Curriculum: Design It, Build It, Price It, Test It
The Money Club runs as a focused one-week sprint.
Each day combines direct instruction with project work. Students learn the business mechanics behind real products, then apply those ideas to a product, service, website or prototype of their own.
The curriculum is practical by design: students investigate demand, compare existing markets, work through costs and prices, create supporting materials, and test whether people understand the offer.
Build judgment before confidence.
- Format
- One week / five days
- Age range
- Students ages 10-13
- Sessions
- July 12th-16th, 2027 or August 9th-13th, 2027
- Location
- UTSU Student Commons, 230 College Street, Toronto
- Project sequence
- Design it. Build it. Price it. Test it.
- Student output
- A researched idea, business case, website or prototype, supporting materials and customer test
How the Program Works
Students are not just learning business terms. They are learning how decisions get made.
In the morning, they learn the mechanics behind money, demand, sourcing, pricing, design, marketing and go-to-market strategy.
In the afternoon, they put the theory into action. They research markets, study what people already buy, identify problems, shape ideas, test assumptions and build toward a simple product, service or AI-supported concept of their own.
They learn:
- how money flows;
- how costs add up;
- how pricing shapes decisions;
- how sourcing affects margins;
- how design, positioning and demand connect;
- how AI can support research, planning and execution;
- and how to ask stronger questions before building.
By the end of the week, students have moved from idea to testable concept with a clearer understanding of how value is created, priced, communicated and improved.
Week Schedule
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Financial Literacy as Survival Gear Design Thinking & Human Factor Research |
Market Research: Follow the Money & Problems Control Brand Playbook |
Sourcing 101: Where Value Is Actually Made Go-To-Market: Launch Without Burning Fuel |
Creative Fundamentals: Photography, Design & Visual Clarity Marketing: Use Existing Channels First |
Guest Speaker Maker Market Event |
Core Build Modules
Financial Literacy as Survival Gear
Students learn how money moves through a business: gross margin, profit, fixed and variable costs, break-even points and cash flow.
Design Thinking & Human Factor Research
Students learn to observe behaviour, identify friction and translate real problems into ideas people might actually use.
Market Research: Follow the Money & Problems
Students look for signals, not just opinions, by studying existing spending, substitutes, complaints, inefficiencies and what people already pay for.
Control Brand Playbook
Students study how operators create value by improving the offer, controlling margin and making positioning and pricing choices.
Sourcing 101: Where Value Is Actually Made
Students learn how products are sourced, priced, bundled and scaled, including supplier constraints, lead times, logistics and pricing leverage.
Go-To-Market: Launch Without Burning Fuel
Students learn to test quickly, learn early and avoid overbuilding before they know what the market understands or wants.
Creative Fundamentals: Photography, Design & Visual Clarity
Students learn how design, messaging and visual clarity affect trust, demand and perceived value.
Marketing: Use Existing Channels First
Students learn how marketplaces, retailers, social platforms and partnerships can help test ideas faster than building everything from scratch.
How Curriculum Becomes Student Work
The curriculum is visible in the student projects.
Printa, Boba Lab and Bag Works each began with customer behaviour, moved through costs and pricing, became a market-facing offer and then entered a real sales environment.
That is the point of the section: the curriculum is not separate from the work. It is the structure students use to make decisions.