14 OCT 2026

Hi Reader,

Many parents I speak to have a version of the same concern: the entry-level job gets automated, and their kid never gets a first rung to stand on.

There's something real underneath it. The Stanford Digital Economy Lab found that in the US, employment of 22 to 25 year olds in the most AI-exposed jobs sits about 19% below trend, while finding no economy-wide job loss. Closer to home, Jobs and Skills Australia put the exposure at 4%. Only 4% of Australian workers are in jobs with high automation exposure to generative AI, and augmentation is far more likely than replacement.

What the 4% is actually telling us

The work changes shape rather than disappearing. The person who gains is the one who can brief the tool, read what comes back, and say which parts are rubbish. That's direction, and it's a learnable skill.

A 14 year old who has made three things with these tools, badly, has something most adults are still nervous about. Nobody arrives there by reading about it.

Try this tonight, 10 minutes

The thinking has to exist before the tool is any use. This is the fastest way to get it out of your head and in front of someone.

1. Sketch the core flow of your idea on paper. Boxes and arrows, by hand.
2. Hand it to someone without explaining it.
3. Watch where they hesitate. The hesitation is the thing to fix.

It's the ten-minute paper prototype from Innovation is a process. This is the one you run.​

Then build from that sheet of paper rather than from a blank prompt. What comes out is mostly decided before you type anything.

What we're watching

NAB Economics surveyed 400 Australian teenagers in July and found more than four in 10 would consider starting a business if they knew where to begin. The barriers they named were limited resources and a lack of practical experience (NAB, 9 July 2026). The appetite is there. The missing piece is a first step small enough to actually take.

A study of 819 students published in PLOS ONE in January found those trained with an AI planning tool were 1.31 times more likely to intend to start a business. The stronger finding sits underneath it: how much entrepreneurship interested the student predicted intention more than twice as powerfully, at 2.13 times higher odds per point (Spilbergs, Mavlutova and Lesinskis, PLOS ONE, January 2026). The tool amplifies someone who already cares. It doesn't manufacture the caring.

Starting next Tuesday

The Young Founders coaching pilot has its first group call on Tuesday 20 October. The preliminary sessions are already running, and they've been the best part of my week.

What I keep noticing about the young people in it is that none of them are only one thing. They train hard at a sport most days. They're properly creative, making things by hand and drawing. And they already talk about wanting a life shaped on their own terms, which is the part I didn't expect to hear this early.

That combination is the premise of the whole programme. The interests that look scattered from the outside are the raw material.

It's going to be a very good 12 weeks, and there are places in the group. Everything about it is here: Young Founders Coaching, pilot cohort.

One question

What's one thing you'd want a 14 year old to be able to do with these tools a year from now? Hit reply and tell me.

As always, Good things come to those who make.

My best,
Charbel