About Launch League.

In high school, I started a small lawn and landscaping company and entered it in a business plan competition — and won 1st place in Ohio. That one opportunity to be taken seriously, to have real people read my plan and back a rough idea before it was anything close to polished, changed how I thought about what was possible for me.

I've spent the years since building real things: 10 years in the U.S. Air Force in financial management and construction, then eight years leading operations and growth at a Chatham-Kent business with more than 100 employees. Some of the work I'm proudest of there was people work: helping co-op students become apprentices and then journeypersons, and helping tradespeople and administrators grow into supervisors and managers.

Outside of work I've coached high school basketball for nearly 15 years, taught business in classrooms, supported co-op and apprenticeship programs, and served in Rotary and on the Chatham-Kent Chamber of Commerce board. All of it showed me the same thing about what our community, Ontario and our economy need to prosper.

There's a gap. We need to get young people interested in business and entrepreneurship much earlier. Waiting until 17 or 18 is too late. I want to help change that for our future.

Launch League is my way of building that same opportunity for Ontario, at scale. I believe Ontario's economy and prosperity depend on more people building real, well-run businesses — and the biggest barrier usually isn't talent, it's not knowing where to start or having someone take your idea seriously. This platform is how I'm trying to make the biggest impact I can on that.

— Nick Gonzalez, Founder, Launch League

Launch League is a for-profit, mission-driven Ontario company, founded and owned by Nick Gonzalez, a U.S. Air Force veteran. We help people and businesses grow: young people working out what comes next, entrepreneurs launching an idea, and established businesses that want to grow. Our youth programs, coaching, AI services and community projects are how we do it. We believe impact and financial sustainability should reinforce each other. The core participant program is designed to remain free, while partnerships, sponsorships, optional paid tools and future advanced programs fund the platform's growth. Being a company also means we can change a privacy policy, a program rule or a competition format in a week when a school board asks us to. We are not a registered charity, so contributions are not tax-receiptable.

The program is free for every student.Entry to the competition and the core program are free, always, with no fees and no equity taken in anyone's idea. The program is funded by sponsors and partners, and by optional paid services such as tools for adults and private career coaching for families. None of them affect judging in any way.

A named award's prize is paid to the student who wins it. Everything beyond that funds the season it is won in — Awards Night, the platform, the travel to classrooms, and the people who run it. A free program still costs money to run, and we would rather say that than pretend this runs on air.