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Build and pitch a venture in this 3-week entrepreneurship academy for high school students at UT Austin.
Rated 4.4 out of 5 for classroom experience by students who took this course in 2026.
Instructor:
Course Description
Notice a problem worth solving, then take the first steps toward doing something about it. A business can start that way, and so can change inside a school, nonprofit, or larger organization.
In this course you will work with a team to turn an idea into a small business you plan and launch by the end of the academy. Design thinking helps generate options; conversations with real potential customers test whether they meet a need. Research the market, build a simple business model, and work through marketing, costs, and pricing.
A UT Austin professor with real-world experience guides the work, joined by guest entrepreneurs and innovators from Austin’s startup scene. Pitch to real entrepreneurs, use their feedback, and refine your proposal for the academy’s own “Shark Tank” competition. Sharing decisions and responding to setbacks make leadership part of the experience. You’ll have more than an idea to explain: you’ll be able to show what your team tried and why it changed.
This three-week full-day academy for high school students takes place at UT Austin in Austin, Texas. The program is developed by the University of Texas at Austin and offered in partnership with Summer Discovery. Students focus on one academy for the full program. Residential and commuter options are available.
A supplemental course fee of $95 applies.
What You Will Do
• Identify a problem in your community or beyond
• Test design ideas through conversations with potential customers
• Build a business model with market research, costs, and pricing
• Plan and launch a small business with your team
• Pitch to Austin entrepreneurs and use their feedback
• Deliver a venture pitch in the academy’s “Shark Tank” competition
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Use design thinking and customer feedback to improve a solution
• Connect market research, costs, pricing, and marketing in a business plan
• Support entrepreneurial decisions with evidence and clear reasoning
You’ll leave with your team business launch, simple business model, venture pitch, and a certificate of completion.
Why Entrepreneurship Skills Matter
An entrepreneurial mindset helps students move from noticing a problem to testing what might improve it. Design thinking gives creativity a process. Conversations with potential customers challenge assumptions, while decisions about costs and prices connect an idea to the practical demands of making it work.
Teamwork makes those lessons personal. Students must listen, contribute, share decisions, and keep moving when feedback calls for a change. Pitching gives them practice explaining a problem and defending a solution clearly. These habits build collaboration, leadership, and resilience that students can use in school projects, community initiatives, and future study across many fields.
Who Should Attend?
For students who have completed 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade.
If you spot problems and start imagining ways to fix them, this academy puts that impulse to work. You may want to start a business, help a community, or bring a fresh idea to another organization. No business background is needed.
You’ll try unfamiliar approaches, talk with potential customers, work with a team on a small business, and present your ideas to entrepreneurs.
Your Summer at University of Texas at Austin
Austin gives entrepreneurship a setting students can connect with directly. In this academy, they learn from a UT Austin professor with real-world experience and meet guest entrepreneurs and innovators from the city’s startup scene. Pitching to entrepreneurs brings an outside perspective to their work and gives them feedback they can use to strengthen their own venture.
Studying at UT Austin also puts students in a university environment while they explore what interests them about business and innovation. Alongside the academic work, campus life, friendships, and growing independence help make the summer meaningful. Students can discover whether they enjoy finding customer needs, shaping an idea, working with a team, or persuading others to see its potential.
UT Austin 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