Early Season Admission Deadline, Guarantee Your First Choice, Enroll by Dec 15th
Build a product. Create your brand. Pitch your business. Your founder journey starts in this three-week entrepreneurship course.
Rated 4.3 out of 5 for overall experience by students surveyed across the broader program in 2026.
Course Description
Don’t just learn about business. Build one.
In three 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, a robust learning management interface, guides you with questions and feedback alongside instructor coaching as you develop and refine your venture.
Bring your product, brand, customer research and financial plan together in a downloadable investor-style pitch deck. On Pitch Day, present your venture to judges, answer questions and explain the decisions behind what you built. Feedback gives you the chance to see where your business is strongest and what you would improve next.
This Summer Discovery half-day course is part of the Institute for the Gifted program on Yale University’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut. Residential and commuter students combine focused academic work with a chance to experience campus life and explore future interests.
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.
• Build a downloadable investor-style pitch deck, rehearse with feedback and present to judges on Pitch Day.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the course, 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.
Institute for the Gifted eligibility requirements apply; see the program FAQ.
Recommended by Nearly 9 out of 10 Students
Based on students surveyed in 2026 about Summer Discovery programs at Yale University campus.
Your Summer at Yale University
Learn on Yale University’s campus in New Haven, Connecticut, surrounded by its courtyards, architecture and academic spaces. Connect with peers, navigate a new setting and gain independence while exploring an interest you may want to pursue further.
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