When I was building a Texas startup resource site with my daughter, she asked me the following questions:

• Who is this website for?
• Why would they go there?
• How are people going to know about it?

It dawned on me how relevant (and truthful) these questions were to the success of this site. I wanted to know more about how she thought, so I began pitching her real startup ideas from real entrepreneurs. More great questions surfaced! I pitched her again and again and realized she was developing skills for asking key questions underlying success while learning about how businesses work. And she was having a lot of fun with Dad in the process!

What if the kids judged actual entrepreneurial pitches? Could kids teach entrepreneurs to refine their pitches while giving unfiltered and valuable feedback? What if we could teach kids critical thinking skills by leveraging the Socratic Method by evaluating startup pitches from entrepreneurs? Could entrepreneurs teach kids how to problem solve and make STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) more pertinent and fun for kids?

Thus, Pitch-a-Kid was born. Instead of having the judges be adult venture capitalists, we’ve turned the tables on the entrepreneurs and have kids judge their pitches. If your pitch doesn’t make sense to elementary school-aged kids, you probably aren’t ready for an angel investor or venture capitalist.

The Pitch-a-Kid event is designed to push entrepreneurs to refine their pitches to make sense to kids (without being condescending). It allows kids to develop critical thinking skills by drawing from Bloom’s Taxonomy of Education/Webb’s Depth of Knowledge, leveraging the Socratic Method, and asking questions of entrepreneurs. This inquisitive process establishes a solid foundation for creating college and career-ready children for our community. And maybe it will inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs in the process!