Why this question keeps coming up
Every IB school in Qatar I have spoken with this year is asking the same question, in different words. They want their students to build something real before they leave school. They want a programme that doesn't require their teachers to learn business from scratch. They want it to fit inside the IB framework so the CAS coordinator and the DP coordinator both nod, not flinch. And they want it done in one school term, not stretched across an academic year that nobody has time for.
This piece is the playbook we used at Arab International Academy Lusail in April 2026, where 14 Grade 11 students completed a programme that ended with 14 live products and a Demo Day. The format is replicable. Here is exactly how it works.
Step 1 — Map the programme to CAS before you propose it
CAS coordinators get pitched on extras every week. The ones that get approved are the ones where the alignment is already drawn on paper. StartupToGo's six sessions map cleanly to CAS Creativity — original idea generation, customer interviews, business model design, product build, presentation. When the student's startup addresses a community problem, Service hours can also be claimed.
Bring your CAS coordinator a one-pager with the hours breakdown (typically 20–30 logged hours per student across the cohort), the strand mapping (Creativity primary, Service optional, Reflection in Demo Day), and the evidence checklist. That conversation takes ten minutes, not ten meetings. The full alignment document lives at our IB CAS project page.
Step 2 — Pick a six-session window that already exists
Schools waste months trying to invent a new schedule slot. The trick is to find one that already exists. After-school clubs, innovation electives, business enrichment programmes, even Term 3 elective rotations — any of these slot the 6-session structure in without curriculum disruption. AIA ran it as an after-school cohort. Some schools run it as a Term 3 intensive.
The sessions themselves are 90–120 minutes each. The platform handles the per-student AI guidance during the session — your teacher facilitates, prompts discussion, and helps students who need a nudge. There is no preparation work expected between sessions. Students who miss a session catch up on the platform on their own time.
Step 3 — Choose a teacher facilitator without a business background
The AI guides the curriculum. The teacher facilitates the room. That is a deliberate split. Your facilitator does not need a business degree, an MBA, or a tech background. They need to be comfortable holding a room of 10–15 teenagers and willing to read the platform's session brief in advance.
At AIA the facilitator was a humanities teacher with no prior entrepreneurship experience. By Session 3 she was leading the most productive sessions in the school year. The structure carries the cohort — the teacher carries the energy.
Step 4 — Brief your IB coordinator on the outputs, not the activities
IB coordinators care about evidence. The outputs every student produces by the end of the six sessions are: a scored startup idea with AI feedback, a customer discovery survey with real responses, a Business Model Canvas, an MVP plan ranked by RICE, a 10-slide pitch deck, and a live product on the open web with a real URL. Every single one is portfolio-ready on day one. When you brief the coordinator, lead with this list — not with the methodology behind it.
Step 5 — Plan the Demo Day from Session 1
The Demo Day is the structural commitment that makes the rest of the programme work. Schedule the date, book the room, and invite parents at Session 1 — not at Session 5. When students know there's a stage at the end, the quality of every session before it changes.
StartupToGo plans Demo Day with the school: run-of-show, judge scoring sheets, certificate templates, and a student briefing pack the week before. Your school provides the room and the invitations. The full format is documented on our Demo Day page.
What it costs to run
Digital Only is QAR 200 per student per year (minimum 10 students). Digital + In-Person Teacher is custom-quoted based on cohort size and the number of facilitated sessions. Replit sponsors all the platform's coding credits — your school has zero technology cost.
For a typical cohort of 14 students, the total programme cost is well inside what most schools already budget for a single guest-speaker series. The difference is what students walk away with at the end.
Where to start this week
WhatsApp Bilal at +974 520 46 176 with your school name and a rough cohort size. You will get back a CAS-mapped proposal document tailored to your IB programme within 24 hours. The April 2026 AIA cohort took three weeks from first conversation to first session. The 2026/27 academic year is the right window to start.