​Welcome to the Second Buildojo Founder Circle!

​Buildojo is a Toronto-based, cohort-style program that helps kids build real products and explore entrepreneurship with guidance from founders who have done it themselves.

​Students work on real ideas, receive honest feedback and learn practical skills schools do not always teach: how to identify a problem worth solving, understand the people affected and turn an idea into something real.

​The big idea behind this second session is simple: the best founders do not start with a product. They start with a person. Most first-time builders do the opposite. They spend months building in private, launch, and hear nothing back. The ones who get it right talk to people first. They ask questions before they write a line of code, and they let the answers shape what gets built.

​To bring that idea to life, we are welcoming a founder who spent a decade inside the industry she now builds for.

​Meet Our Guest Founder: Courtney Kos

​Courtney Kos is the Founder and CEO of Prévoir, a Canadian startup using AI to help fashion brands decide what to make and what to buy.

​Before Prévoir, Courtney spent over a decade in luxury fashion and retail at Condé Nast, Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week and Tumi. She also ran her own boutique, which meant she personally lived the problem she now solves: buyers and merchandisers planning entire collections on gut feeling and spreadsheets, with no real way to know why one product sold and another did not.

​She asked a simple but ambitious question:

​What if the people planning next season did not have to guess?

​That question became Prévoir, a platform that reads product images the way a merchandiser would, pulling out details like colour, silhouette and material, and connecting them to what actually sells.

​What started as an idea in 2023 became a product tested with fashion brands including New York's Elie Tahari, a live listing on the Shopify App Store, and a $750,000 pre-seed round.

​Courtney will share the part of the story founders rarely post about: the first conversations, the cold outreach to people who had never heard of her, the feedback that proved her wrong, and how she found customers willing to pay before the product was finished.

​Agenda

• ​Welcome and introduction to Buildojo's mission

• ​Why talking to users is the skill that separates ideas from companies

• ​Interactive fireside conversation with Courtney Kos

• ​Live student Q&A

• ​Hands-on workshop where students learn the three rules of a real user interview

• ​The Discovery Sprint, where students interview each other about real problems in small rotating teams

• ​The Send Button, where every student writes and sends one real outreach message before the session ends

• ​The Quote Wall and closing reflections

​This will be an interactive session. Students should come prepared to participate, ask questions, work with a team and share their ideas.

​Cameras must stay on for the full session. Because this is a student-only space for minors, we use video to confirm that everyone in the room is a registered student. Anyone who will not turn their camera on will be removed from the session.

​Who This Event Is For

​Aspiring founders, builders and curious students ages 13–18.

​No previous startup, coding or business experience is required. You do not need a finished idea. A rough one, or even just a problem that annoys you, is enough.

​Space is limited, so please prioritize registration for students within the listed age group.

​What to Bring

• ​A laptop or desktop with a working camera and microphone. A working camera is required to take part.

• ​Headphones, which make small group rooms much easier

• ​A quiet spot where you can talk out loud

• ​One problem you have noticed, big or small

• ​Questions for Courtney

​A Note for Parents and Guardians

​This session is designed as an independent, student-only learning experience.

​Students take part on their own, in small breakout rooms with experienced facilitators present throughout, in a moderated environment. Giving students space to participate independently helps them ask questions, meet their peers, work with their teams and build confidence.

​Because this is a space for young people, cameras are mandatory. We check every participant on camera against our approved registration list at the start of the session, and cameras stay on throughout, including in breakout rooms. Anyone who will not turn their camera on is removed. This is how we keep the room to registered students only, and we do not make exceptions. If your child cannot join with a working camera, please contact us before the session rather than on the day.

​During the outreach exercise, students draft and send one short message asking someone for ten minutes of their time. Messages go only to adults students already know or to public communities. Facilitators review every message before it is sent, and students are instructed never to share personal contact details, home addresses or school names.

​Seats are limited. Register now to reserve your spot!

​Session Details

​Registration for this session is approved by hand. Once your spot is confirmed, we will email you the joining link along with everything you need before the session, including the one-page handout students should read in advance.

​Please register with an email you check. If you have not heard from us within a couple of days of registering, contact the host through this page.

​Please also register under the student's own name. We check arrivals on camera against the approved list, and anyone we cannot match to a registration will not be admitted.