SydeDoor is part AI academy, part careers fair of the future: a membership for 14 to 22 year olds exploring the future of work in the AI economy, with real practitioners, judged on merit.
Ambitious young people are prepared to succeed in education, but get far fewer chances to explore careers, solve real problems, use professional tools and meet people doing the work.
AI makes that gap more urgent. It is reshaping junior work while giving teenagers the tools to research, analyse, code, create and build at a level that once required far more resources.
SydeDoor opens a side door into startup work. A founder brings a live problem, operators show how they work, and young people prototype, test and pitch a response.
Our thesis is simple: proof is stronger when it sits beside papers. School and university still matter. Trying real work helps young people choose them with more evidence.
Give them the experience to find their path before they have to choose it.
AI is changing what entry-level work looks like faster than schools, universities or careers services can keep up with.
Students repeat meaningful tasks and receive timely feedback. Capability grows through doing, adjusting and trying again.
Practitioners reveal how they reason, coach students through decisions and gradually step back as independence grows.
Students return to prior decisions, tools and mistakes across experiences, turning exposure into durable capability.
Presenting to practitioners, users or peers makes the work matter beyond a score and creates a reason to improve it.
Students identify what worked, what failed and what to try next, building agency and self-knowledge over time.
Joao spends the working week helping organisations adopt AI and govern it responsibly. SydeDoor brings that practice to the people who'll inherit the AI economy: teaching what's actually used in the field, the way it's actually used.
Many of our members are under 18. Their safety comes before everything else, including the livestream.
Every edition has a named DSL, with clear ways for members and parents to raise concerns.
Nobody under 18 takes part without consent from a parent or guardian.
Sessions are run by the SydeDoor team. Hosts never work with under-18s unsupervised.
Under-18s only appear on the public livestream with consent, and can always take part off-camera.
DBS checks for staff working closely with members, including in the Fellowship.
Age-appropriate tool access, and AI safety taught as part of every edition.
SydeDoor runs on partnerships with startups, schools and sponsors, and a small team that's growing.
If you'd like to host a brief, bring SydeDoor to your school, or support the livestream, we'd love to talk.
info@sydedoor.com
We're looking for a co-host for our live sessions and city leads to launch new editions.
info@sydedoor.com
Join the waitlist to become a founding member. You'll hear first about dates, hosts and places, and help shape what we build.
Join the waitlist →Takes two minutes. Under 18? We'll ask a parent or guardian to confirm before you take part.