Who, What, Wix Podcast Episode 5: Startup Summer Camp

What's up, everyone? Thanks for tuning in to another episode of who what Wix.

So while it's somehow still hot here in Tel Aviv.

It's always hot in Tel Aviv, you are correct.

But most of our listeners we know are totally settled into fall and even heading towards winter. But don't get too comfortable in your sweater sipping your tea, because this is a very special episode of who what Wicks that's going to transport you back to summertime.

So a few months ago, Justin and I decided to take a little road trip back to summer camp. A summer camp for teenage entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs.

You guys ready? Let's do this. Welcome to the only small business podcast you'll ever need.

We go behind the scenes with business owners and marketing experts for success stories, epic failures, and creative ideas you can use.

From Wix.com, this is who what Wix.

Hey, all. Welcome to a really special episode of who what wix. We're out of the studio today and on location, sitting on the beach of the Mediterranean Sea in northern Israel. Justin, tell us what we're looking at.

I am so glad you asked because we're having so much fun today. Right now, there are kids running around everywhere playing sports. We just watched a truly masterful choreographed dance in the swimming pool. That's right, friends. We are at summer camp. Who what Wicks is taking it on the road. Thing is, these kids are not just here to learn breaststroke. They're here to launch their very own startups.

Yeah, you guys, you heard that right, kids. Preteens are launching their own startup. That's what they want to do with their summer. So we're at Camp Ki Mamas, the hub, a special camp for these teenage entrepreneurs, designers, developers, and future marketers. And they're working really hard, day in and day out to launch the next big thing. At the end of camp tomorrow, they're going to actually do a pitch for the big shots of stage startups and to real investors.

Yael, I don't know about you, but when I was a teenager, when I was 13, 14 years old, the biggest thing in my day during the summer was like kickball and capture the flag.

Yeah.

Color wars was like the pinnacle of summer, and that's about it.

And yet these kids are here about to pitch their startups to serious investors. That, to me, is both insane and amazing.

Yeah, times are changing.

So we drove up here to talk to these kids, the future great minds of the world, and see if they could share some, you know, some great advice for you guys, our listeners. We're going to talk to Andy Mogilevsky. He's the camp director, as well as some of Camp K Mama's Best and Brightest. These campers are between 12 and 16 and their minds are wide open. And so we thought it would be cool to share what they're learning with you guys and see what we can apply as adults to our own small businesses. We want to welcome to who. What wix. Andy Mogilevsky, the director of Camp Kymama's the Hub. Welcome. What's going on, man?

Excellent. Couldn't be better. We're enjoying the last days here at camp at the Hub Tina accelerator, doing amazing things with our kids. We have so many activities packed up in only 12 days of camp, and we couldn't be happier.

It's always fun as an adult to come back to camp. It's really cool.

We usually record this podcast in a studio, but we're super lucky that we're joining guys today at camp. But our listeners are not so lucky because they're at home or on their commute. So can you tell us a little bit? Where are we?

So we're now in a village where during the year there is boarding school going on, and during the summers we come here and we set up a summer camp focused in entrepreneurship and technology for teenagers from all over the world. In these two weeks, they will learn about their specific fields and their specific interests. Not only that, they will come together in a main event that we have, which is a hackathon in which they create new startups and new businesses. And at the last days of camp, they work on the presentations and pitches and they present all of this work that they've done during these 12 days to a group of judges that are really big names in the industry.

How many kids are here?

We have about 50 kids that come from different parts of the world.

How would you describe the type of kids that say to themselves, you know what I want to do this summer? I want to go to startup camp. Like, who are these kids?

Those are my kind of people. I would say I'm one of them. They are native digitals. They are born with a cell phone in their hands. They are born with computers around them. They watch the TV since they are small babies. And they know how to work with screens and with devices. They understand how touchscreen work, understand what a telephone is before they can even speak. This has changed society a lot, I believe.

Are they kids that are doing any entrepreneurship things during the regular year? Are they kids that go to certain kinds of schools, like what are they doing to know that this is the area of focus they want to spend their summer on?

So most of the kids that we get at the Hub are kids that have maybe sometimes a little bit of a hard time in a social aspect, and they don't necessarily find their place during the year at school. Sometimes they feel a little bit left out. Although they are the smartest and the best kids out there, and they spend a lot of time in their computers and working in their gadgets and, you know, these kind of things. Not all of them. Obviously, some of them are very outgoing and very socially involved, but this place allows them to grow and to express themselves in different ways than they do during the year. These are the kids that have ideas that wake up and feel something inside of them and they want to make it true. So these are the entrepreneurs. We also have kids that choose the design space. These are kids that are interested in the design of things and the aspect of things, how they look, how they feel. So we teach them how to work with user interface and user experience, and they design the specific elements of the applications and websites that they're creating. We also work with developers, with programmers, and they create websites or apps, but they build the back end of it.

Teenage programmers.

All of these kids that we're talking about are teenagers. Most of them are ages 12 to 16. Some of them have a background they come with, so some of them have experience, some others don't.

So in just a few minutes, we're going to have some of your star campers come in here and give us their pitch for their startup. Do you think they're ready?

I think they're ready. I seriously believe that we'll get crazy ideas and crazy companies coming out of here, and I have a lot of faith in them and I can't wait to hear them.

Yeah, me too. Me too. Listen, Andy, thanks so much for coming, man. It's awesome to be here. I mean, we're lucky. We got to head out of the, you know, the dark studio and hit a beautiful summer camp. So we're going to make the most of this. Thank you so much for joining us today on who what Wicks.

Enjoy your day, guys. Thank you very much.

My name is Jill and I'm a social media manager at Wix. The most important thing I learned at camp was how to pop a squat. I can pee anywhere on command and I'm not afraid to do so. My favorite thing was water skiing. I loved it. The most embarrassing thing that happened to me at camp was when I Had licensed and I had to put mayonnaise in my hair and wrap it with saran wrap. So you were kind of branded as being a kid with lice.

First, we're sitting here with Itai. Itay, tell us a little bit about yourself.

I'm Itao Magor. I'm Karamer because I want to do a startup.

How old are you?

I'm 12 years old.

And how long have you been interested in startups or even knew what that was?

I think from the age of 11.

And you're already here?

Yeah.

That's amazing.

So I know that the hub has a bunch of tracks for people interested in different things. Which track are you in?

I'm in entrepreneurship.

When you applied, how did you know that that's who you were and that's what you wanted to do this summer?

I knew I can do something to change, like make the world easier. So I thought this is going to be the place to start.

Alright Itay, so if you're ready, we'd love to hear your pitch for your startup.

Alright, great.

Alright, hit us buddy.

Okay. Well, I'm Tao Magor and I'm very excited to be here. And my mom told me once that she went to a new supermarket. It was very hard for her to find most of the stuff. So our DIA is like an indoor GPS but an app so that can help you find your products in your list much easier, efficient and fast. So it's like from the moment you get in an app, the only thing you need to do is to scan or copy paste your supermarket list. And from that moment on, the app will do everything for you. It will first show you the stores near you, will all your listed items and then it will show you the way, the most efficient way to all your products at the store itself.

Wait, I would use that every day.

Wow.

Itai, that's awesome. I waste a lot of time indoor shopping for anything. I just get lost.

So Itay, I have a question. So does your app, does it help me make the most sense of the order where I should, you know that I should pick up my stuff?

Yeah. We're special because we don't show you only where one thing is. We show you the way to all your products so you can save a lot of time.

You're basically the waze indoor version for the supermarket.

Yes, I will have this.

That's amazing.

When can we expect your product to go live?

After the demo day, we'll be looking for investors to get us to help us get partnership, develop a product and Basically join our family.

Amazing. Have you thought of, you know, the, like, the slogan for your company?

Yeah, the faster way out.

The fastest way out.

Amazing.

Ty, most of our listeners here on the podcast are a little bit older than you.

Okay.

And they're sort of starting their own businesses, a lot of them. What advice do you have as an entrepreneur for people that are starting off themselves?

Well, in intrapreneur class or lesson in here, we learned that what is a leap of faith, it's the moment you believe in yourself and you say, I can do this. A lot of people have idea, but not many people have the motivation.

Cool.

Itay, thank you so much for joining us on the podcast. We really expect big things from you.

Yeah. We wish you the very best of luck.

Thank you very much.

So my name is Kevin Pollock and I'm a content writer for wix Artificial Design Intelligence. The most important thing I learned at camp was when they say, don't bring candy to camp. Bring it, but hide it better. My favorite activity at camp was playing capture the flag in the forest. So the most embarrassing thing that happened to me at camp was I had a big crush on a girl and I wanted to ask her to the dance at the last weekend of camp, but I was too shy to do it. So my friends to get me to ask her tackled me in the field and sat on me while the rest of them got her and brought her over. And it turned out okay. But it was very embarrassing in the moment.

All right, well, I gotta tell our listeners, it's always fun as a woman in Startup to see a young, up and coming woman in Startup herself. We have another guest in the room. Can you introduce yourself?

Hi, I'm Maya. Next month I will be 15. I came to camp to learn design and it's really fun.

When do you think you realized that you were passionate about visuals and about design?

Well, I always, since I was a little girl because I would love to play outside and I love to play with mud and different colors and every time I would see roses, I would pick them. And I just love all the colors and the different shapes and sizes. And I'm also a girl that works like that. If you want to experience, explain to me something, you'll have to explain it with visual things like give me shapes, numbers and sizes and stuff like that.

