For parents, teachers & youth mentors...

Enroll Your Family And Prepare Your Kids To Become Confident, Secure & Self-Sufficient Adults

Entrepreneurs change lives.

Entrepreneurs do tremendous good in the world.

And entrepreneurs have unparalleled freedom...

But not enough kids stand up in class and proudly state,

“When I grow up, I want to be an Entrepreneur!”

We aim to fix that.

Traditional schools and even colleges just aren’t equipped to provide the mentorship and education required to properly inspire and train kids to become entrepreneurs. 

Our education system is the same system designed in the 19th century to prepare children to become factory workers!

And that’s nobody’s fault, it’s just the reality. 

We believe it's time to shake things up...

That kids and teens have the ability to become founders.

Not just in the future… But NOW.

Our mission is to transform education by empowering kids and teens to create their own jobs, instead of compete for them!

Idea

Hey, I'm Stephen.

Husband, father, youth pastor, entrepreneur, and founder of Young Founders Academy.

Meet my wife, Miranda, and our adorable baby girl Hallie Lynn.

Baby pic below... I'm a new dad and can't control myself 🤣

On June 19th, 2024, I was on "daddy duty" taking care of that cute looking little girl (who was acting not-so-cute at the time)...

...when a 14 year old kid (we'll call him Jake) knocked on my front door.

I was busy with a crying baby, but when I checked the camera and saw that it was a kid (not a pest control solicitor like usual), I went to the door to see what he was up to.

"Hi, my name's Jake. I was wondering, could I mow your lawn?"

I was impressed with his bravery... "Absolutely! Are you mowing a lot of other lawns?"

He responded, "No, but I'm trying to..."

I asked how I could contact him, and he pulled out a stack of sticky notes from his pocket (with pre-written contact info on then) and handed one to me.

I was even more impressed. He came prepared.

There was only one problem. My lawn was completely dead at the time! It needed fertilized, watered and treated for weeds before it would even be mow-able.

So the next day, I contacted Jake and his parents, and he came over for our first “official consult.”

We planned some work for him to do, and we also spent a few minutes talking business. 

I learned that Jake wished he had more lawns to mow, and that he loves helping people (and also likes earning his own money).

He's not quite sure what he wants to do with his life yet, but he knows for sure that he wants to do something he enjoys that will help people and also make a good living for his future family.

What an awesome kid!

So I spent the summer mentoring Jake, giving him business advice, encouraging him…

And by the end of the summer, he had 7 lawns he was mowing!

I know it wasn’t an accident that Jake knocked on my door that day and asked to mow my lawn.  

Because this has ignited a spark in me that’s going to change the trajectory of my life… 

And I believe it has the potential to TRANSFORM the education system, re-shape the future of youth entrepreneurship, and help create a better future for my own kids 

This is where the idea for Young Founders Academy came from…

Jake sparked a movement that is going to change the world.

Story

During college, I spent 5 years working in an after-school program in Northern Kentucky.

I worked with a bunch of smart, capable, awesome kids who felt powerless to change their circumstances. I saw a lot of pain, poverty and brokenness in the kids & families I worked with, and if there is one word I could use to describe how most kids felt, it was "powerless."

During this time, I developed a passion for empowering kids and families to make positive changes in their life.

After that, I spent 5 years as a youth pastor working with middle school & high school aged teens and their families.

I found myself spending about 1/3 of my time working directly with teens, with the majority of my efforts focused on equipping parents (and caring non-parent adults) to create personal, meaningful transformation in the lives of teens.

The most important adults in any kid's life are their parents, and in my experience, the most effective way to create lasting, positive change in a kid's life is to create lasting, positive change in their home life (i.e., the parent/child relationship).

By the end of my time as a youth pastor, I had built and trained a team of 50+ parent/adult volunteer leaders.

This is where entrepreneurship kicks in...

Without even realizing it, during my youth pastor years, I had built a mini-business with a mini-team and a mini-budget.

I had created a ministry that could operate without me being there (which made vacations a lot easier), and most importantly, I was empowering the adults that mattered most in kids lives to be the true agents of transformation.

During that time, I developed a very strong entrepreneurial drive, and about 5 years into my career as a youth pastor, I realized that working at a non-profit for $36k/year wasn't going to cut it for me anymore.

I wanted to make an impact and money, and there's no better way to do that than entrepreneurship!

That's when I connected with a company called Modern Musician, where I have spent the last 5 years building a multiple 7-figure business.

I have played just about every role that exists in the company (not always with the actual "title")...

Sales rap, customer support rep, automation specialist, sales director, copywriter, funnel builder, head of customer support, coaching team leader, client success director, COO, and shareholder.

Growing this business has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to watching it continue to grow!

But the last few months, I've been feeling the "entrepreneurial itch" again... You know what I mean. Like there's something new I'm being called toward.

But I wasn't quite sure what it was yet...

Then, 14-year-old Jake knocked on my front door and asked to mow my lawn.

That changed everything.

