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 in this two-week entrepreneurship academy.
Rated 4.4 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Course Description
Don’t just learn about business. Build one.
In two weeks, turn an opportunity into a product you can hold, a brand you can show and a business you can explain. Research what customers want, make your own product, calculate what it really costs and create the marketing that gives someone a reason to buy.
With META24’s hands-on curriculum and METTIE platform, follow the founder journey: Find, Brand, Make, Price, Sell, Pitch. Explore products already on the market, investigate customer needs and compare competing solutions. Use a business model canvas to connect your idea, customer, value proposition and revenue model, then put your thinking to work in the lab.
Build a prototype, develop your brand and create a 30-second commercial. In the Math Lab, use your own materials, labor and production costs to calculate pricing, margins, break-even and cash flow. METTIE, an AI tutor, guides you with questions and feedback alongside instructor coaching as you develop and refine your venture.
Then take your product to Market Day. Put your pricing and message in front of real customers, record sales and expenses, and use what happens to sharpen your business plan. On Pitch Day, present your product, brand and investor-style deck to judges, backing your decisions with customer research, production costs and sales results.
This Summer Discovery full-day academy is offered on the University of Michigan campus in Ann Arbor. Focus on one intensive academy while experiencing campus life and exploring what you may want to study or pursue next.
What You Will Do
• Find an opportunity through customer interviews or surveys, market research and an estimate of market size.
• Compare competitors, use SWOT analysis and define what makes your product worth choosing.
• Develop a business model canvas and business plan that connect your customer, product, costs and revenue.
• Make a real product, then create its name, logo, packaging and brand message.
• Use fixed and variable costs, including materials and labor, to calculate pricing, margins, break-even and cash flow.
• Choose marketing channels for your customer and create a 30-second commercial.
• Sell on Market Day and track units made, expenses and sales in your venture dashboard.
• Build a downloadable investor-style pitch deck, rehearse with feedback and present to judges on Pitch Day.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the academy, students will be able to:
• Recognize a business opportunity and use primary and secondary research to evaluate customer demand.
• Explain a product’s value proposition using customer insight and competitive analysis.
• Use costs, pricing, revenue and cash flow to assess whether a venture can sustain itself.
• Connect product design, branding and marketing decisions to a defined customer.
• Collaborate, apply structured feedback and defend a business pitch with evidence.
You’ll leave with a product, brand, business plan, commercial and downloadable pitch deck, along with the work behind the statement: “I built a company at Summer Discovery.”
Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter
When the product is yours, the decisions matter. A change in materials affects cost. A price affects margin. Customer feedback can change the product, the message or the plan. Building a venture gives market research, financial reasoning and strategic planning a practical purpose.
Students practice initiative, creative problem solving, collaboration and professional communication. They learn to test assumptions, explain tradeoffs and adapt when evidence points in a new direction, skills they can carry into school, college and future work.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th grade.
For students who want to make something of their own and discover how a business works. No finished idea or prior business experience is required. Come ready to create, collaborate, work through the numbers and explain your choices.
Recommended by More Than 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in Summer Discovery’s 2026 program at the University of Michigan.
Your Summer at 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.
After successfully finishing this course, you will be awarded a certification completion for your accomplishment.
*This is a preview, not what you will receive