Let’s Go

A Soft Launch Worth Remembering

Author

Stephen Carter
December 08, 2025

Quick note—don’t miss your chance to be part of one of the most energizing events of 2026: the Entrepreneurship Symposium for Christian Schools. Whether you’re building an entrepreneurship program or ready to launch one, this gathering will accelerate your impact.

Last Friday, my friend Jayme sent me a text along with a few photos that immediately translated into a genuine, full-body smile. I felt this wave of joy—almost a sense of pride—and all because of a group of students who had just completed the soft launch of their new venture: a dirty soda business called “Sodalicious.”

I was in Arlington, Texas, a few months back visiting their school (and yes, I tried my first dirty soda while there) and had a chance to meet with this wonderful group of students as they were ideating their business concept.

And as fun as that moment was, nothing compares to the actual launch.

This particular group set what they believed to be a challenging long-term goal: sell 100 drinks. Instead, they sold 200. Doubling their target was impressive, but the number alone doesn’t tell the story. What matters is everything that happened in the process: 

They developed grit. 

They discovered a deeper passion for their work. 

They learned how to collaborate, adapt, encourage one another, and push through uncertainty. 

Those are the experiences that stay with a student long after graduation, long after the final bell rings, long after the last drink is sold.

Dan Heath, in The Power of Moments, writes about how we only carry a small number of defining experiences with us throughout our lives, and they are rarely tied to conventional classroom routines. They tend to be the moments that elevate us, stretch us, and shift our understanding of what we are capable of. I am convinced this soft launch will become one of those moments for these students.

They will remember what it felt like to come together around a shared goal, to believe they were aiming high, and then to discover that they were capable of far more than they imagined. They will carry the memory of surpassing their expectations not because someone told them they could, but because they proved it to themselves.

This is the entrepreneurial mindset lived out—not as theory, not as curriculum content, but as transformation through hands-on experience. And when students get a taste of that kind of growth, there is no limit to what they can build next.

Standing out as a Christian school while staying true to your values is more challenging than ever. At Seed Tree Group, we help schools implement a proven entrepreneurship program that empowers students to take ownership of their education, equipping them with life-ready skills and creating a distinguished school with engaged students, inspired parents, and energized donors.

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Imagine your culture infused with growth mindset, grit, redefining failure, and opportunity seeking. Imagine your team acting and thinking like entrepreneurs.

Stephen Carter