Team

Aleric Heck

Advisor

About Aleric:

  • Created a Tech YouTube Channel (AppFind) at 12 Years Old, which Grew to over 600,000+ Subscribers

  • Founded AdOutreach, a Marketing Consulting Company, in College, which Scaled to Over 8 Figures

  • Founded KeywordSearch.com, an AI Ad Targeting Software powering Google & YouTube Ads

  • Ranked #60 on INC 5000 List of Fastest Growing Companies in America & Listed on INC 5000 3 Years in a Row

  • Has Escaped over 100+ Escape Rooms & Set 3 All-Time Fastest Escape Room Records!

  • I started my first business when I was 12 years old & saw first-hand the impact that young entrepreneurship had on my life. I am excited to give back & help empower the next generation of young founders & entrepreneurs!

Ben Gauthier

Advisor

Qualifications:

  • Full-stack software engineer and entrepreneur who has founded and successfully exited multiple companies and holds several patents in the field of technology

  • Co-founded and exited a next-generation communication platform for non-profits

  • Founded and sold an interactive-media technology company to a Hollywood production house

  • Developed and patented a cloud-based SaaS platform that automates live-video editing

  • I have experienced both incredible failure and success, using both to grow as a leader and entrepreneur. I'm always looking for new opportunities and problems to solve with technology.

Dylan Frost & Dan Meadors

Co-Founders

About Dylan and Dan:

  • Business partners for over a decade, each with their own powerful stories of being raised in low-income communities, then achieving massive levels of entrepreneurial success against all odds

  • Responsible for over $36 million in sales in their own business, while having collectively helped their clients generate over $1 billion in revenue

  • Co-Founders of Ascension Consulting, an entrepreneurial business that helps people get out of traditional 9-5 work by starting their own business or expanding their existing business

  • Co-Founders of The Wholesale Formula, a subsidiary of Ascension Consulting that trains students on how to set up a physical products based business through wholesale

  • Co-Founders of Spotlight Brand Services, a management firm that takes over the day-to-day operations of client business to increase brand presence and further scale

  • Dan specializes in strategic sales and marketing, setting businesses up for scale, and curriculum development.

  • Dylan specializes is sales messaging, copywriting, and webinar funnel design. (He is the "Webinar Secret Weapon!")

Jason Friedman

Advisor

About Jason:

  • "Theatre nerd" turned serial entrepreneur

  • Sold his first company in 2008, in the high 8-figures

  • Founded and successfully exited 4 other businesses

  • Founder and CEO of CXFormula, where he uses the "Kinetic Customer" formula to grow and scale companies by removing friction and obstacles from the customer journey, unlocking incredible customer success

  • Has worked with companies like Foot Locker, Adidas, Nike, Universal Studios, Disney, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Fidelity, Stanford University, and Harvard University

Lorraine Dallmeier

Advisor

About Lorraine:

  • Biologist, Chartered Environmentalist, and Environmental Consultant in the international energy industry for over a decade

  • Has lived and worked in 5 countries around the world, including the UK, the Netherlands, Russia, Australia and the USA. Bilingual in Dutch and English.

  • Stepped off the corporate ladder and started her own business after hitting the "glass ceiling" in the corporate world, and realizing that Entrepreneurship was the only way to achieve her career goals.

  • Owner & CEO of Formula Botanica, an online business school that has trained 20,000+ organic formulators in over 190+ countries around the world to start or grow their own indie beauty brand

  • Voted "Digital Achiever of the Year" for the beauty industry by Google

  • Mother of two boys!

  • Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of every economy. Anyone can be an entrepreneur at any age, yet children (particularly young girls!) aren’t encouraged to start businesses. I want any child to be able to explore their dreams and feel empowered to become an entrepreneur.

Rachel Miller

Advisor

About Rachel:

  • Runs multiple businesses, as a stay at home mom with 6 kids!

  • Has spent over $507k in ads to earn over 8 figures

  • Founder of Moolah Marketing, where she has sold over 29,830 courses to business owners

  • Founder of Pagewheel, an AI software company that allows users to create a digital products , website and sales funnel in a matter of minutes

  • Has spoken on many large stages, conferences, summits, and podcasts, with the largest audience being 81,000 from a single stage

Stephen Warner

Founder & CEO

About Stephen:

  • 15 years combined experience working with kids/families grade K-12 in as an after school program aide, as a youth pastor, and as a volunteer at youth events, camps/retreats & in a juvenile detention center

  • Built, trained and led a team of of 50+ adult leaders as a youth pastor, and built a ministry program that ran itself on auto-pilot

  • Scaled Modern Musician from $20k per month to over $100k per month in less than 2 years as sales representative & sales manager

  • Oversaw $415,089.19 in ad-spend as COO / Marketing Director at Modern Musician

  • Ate a large Uncrustable PB&J in one bite as a 17 year old because my friend Dave dared me to (most important accomplishment on this list)

Jason Tonioli

Advisor

Qualifications:

  • Founded and successfully exited a banking software company

  • Entrepreneurial musician, currently grossing over $100k per month selling piano sheet music

  • Owns 2 travel agencies, one in the US and one Costa Rica

  • Owns a marketing agency specializing in Wordpress, high converting funnels, podcast production, and profitably scaling paid traffic

  • Currently developing a software for travel agencies to easily build itineraries, communicate with, and keep track of travelers