What is SideHustle Labs?

What is SideHustle Labs?

SideHustle Labs is a 90-minute facilitated experience where students brainstorm a business idea in 4-5 person teams, pitch it to peers playing investors, and rotate roles every round. We co-host with the school's existing teachers. No production crew, just one screen and four rounds.

The story

A Mars Hill University professor reached out after seeing the format and used the free SideHustle game with his class. He told us afterward that students were still trading the inside jokes weeks later — and that they'd been telling him it was the best class they'd ever had.

The format he used followed the same skeleton as Labs: 4-5 students per table, a random business name and industry on the screen, three minutes to brainstorm, one pitcher per team, the Investor team asked one unscripted follow-up question, score on Funny + Fundable, rotate, repeat. By round three, students who hadn't spoken in class all semester were leading their team's pitch.

What it means

Pitching isn't a presentation skill. It's an improvisation skill. You can't teach it from slides because the muscle only shows up when you take prep away. SideHustle Labs is the format we built around that one observation. It works in classrooms, camps, and cohorts. The only requirement is a room of students and a screen. For the full educator playbook, see the educator guide to teaching entrepreneurship through play.

Try it

• Play the game free at playsidehustle.com so you can feel the format
• Catch us live: next show is Sept 25 at Pershing Hall in Austin. All dates at luma.com/playsidehustle
• Email us at team@playsidehustle.com to scope your program