid in a program like this — particularly if they’re angling to break into VC long term — is a no brainer.” — Leo Polovets, Susa Ventures

Here are the key points and highlights of the KiddoScout program, so you can decide if it’s right for your child.

• Age Appropriate Learning Experience: We worked with leading educators to repurpose hundreds of hours of material in our flagship program for a younger audience with a shorter attention span. For our ‘Seed Stagers’ (7–10 year olds), we’ve integrated tools such as Teachable to ensure a great interactive learning experience. For learners in our ‘Growth Equity’ cohort (11–13 year olds) we’ve made all the content available through private YouTube channels. KiddoScouts will be rigorously tested on a weekly basis to make sure they are adding value.
• Learn the ABCs of VC Portfolio Services: Learning to share and communicate as part of a team are crucial skills to develop so we’ve simulated the experience of working with founders and solving problems with the Portfolio Services portion of the curriculum.
• KIDS (Kiddo Investment Diligence Security, our scouting agreement) — This simple, yet powerful scout agreement is designed to optimize the child’s experience as an investor and a learner, while offering a diversified asset class and ensuring that any investment gains may be rolled in a tax-efficient way into 529 plans and other savings and investment vehicles. (Please consult your accountant if this applies to your situation, as we’re not able to provide tax advice).
• Simple Syndications: It’s important to teach children from a young age that “what good is the bread if my classmates is broke.” That’s why our learners can easily form syndicates with parents, classmates, and friends by using our special side letter to the KIDS scouting agreement, so everyone can share in the upside of high performing investments. These syndicates are designed in a way that encourages participation from kids and their parents, who can participate in syndications for as little as $5.
• Safe and SAFE: Your child’s personal and financial safety is our utmost priority. That’s why all program activities are conducted over Zoom until the pandemic situation resolves itself. It also has the added benefit of helping your child develop the virtual meeting skills that will be critical in the post pandemic world where they’ll be in 4+ hours of Zooms a day. We also use SAFEs as our preferred financing instrument so that our learners can quickly and easily execute transactions, without having to think about the implications on the company’s cap table.
• Cyber Bullying Prevention: Cyber-bullying is a huge issue, and we are committed to stopping it in its tracks. So we’ve partnered with GoingVC Partners portfolio company Wallaroo Labs to develop a first-of-its-kind ML/AI platform for detection and suppression of behaviors that would be detrimental to the student learning experience; like being friendly, for example.
• (Coming Soon): iOS and Android App: This app combines social networking functionality, educational content, and a variety of features that lets our learners rapidly create and fund KiddoScout syndicates. Keep in mind that this will likely add 2–3 hours of screentime to your child’s daily routine, so please adjust any contract you may have in place with your child as well as the expectations of any other children in your household who may become jealous.

How to Enroll Your Child in KiddoScout

The first step to joining KiddoScout is to request additional information and add your name to the waitlist (yes, we’re oversubscribed!).

The application process consists of an online form with several free form responses and multiple choice questions. You should plan to carve out 4–8 hours to complete the application as it will require you to think deeply about your and your child’s motivation for joining the program.

As part of the application, your child will also need to submit a personal statement, which can be uploaded to KiddoScout as a video or a PDF. Your child’s personal statement should clearly articulate the value add that they can deliver to the program and to the startups that they’ll source on behalf of the program. We highly encourage you to include links to thought leadership pieces that you or your child have written, or podcasts you or they have been a part of.

If you don’t hear from us immediately, please be patient with us as we receive a high volume of email and won’t be able to respond to you if we drop off the map.

What are You Waiting For?

Take a look on your own at everything the Kiddo Scout program has to offer. Then talk to your child to see if this is the right program for them.

If you’d like to apply on their behalf, simply click here.

And even if this isn’t the right program for your child, please let us know how we can be helpful. You can reach us at Team@GoingVC.com.