ACADEMY

Building Your Startup: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

Learn how real startups are built— from identifying problems, validating customers, and leveraging AI, to pitching investor-ready ventures.

Instructor:

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Course Description

Taught by Vanderbilt’s Center for Entrepreneurship Director, this two-week immersive course introduces high school students to the mindset, tools, and practices used by real-world entrepreneurs. The course guides students through the full startup lifecycle—from identifying meaningful problems and understanding customer needs to building solutions, leveraging artificial intelligence, and pitching ideas with clarity and confidence.

Students work individually and in teams to generate startup ideas, conduct customer discovery, test assumptions, and develop early-stage business models. Along the way, they are exposed to modern entrepreneurial frameworks used by founders, investors, and accelerators, including lean startup methods, design thinking, and pitch storytelling. The course culminates in a final pitch presentation, where students present their ventures and receive feedback in an investor-style format.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

Think like an entrepreneur
Identify and validate real customer problems
Design and test solutions
Understand the fundamentals of startup business models
Leverage AI as a creative and analytical tool
Communicate ideas persuasively
Collaborate and lead in team-based environments

Tangible outcomes:

A completed startup concept and pitch deck that articulates a real customer problem, validated insights, a proposed solution, and a clear business model
Hands-on experience using professional startup tools and AI platforms to conduct research, prototype solutions, and refine ideas
A polished final pitch presentation delivered in an investor-style setting, with feedback from instructors and mentors
Transferable skills and artifacts—including customer interview summaries, value propositions, and frameworks—that strengthen academic portfolios and college applications

*Information subject to change.

AT A GLANCE

Building Your Startup: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

GRADE LEVELGrades 9-12CAMPUSVanderbilt UniversityFIELD OF STUDYBusiness, Leadership & EntrepreneurshipCOURSE TYPEACADEMYDATES6/28/2026 - 7/10/2026 (2 Weeks)COURSE TIMESAll Day

Instructor Bio

Baxter is a serial entrepreneur having most recently scaled back-to-back ventures to >$300 MM valuations. Companies that he has founded or served in leadership positions include: CP Diagnostics, Proventys, MEDarchon, Heraeus Medical, and Foodsmart (total venture capital raised across these ventures is $321.43 MM). In these roles, he managed the largest study funded by the NIH for pulmonary embolism, gained the first CPT code issued to a commercial entity by the American Medical Association, and led a computerized decision support product through the FDA's 510k de novo process. His company, MEDarchon, was named Nashville Startup of the Year and one of the best places to work in Nashville prior to being acquired by XSOLIS. He is an honors graduate of the UNC School of Public Health and the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. He holds several patents, has presented research at six different national conferences, and has published over a dozen peer-reviewed research articles.

Course Syllabus

To view a sample syllabus, please contact your program specialist, or reach us at info@summerdiscovery.com or call +1 (516) 447-4907.

Admissions Criteria

An interest in innovation and entrepreneurship is the key to success in this program! Additionally, your application criteria include:

Recommended GPA of 3.5 or above in the field of study or related field.
Completed Summer Discovery application, including a thoughtful response to short-answer questions.

Who should attend this course?

Aspiring founders, this will ground you in building companies of consequence. You will be introduced to fundamentals that will advance your understanding of the field and help you evaluate when to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors.

This course is ideal for students who:

Are curious about entrepreneurship regardless of prior business or technical experience
Enjoy solving real-world problems and want to learn how ideas turn into viable products or ventures
Are interested in business, technology, or AI, and want hands-on exposure to how these disciplines intersect
Want to build confidence in public speaking, teamwork, and leadership through experiential, project-based learning
Are considering business, engineering, economics, or related majors and want early exposure to college-level thinking
Are motivated self-starters who thrive in collaborative, fast-paced learning environments

Benefits of Attending this Course

In addition to a university-level course experience, students will leave this course with portfolio-building documentation in recognition of their summer achievements, including:

Course Completion Certificate demonstrating your successful completion of the Summer Discovery at Vanderbilt program.
Letter of Recognition from Summer Discovery recognizing your academic achievement in completing this course.

AT A GLANCE

Building Your Startup: Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

GRADE LEVELGrades 9-12CAMPUSVanderbilt UniversityFIELD OF STUDYBusiness, Leadership & EntrepreneurshipCOURSE TYPEACADEMYDATES6/28/2026 - 7/10/2026 (2 Weeks)COURSE TIMESAll Day

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE CAMPUS

Vanderbilt University

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