Problem first
Arrive, meet your team and learn to think divergently about problems worth solving. The first Shape Talk of the week is in the afternoon.
Summer school
Five days that start something
Pot do uspeha (Path to Success) is a free five-day summer school where young people build a business idea from scratch: a lecture in the morning, your own idea in the afternoon, a pitch to a jury on the last day. It was started in 2019 by Rotaract Club Ljubljana 25, and several terms now run across the summer. Since 2024 Global Shapers Ljubljana has run one of them each year, and everyone who teaches or mentors does it for free.
The 2026 edition at a glance
5
days on a ranch under the Alps
24
participants in teams of four
8
speakers who taught the 2026 edition, all volunteers
Where
Ranč Mackadam, Naklo
a ranch half an hour from Ljubljana
When
17 to 21 August 2026
the latest edition
Who
Ages 18 to 21
alumni of earlier editions
Cost
0 €
no fees, no catch
01 — The idea
Learn it, then use it the same day
Most summer schools are a row of lectures. This one is a workshop with lectures in it. Each morning a founder or an expert covers one piece of building a company: validating an idea, business models, brand, working with AI, pitching. Each afternoon the teams take that piece and apply it to the idea they’re building. By Friday every team has tested its problem on real people, built a prototype and stands in front of a jury.
Participants work in teams of four, each with its own mentor for the whole week. The jury scores four things: the idea, the brand, the execution and the pitch. The 2026 edition was the first alumni edition, open to people aged 18 to 21 who had already been through the school as high-school students. Earlier editions were for ages 15 to 18.
02 — The week
Five days
Validate it
Get out of the building. Ten real responses from your target audience before you’re allowed to fall in love with the idea. Then the basics of a business model.
Build your workspace
A hands-on session on working with AI tools as a team, then the afternoon trip. An evening Shape Talk on personal identity.
Brand and prototype
Visual identity and marketing in the morning. In the afternoon you vibe-code a landing page and a prototype.
Shape Tank
Pitch practice, then the finale: every team presents to a jury of entrepreneurs. Idea, brand, execution, pitch.
03 — Who teaches
People who’ve done it
Everyone below taught or mentored at the 2026 edition. None of them were paid.
- Timotej Lemut Shape Talk: solving modern problems · Day 1
- Marko Grad Divergent thinking and the Avatar exercise · Day 1
- Tomaž Stritar Validating your idea · Day 2
- Milan Lazarević Effective entrepreneurship · Day 2
- Aleš Pevc Working with AI: the Claude workshop · Day 3
- Sergej Stijović Shape Talk: personal identity · Day 3
- Bor Briščik Creating with AI: visual identity · Day 4
- Mark Repac Creating with AI: vibe coding · Day 4
Shape Tank jury: Jernej Pintar, David Rakar.
04 — The vibe
It’s not all work
The school lives on a ranch under the Alps. Morning runs, meals together, an afternoon trip, board games, a trivia night, a movie night with a debate, a campfire and a fuckup night where the mentors talk about what went wrong for them. The week is built so that by Friday a group of strangers is a group of friends.
Housing on site ✦
Meals included ✦
One trip, one campfire ✦
05 — What they say
In their words
9.4/ 10
would recommend the school to a friend (2026 participants, 17 responses)
“The summer school found its way into my heart. I think it’s there for good.”
»Poletna šola se mi je zapisala v srce, po mojem za vedno.«
“The mentors created a really safe and encouraging environment.”
»Mentorji ste ustvarjali zelo varno in spodbudno okolje.«
Want more ?
Past editions, past talks, past events. Photos included.
Browse the archive →Applications for the next edition aren’t open yet. The WhatsApp channel hears first.