Entrepreneurship Program Lead

About the role

Farm & Forge is seeking an exceptional entrepreneur, educator, and program builder to own our Entrepreneurship Program end-to-end, designing, launching, operating, and growing it. As the program's sole dedicated leader, this individual will oversee daily programming, coach each student, manage operations, develop partnerships, support recruitment, and communicate with families and leadership.

This is not a traditional business-teaching position or classroom job. Students will not study entrepreneurship through textbooks or hypothetical projects. They will identify real opportunities, create or acquire businesses, work with customers, manage finances, use emerging technology, and build companies that generate actual revenue. No additional hires are planned. The successful candidate will own both the vision and day-to-day execution.

Our ideal candidate has built a real business, something customers paid for. However, that is not the only path. Experience running a side business, selling freelance or consulting work, helping operate a family business, carrying revenue responsibility, or coaching students who successfully launched and sold something is also valuable. What is essential is real experience selling something, a belief that young people can build real businesses, and the ability to lead this program independently.

The goal of the program is straightforward: Graduates will have identified a problem worth solving, built or acquired a business around it, gained paying customers, and demonstrated measurable results. Revenue matters because it proves the business is real, but judgment, character, and financial literacy are equally important. A program where no student business makes a sale has not achieved its purpose.

What you'll do

Program Design and Leadership

• Build and lead the program from the ground up, including curriculum, operating systems, project expectations, assessment methods, annual calendar, and a multi-year progression from opportunity identification through building, validation, growth, and scale.
• Set measurable standards for participation, skills, customer activity, revenue, and profitability, and hold students accountable to them.
• Manage the program budget, tools, subscriptions, and events, continuously refining the program based on student outcomes and feedback.

Student Coaching and Instruction

• Lead daily programming for a small, selective cohort, coaching each student as they create, acquire, launch, and operate real businesses.
• Teach practical skills as they are needed, including opportunity evaluation, market research, business models, sales, marketing, operations, accounting, negotiation, and professional communication.
• Help students build pro formas, pricing models, sales plans, and pitch materials.
• Hold students accountable for deadlines, commitments, ethical conduct, and measurable progress while fostering a culture of initiative, resilience, responsible risk-taking, and high standards.

Venture Development

• Guide students from idea to a functioning business with real products or services and paying customers.
• Help students determine when to create a new venture, acquire an existing business, or improve a family business, testing ideas quickly and making decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.
• Regularly review student financials, customer pipelines, and business performance.
• Help students responsibly use AI and AI agents, coding, robotics, video, digital marketing, and Farm & Forge's maker and STEM resources to build businesses more efficiently.
• Ensure students retain appropriate ownership of the businesses and intellectual property they create, subject to applicable agreements and legal requirements.

Mentorship and Community Partnerships

• Recruit entrepreneurs, business owners, investors, attorneys, accountants, and marketers to support student ventures.
• Coordinate guest speakers, mentors, judges, and partners without relying on them to operate the program.
• Identify local businesses offering student projects, acquisition opportunities, customers, or real-world learning experiences.
• Prepare students to communicate professionally with customers and partners while representing Farm & Forge in the regional business community.

Recruitment, Marketing, and Enrollment

• Document what students are building, including launches, milestones, failures, and sales, providing families with authentic evidence of progress and supplying marketing with meaningful stories.
• Partner with marketing on messaging and recruitment, help establish enrollment goals, and share responsibility for developing a strong pipeline of prospective students.
• Support student selection to ensure each cohort is motivated, capable, and a strong fit for the program.
• Participate in recruitment events, family meetings, and tours.

Program Operations and Accountability

• Maintain organized records of student goals, milestones, revenue, expenses, customers, and progress.
• Build and maintain a Founder Dashboard that provides students, families, and leadership with an honest view of each student's progress and venture performance.
• Provide regular written updates to families and the Executive Director of Academics.
• Establish and enforce appropriate safeguards for minors operating real businesses, including financial controls, contracts and signing authority, online activity, taxes, safety, privacy, and customer interactions. Students perform the work while adults maintain legal responsibility.

Measures of Success

Success in this position will be measured by

• Successful launch and consistent operation of a high-quality program with established calendars, systems, and standards.
• Achievement of annual recruitment and enrollment goals, supported by a strong pipeline of qualified students.
• Every student operating a live venture with real customer discovery and sales, with paying customers and accurate financial records by the end of year one.
• Demonstrated mastery of entrepreneurial skills, including opportunity evaluation, selling, unit economics, and communication, along with growth in professionalism and independence.
• Strong satisfaction and confidence among students, families, mentors, and leadership, with continued growth in program reputation, demand, and retention.

Additional information

Revenue is an important measure of authentic progress, but not the only one. Judgment, character, communication, financial literacy, and resilience are equally important indicators of success.

Qualifications

• Real experience with customers and revenue, including starting, acquiring, operating, or growing a business; running a side business; selling freelance or consulting services; helping operate a family business; holding revenue or P&L responsibility; or coaching students who successfully launched and sold something.
• Practical understanding of sales, marketing, finance, operations, and strategy developed through hands-on experience.
• Ability to coach young people with clear standards and accountability.
• Experience independently managing a business, program, or team without a large support staff, with the ability to oversee multiple student ventures simultaneously.
• Strong organizational, interpersonal, and communication skills, including experience speaking with prospective families and representing programs publicly.
• Proficiency with modern business technology and AI tools, with an understanding of responsible use.
• Sound judgment, high integrity, and a commitment to ethical business practices.
• Ability to pass all required background checks.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience as a founder, small-business owner, startup operator, executive, investor, or consultant.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, or teaching middle- or high-school students, or working in an accelerator, incubator, or project-based learning environment.
• Experience with business acquisition, recruitment, or program growth.
• A public body of work, such as writing, video, an established following, or documented business launches.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience. An advanced degree is welcome but not required. No teaching certificate is required.

Benefits

Farm and Forge offers comprehensive benefits that support our team's health and well-being. These include:

• Medical Insurance
• Dental Insurance
• Vision Insurance
• Company-sponsored Life and AD&D Insurance
• Flexible Paid Time Off
• 401(k) Plan with Company Match
• Ongoing Training and Development
• Team Outings