Entrepreneurship with NFTE: New Venture Creation

• Generate and clarify an early-stage business idea

• Defend the problem and concept in a structured critique

• Evaluate feasibility, differentiation, and business logic

• Present the idea from an investor’s perspective

• Apply feedback through rapid cycles of revision

• Deliver a refined concept in a final pitch competition

By the end of the course, students will be able to:

• Define and articulate a focused business problem and concept

• Evaluate and strengthen an idea through market and investor feedback

• Deliver and defend a refined entrepreneurial pitch

Students leave with a developed business idea, pitch experience, and greater confidence applying feedback to improve their reasoning and communication.

Entrepreneurship requires more than generating ideas. Students must define a problem, understand why it matters, examine whether a concept is differentiated and feasible, and explain the logic clearly enough for others to evaluate it.

Rapid feedback teaches students to treat critique as useful information. They practice listening, deciding which changes strengthen the concept, and communicating under time constraints. These habits support innovation, leadership, product development, business, and collaborative problem-solving. Together, these skills strengthen careful reasoning, responsible professional judgment, and the ability to revise a conclusion when new evidence changes the picture.

This course is for high school students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade and are interested in entrepreneurship, startups, product ideas, business, innovation, or pitching. It fits students who want an active, feedback-driven experience.

Participants should be ready to present early work, receive direct critique, revise quickly, and communicate under time constraints. Students do not need to arrive with a finished venture. Curiosity, resilience, and willingness to improve an idea in public will support success. Success depends on careful preparation, steady participation, and respect for classmates’ perspectives throughout the course.

Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.

Programs on the University of Michigan campus give high-school students the experience of exploring an academic interest in Ann Arbor, a college town where campus and community life blend together. Tree-lined streets, downtown bookstores and cafés, the Nichols Arboretum, and trails near the Huron River create different ways to experience the setting beyond class.

Students learn alongside peers, navigate a large and active campus, and gain independence through everyday choices in a new environment. The experience helps students understand what university life can feel like while giving them space to deepen an interest without having every next step decided. For families, the program offers a meaningful combination of academic depth, community, personal growth, and clearer direction about what a student may want to study or pursue next.

Entrepreneurs, product managers, consultants, investors, marketers, and innovation teams regularly test early ideas before committing major resources. They question assumptions, compare alternatives, refine positioning, and communicate why an opportunity deserves attention.

Students mirror that process through idea defense, investor feedback, field-based learning, iteration, and a pitch competition. The experience offers a practical introduction to entrepreneurship, venture development, product thinking, business strategy, and persuasive communication. The work also shows how specialists collaborate across roles and communicate important evidence-based decisions to colleagues, clients, organizations, or the public in complex professional settings.