All right, Maya, so tomorrow you're going to be pitching your startup in front of these real investors. But we have the behind the scenes peak. So are you ready? We would love to hear your pitch.

Okay, so I Hope I'll say it.

Okay.

But it was an idea to help people basically decide things. Like, they have, let's say they're going to a wedding and they don't know what to wear, like a button dress or a skinny dress or something like that. So they take a picture, put it side by side. So they upload it, and there's only likes. So if you don't like it, we don't care. No one will know. And of course, everything is anonymous. And so you upload the picture, and the more you upload it, it goes up first in the list. And people scroll and they see the pictures and they like whatever they like. Whatever they like stays on the screen. Whatever they don't like goes away. That's it.

Where did you get your inspiration for the visual element of this app?

Just kind of comes to you, but for advice, maybe. I think you should make sure. Try to, like, stop. Think about yourself as a user and just feel the flow of it. Just try and look around and think and maybe go and ask your family. Family, like, tries to tell the truth all the time, but just tell them. Tell me the truth. I want to know the truth. Just get, like, the feedback from other people and everything.

Thanks for being on the podcast today. I really wish you all the best of luck in your pitch tomorrow.

Thank you so much.

Hi, my name is Josh. I'm an email marketing manager at wix. My favorite activity at camp would probably be wrestling with the guys in my little cabin. It was. I think they actually didn't like me, but it was fun to wrestle. I got a couple bruises while I was at it. The most embarrassing thing that happened to me at camp was was that all the girls went into our cabin and stole all our underwear and then put it up on the line for everyone to see. I would tell myself as a camper now to enjoy it more, to really not take it at all seriously, because I was only a kid, you know, and then I was. I was thinking that, you know, this is my life and. And so this is who I am. But you change as a person. So I'd really just tell myself that. Never take anything too seriously.

We're here with Fernando, who is going to tell us about what I already know is a very, very cool startup. Fernando, what's going on, man?

Hello. How are you?

I'm great. Where are you from?

My family's from Barcelona, so I've lived there mostly for. For, I think for five years. But before I lived in Madrid for, like, 11 years. So.

Okay.

Yeah.

All right. What made you want to spend your summer here at the Hub?

Well, mostly, like most of the time I have good ideas, but the problem is that I think most of the kids our age don't know how to develop them, how to find the good and perfect team to shape all together and create a product. So I thought of like, instead of doing maybe like a all sport camp or all technological camp, like mix it all together and put it in this camp.

So we're hearing a lot about this presentation.

Yeah.

I'm ready to hear your pitch.

Okay. So my product is about social media for skateboarding and surfing, but it also has one cool feature which is you can find skate spots in your city. And also the user has the option to add new spots so that people go visit and practice their skating skills. I think it was more about the passion because I really like skateboarding and surfing and I felt like the people that shared that passion didn't have any way to share the videos, the skills they had with the real world.

So what's the next step, man? You said you want to make this a reality after camp. What are you doing?

I want to find a team. Also, I want to expand more the idea and find ways in which I can market it to the real world.

So do you have any advice for other entrepreneurs, maybe ones that are a little older than you, who are also getting started?

Follow your passion. Try to think of a problem you normally have in your daily life and that you might think you can solve it. That's the easiest way you can find ideas for a new startup. That's what I did. Most of the times I just thought of crazy ideas I could do. But this idea came from my inside, from what I lacked and what I thought that people were having difficulties with.

So let's be frank, Fernando. How much seed money do you need to get this off the ground?

Well, maybe I would need like, I don't know, $1,000? I don't know, $1,000? Yeah.

I think we gotta happen. Yeah. Fernando, thanks a lot, man. I wish you all the luck in the world pitching startup. I think you're gonna do great.

Yeah, I'm a bit nervous for tomorrow because I need to remember those beats, but I think I'm not gonna be like, nervous in the stage.

Nah, you got it.

Okay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks, buddy. We hope you guys enjoyed our time at Camp. Kimama's the hub. I had a great time today.

What about you?

Yeah, it was amazing. It's so exciting to hear kids that are so inspired and have such fresh ideas and are so hungry to just do all this work for fun, for sure.

And not to sound like a terribly old man, but, you know, I look at kids and teenagers and it seems like they're so obsessed with their smartphones and playing games and it's really awesome to find kids that are using that knowledge. I mean, they grew up with this stuff and putting it to like, serious good use.

Yeah, it just makes me think that we're so stuck in where we can learn and how we can learn. But our kids know a lot of information. And sometimes as adults, when we're, you know, trying to think outside of the box, maybe we need to just look in directions that we haven't looked in before. And sometimes that's our kids.

I totally agree. I totally agree. And listen, I'd love to talk to you more about this, but our day is almost over here at Camp Kimama and I want to hit the pool.

Absolutely.

Alright guys, thanks for joining us on who what wix. We will see you next time.