Enroll early for Summer 2027 to secure your preferred campus and program.
Build a product. Create your brand. Pitch your business. Your founder journey starts here.
Instructor:
Course Description
Don’t just learn about business. Build one.
Choose a problem worth solving, find out what customers want and build a real product. In this three-week entrepreneurship course, middle school students use META24’s hands-on curriculum to follow five stages: Find, Brand, Make, Price and Pitch. Explore products already selling, compare competing ideas and use customer feedback to shape something people would choose.
Give the product a name, design its logo and message, and create a short commercial. In the B Math Lab, work with the materials and units you actually make to calculate true unit cost, margin, pricing and break-even. A business model canvas connects those numbers with your customer and plan. Experienced facilitators coach each activity while METTIE helps organize the venture, record costs and prepare an investor-style pitch grounded in real numbers.
Pitch Day brings the work together. Present your product and venture to judges, explain your decisions and respond to questions. Leave with a brand, product, business plan, commercial and downloadable pitch deck, plus a venture record you can continue developing on METTIE.
This three-week entrepreneurship course for middle school students is part of Summer Discovery’s Institute for the Gifted program on UCLA’s campus in Los Angeles, California. Students connect active academic exploration with campus life, growing independence and a clearer sense of what they may want to explore next.
What You Will Do
• Research products already selling and ask potential customers what they need
• Build a real product and refine it using customer feedback
• Create your brand, logo, message and a short commercial
• Calculate unit cost, margin, pricing and break-even in the B Math Lab
• Organize your venture in METTIE and build a practical business plan
• Build an investor-style pitch using real numbers and present to judges on Pitch Day
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Use customer research and product comparisons to explain who a product serves
• Calculate unit cost, margin, pricing and break-even using actual materials and costs
• Present a branded product and investor-style venture pitch supported by real numbers
You’ll leave with your brand, product, business plan, commercial and downloadable pitch deck, and a clearer sense of which founder tasks you want to explore.
I built a company at Summer Discovery.
Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter
When students work on something they have created, learning becomes tangible. The choice of materials changes the cost. A customer’s opinion can improve the product. A price has to make sense. Students see how problem-solving, research, math and communication work together—not as isolated lessons, but as decisions a founder makes.
The experience builds initiative, creativity, teamwork, financial confidence and the ability to explain an idea clearly. These are skills students can bring back to school and use long after the summer ends.
Is This Course Right for You?
For middle-school students interested in making things, solving problems, exploring business or trying something new. No previous business experience or finished idea is required. Come ready to create, collaborate, experiment and share your thinking.
Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.
Your Summer at UCLA
UCLA gives middle-school students an energetic place to learn, have fun, and experience campus life in Los Angeles. The setting brings together science, technology, creativity, entertainment, and culture, helping new subjects feel connected to a wider world of ideas.
The program combines hands-on academics with friendships, campus activities, clear routines, and support as students become comfortable in a large university environment. Students can try new challenges, share interests with peers, and build confidence through participation without needing to decide where those interests will lead. For families, UCLA offers a structured middle-school experience that balances substantive learning with fun, community, and age-appropriate independence. Students leave with new memories and a clearer sense of what they may want to explore next.
Summer Discovery Certificate of Completion
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive