MilitaryBRATS
MilitaryBRATS

Military teens don't get to pick where they live. Their business should move with them.

A 13-week entrepreneurship program where military-connected teens, 14–18, build a real business, make real sales, and finish at a live public market.

Cohort 01 — get notifiedPartner with us

Tampa Bay · Cohort 01 · January–April 2027 · A project of the Tampa Bay IVMF Ambassador team

Built by three veterans with more than fifty years of service between them.

A teenage boy in an apron hands a paper bag across a bake sale table to a customer, with bags of cookies and a hand-lettered price sign.

Real products. Real customers. Real money.

A teenage girl with a red ponytail holds up a screen-printed t-shirt for a customer at a market table stacked with folded shirts.A teenage girl hands a paper bag across a table of hot sauce bottles and salsa jars with handmade labels.

BRATS = Building Revenue Anywhere They Serve

  • B

    Building

    They make something, not study something.

  • R

    Revenue

    Real money from real customers.

  • A

    Anywhere

    Built to survive the next PCS.

  • T

    They

    The teen owns the business, not the program.

  • S

    Serve

    Built around military family life.

01Why it exists

Nobody has ever told these kids that what they've already survived is a founder's skill set.

Military kids move every two or three years. New town, new school, new everything — and every single time, they watch their parents rebuild a life from scratch and figure it out.

We call that resilience. We're underselling it. That's market research. Adaptability under pressure. Building something from nothing with no safety net — over and over, before they're old enough to drive.

BRATS turns that into an advantage: find a real problem, build something useful, sell it, and take the business with you when you move.

A teenage girl hands a paper bag to a customer across a market table covered with rows of jarred candles and a hand-written price sign.

02What it is

Teens per cohort
10–15
Program length
13 weeks
Each teen leaves with
1 business

Every adult with unsupervised access to participants completes Level 2 FDLE background screening.

See how the program works →

03The path

From idea to first dollar.

  1. 01Find a real problem
  2. 02Build the smallest sellable solution
  3. 03Price it and know the numbers
  4. 04Make the first sale
  5. 05Build the booth
  6. 06Sell at Market Day

Cohort 01 · January 18 – April 16, 2027 · Seven sessions, one build week, one Market Day

Explore the 13-week program →

04Market Day

It ends when somebody pays them.

On Friday, April 16, 2027, Cohort 01 opens for business. A live public market. No parents running the booth, no pretend customers. Teens sell directly to the public, keep what they earn, and leave with something more useful than a certificate: proof that somebody paid for what they built.

Market Day · April 16, 2027 · Tampa Bay

A teenage girl using a wheelchair hands a paper bag to a customer across a market table of custom-painted sneakers, with a card reader beside them.

05Four ways to help

You don't have to do everything. Pick one.

Mentor

A few hours with a cohort. No curriculum needed, just a story about building something.

Choose mentor →

Host

A session at your business or installation. Kids remember rooms, not slides.

Choose host →

Connect

One intro to a school, FRG, or military family organization. Highest leverage most people can offer.

Choose connect →

Fund

Materials and space. Small dollars go a long way here.

Choose fund →

06Choose your next step

Have a military teen?

Cohort 01 applications open December 2026.

I am a

Want to help build this?

Mentor, host, connect, or fund.

Become a partner →