Agentic AI Start-Up: Engineer Your AI-Native Business

The world's first andragogically-designed, agentic-cohort-powered, VC-optimized AI startup engineering program.

What This Is

This is not a bootcamp. It is not a university. It is a founder's command center — a 17-week program that produces entrepreneurs with launch-ready, market-fit AI-native companies, guided by 6 specialized AI agents as their peer cohort.

First student: Dayn Kirksey (the designer himself — built from his own learner avatar outward)

Theoretical Foundation

Andragogy (Malcolm Knowles, The Adult Learner, 10th ed.)

Every module is designed around Knowles' six principles:

1. Need to Know — learners understand WHY before HOW
2. Self-Concept — learners are self-directed, not passive recipients
3. Prior Experience — existing knowledge is a resource, not a blank slate
4. Readiness to Learn — modules unlock when the learner is ready
5. Orientation to Learning — problem-centered, not subject-centered
6. Motivation to Learn — internal motivation over external compliance

Geopolitical Frame (Dan Wang, Breakneck)

Students are not learning to get jobs. They are choosing to engineer the future — to be the builders that tip civilizational competition toward democratic, autonomous, agentic superpowers.

YC Startup School

Every module maps to YC Startup School content. The agentic cohort replaces the YC group partner — available 24/7, infinitely patient, ruthlessly honest.

Program Structure

Phase	Weeks	Theme
Pre-Program	Week 0	Founder Onboarding
Phase 1	Weeks 1–4	Foundation Stack
Phase 2	Weeks 5–10	AI Engineering Core
Phase 3	Weeks 11–14	Scale Architecture
Phase 4	Weeks 15–17	Go-To-Market & Fundraise

The Agentic Peer Cohort

Agent	Role	Knowles Principle	Core Challenge
🏗️ Arch	Systems Architect	Need to Know	"Why did you design it this way? What breaks at scale?"
🔭 Scout	Customer Discovery	Readiness to Learn	"Who is this for? Have you talked to them?"
🦆 Reed	Debug Partner	Prior Experience	"Walk me through your reasoning."
💎 Vera	VC Investor	Motivation to Learn	"What's your moat? Why can't Google build this?"
⚙️ Mo	MLOps Engineer	Orientation to Learning	"Is this production-ready at 3am?"
🌿 Sage	Andragogical Facilitator	Self-Concept	"What would you decide if I weren't here?"

App Architecture

Built on Base44 (native platform):

• 6 entities: Student, Product, Module, AgentInteraction, Milestone, MiniProduct
• 2 backend functions: agentChat (GPT-4o, all 6 agents), enrichInvestor (Apify/PitchBook)
• 8 pages: Dashboard, Agent Hub, Build Track, Curriculum, Milestone Board, VC Room, Cohort Feed, Sage's Journal

Repository Structure

/
├── README.md                          # This file
├── PROGRAM_PHILOSOPHY.md              # Full andragogical + geopolitical framing
├── curriculum/
│   ├── ARCHITECTURE.md                # Full 17-week curriculum architecture
│   ├── modules/                       # Per-module specs (module_00 through module_14)
│   └── yc_mapping.md                  # YC Startup School content mapping
├── agents/
│   ├── AGENT_DESIGN.md                # Agent design philosophy + Knowles mapping
│   ├── arch.md                        # Arch system prompt + design notes
│   ├── scout.md                       # Scout system prompt + design notes
│   ├── reed.md                        # Reed system prompt + design notes
│   ├── vera.md                        # Vera system prompt + design notes
│   ├── mo.md                          # Mo system prompt + design notes
│   └── sage.md                        # Sage system prompt + design notes
├── entities/
│   ├── Student.json                   # Entity schema
│   ├── Product.json                   # Entity schema
│   ├── Module.json                    # Entity schema
│   ├── AgentInteraction.json          # Entity schema
│   ├── Milestone.json                 # Entity schema
│   └── MiniProduct.json               # Entity schema
├── functions/
│   ├── agentChat.ts                   # Deployed backend function — all 6 agents
│   └── enrichInvestor.ts              # Deployed backend function — Apify/PitchBook
├── pages/
│   ├── 01_dashboard.md                # Dashboard page spec
│   ├── 02_agent_hub.md                # Agent Hub page spec
│   ├── 03_build_track.md              # Build Track page spec
│   ├── 04_curriculum.md               # Curriculum page spec
│   ├── 05_milestone_board.md          # Milestone Board page spec
│   ├── 06_vc_room.md                  # VC Room page spec (OpenVC + Apify + Vera)
│   ├── 07_cohort_feed.md              # Cohort Feed page spec
│   └── 08_sages_journal.md            # Sage's Journal page spec
└── design/
    └── DESIGN_SYSTEM.md               # Colors, typography, component patterns

Price Point

$10,000–$15,000 per student. Justified by outcome: a deployed, VC-ready AI-native company.