Disruptions: DIY, a Site for Children, Is Instructive for Start-Ups I am flooded daily with pitches from Silicon Valley start-ups that boast they are the next big thing. The problem is, that next big thing is often an inconsequential variation on a previous big thing. An Instagram for video. A social network for people who enjoy outdoor karaoke. A Friendster for hamsters - called Hamsterster. Social networks for the ultrarich and famous. And of course dozens of photo-sharing flops, like Color. So it was refreshing to discover a new start-up called DIY, which offers a do-it-yourself - or maker, in Valley jargon - community for children. DIY is seeking to be like a Boy Scout troop for the modern day. Instead of teaching children how to tie a clove hitch that seems fit for teenagers in the 1920s, DIY, a Web site and mobile app, will encourage children to build things, document them with an iPhone or iPod, and then receive rewards for their work. I hasten to add that DIY isn't just for boys. Zach Klein, DIY's chief executive, said, "It's really important to us that the tree forts allow boys and girls." Children will soon be able to learn to program and make cardboard birdhouses, soda bottle safety glasses, duct tape wallets and toothbrush robots that scurry across a desk like alien life-forms. All these projects will allow children to earn virtual badges, which will appear on the site. They can also receive embroidered physical badges in the mail. Walk into DIY's unassuming San Francisco storefront, and it feels like you've entered a version of Peter Pan's Never Never Land - one imagined and built by nerds. The online and the real worlds blend the way a child might choose to top an ice cream cone, with a mixture that may look peculiar to adults but seems wonderful to children. The conference room, for instance, is designed to look like a tree fort, with walls of scrap pieces of wood. DIY is still in its infancy, and right now is only a place for children to share things they have already built. But the company has hired a so-called maker in chief, whose job is to create projects, with instructions for users to follow, that will teach children modern-day skills. "Social networks today are about what you like, not what you do," said Isaiah Saxon, a DIY founder and its chief creative officer. We want to create an experience for children that's about what you make, and in turn makes these skills heroic. As the site is meant for children, privacy is paramount. During the sign-up process, children are clearly told not to use their real names and to pick a fun pseudonym instead. Children cannot use real profile pictures either, but they can pick an avatar of an intricately illustrated animal: a moose, a hawk, or a turtle with round geeky glasses. They are also asked to get a parent's permission through an e-mail. Then they begin making things. Mr. Saxon walked me through some of the tutorials that will be added to the site in the coming weeks. There is the Stomp Rocket, which is made up of scrap paper, a bicycle inner tube, duct tape and a two-liter soda bottle. Every one of these projects has been torture-tested to be awesome! Mr. Saxon yelled as we jumped on the Stomp Rocket in the street, shooting a paper projectile far into the air. There are dozens of other projects, too. The Balloon Rocket Car, made with paper plates and barbecue skewers, earns children the Rocketeer Patch - "because it uses air propulsion mechanisms, i.e., balloons and straws," Mr. Saxon said. Although children don't have to think about business models, the company's founders do. They have a plan that moves beyond the traditional low-hanging fruit of advertising. "Just like any clubhouse, we will eventually collect money to be a member," Mr. Saxon said. We won't collect any data about children and share it to deliver ads to them. Parents will be happy to pay for that. Mr. Klein and Mr. Saxon said DIY was not just a clubhouse, either. Although they couldn't share specifics, both men said the company was working with a major production company to make a feature-length movie. "The movie is about the characters from DIY, which will be a group of kids who save their small Rust Belt town through hacking, making and building," Mr. Klein said. I wonder if DIY can do the same thing for Silicon Valley.