In 2015, Y2 began as an entrepreneurship conference focused on students in high school. Lucas had observed that while there were resources available to post-secondary students and adults seeking to start a business, not much was available to teens and pre-teens interested to learn about entrepreneurship.

To address this gap, Lucas worked with Susie, Muskan, Samantha and Diane (who were then in high school) to run a conference specifically for high-school students that taught content similar to what startup accelerators were teaching their founders. We received warm support from Seneca College’s HELIX accelerator, who became our founding partner and venue sponsor, and from the community, as more than 30 business owners and professionals from around Toronto and York Region volunteered as coaches, mentors, speakers, and judges.

As we talked and worked with more educators, we realized there was an opportunity to bring entrepreneurship and problem-solving learning experiences to students, including the many students who might not be able to attend a conference, while they were in school classes.

Today, we partner with school boards and schools (public, Catholic and independent) to customize and teach in-person and online Problem-Based Learning (PBL) programs and SHSM ICE training workshops. We also train teachers on how to run their own design thinking programs. And in March 2023, we ran our 10th Y2 Entrepreneurship Conference.