How a Vigo County Teacher Used SideHustle With 400 Middle Schoolers in 10 Minutes

How can teachers introduce entrepreneurship to middle school students quickly?

You don't need a 90-minute block. You don't need a curriculum overhaul. A business teacher in Vigo County, Indiana ran SideHustle with 400 middle school students in a 10-minute open house session and they couldn't stop playing.

The story

I got an email from Jordan Cherry, a business teacher at Terre Haute North in Vigo County Schools. He'd discovered the SideHustle game on his own and used it during his school's open house, with 400 middle school students cycling through his classroom in short bursts.

He didn't have time for the full 90-minute Labs format. So he stripped it down to one round: random business name + industry on the screen, students in groups of 4-5, three minutes to come up with the idea, one pitcher, the rest of the room voting Funny + Fundable with a hand raise.

It worked. Students who hadn't been engaged all night were the loudest. Kids who'd never thought of themselves as business kids were pitching ideas. Jordan reached out to us afterward because he wanted to figure out how to scale it across the district. He CC'd Brett Taylor, also at Vigo Schools.

What it means

The format works at scale because the game is the curriculum. You don't need to teach pitching first. You don't need a worksheet. The structure of the rounds teaches the skill in real time. If a 10-minute version landed with 400 middle schoolers in an open house, the 90-minute version is a no-brainer for any business class.

Try it

• Play free at playsidehustle.com to see why it works in a classroom
• Live show: Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email me at team@playsidehustle.com to bring SideHustle to your school or district