the syllabus
The semester map and the standard for the work. Sixteen Tuesdays to conceive, validate, brand, and pitch a startup of your own invention. Read it now. Keep it close.
the course
What you are building, and what you will know how to do by December.
Beautiful experiences go nowhere without a story people care about.
Companies often split the experience from the story that sells it. This class puts product, brand, and business back in the same room. Over sixteen weeks, you will conceive, validate, brand, and pitch a startup of your own invention.
No client. No inherited brief. You are the founding team. Start solo, form a small team, generate ideas, choose the one that deserves to exist, prove somebody wants it, give it a brand worth believing, and pitch it like your rent depends on it.
Entrepreneurship is treated as a working business discipline: opportunity, model, structure, funding, early operations, and exits. Design and creativity shape every decision. Each week turns one discipline into a tight lecture, hands-on workshop, critique, and shipped milestone.
AI runs through the studio from week one. Research synthesis, prototyping, identity exploration, and campaign production now happen at a fraction of the old cost. Taste, judgment, and direction decide whether any of it is good.
learning outcomes
seven things you will be able to dothe studio project
One venture. Four phases. Three legs. One book that holds the proof.
One project carries the semester: invent a startup and take it from a blank page to pitch-ready.
The experience, the prototype, and the job it does.
The story, voice, and identity that make it mean something.
The model, the market, and the money that keep it alive.
Every week works all three, with AI running through the process. Miss a leg by December and the stool falls over in front of an audience.
Work solo: write 50 ideas as New York Times headlines, bundle them into territories, refine to 25, then select one concept and build its Business Model Canvas. Quantity first, then judgment. AI is the sparring partner. Your taste is the filter.
Pitch your top concept in two minutes. The cohort votes, then teams of two or three form around the strongest ideas. Some of you will join an idea you did not originate. Real startup teams work that way. From this point on, the venture belongs to the team. Attendance, engagement, and the journal stay individual.
Build the evidence: empathy maps, customer interviews, jobs-to-be-done, insight statements, market sizing, journey maps, and a working prototype. The phase ends with the Midterm Concept Check-In, where your team presents and defends the venture.
Define purpose, value proposition, archetype, architecture, voice, identity, and marketing, ending with a creative brief you write and a sprint week where the teams direct the work themselves.
Craft, rehearse, and deliver a demo-day pitch to the cohort and invited guests, backed by your Venture Book.
Keep one document or site alive all semester. It holds every venture artifact: idea inventories, canvases, research evidence, prototypes, brand systems, campaign work, the final deck, and your Prompt Log. Submit it with the final pitch and keep it as a portfolio piece. Build it every week and it stays easy. Start in December and it is impossible.
the ai-native studio
AI shows up every week, governed by six studio rules.
A founding team with strong taste and fluent AI direction can do in days what used to take a quarter.
Every module builds AI into the discipline it teaches.
Expand and red-team ideas, draft interview guides, pressure-test synthetic personas, synthesize transcripts. Synthetic research sharpens the plan. Real people supply the evidence and the surprises.
Source market sizing, map go-to-market options, ship prototypes, de-cliché the vision, test value props, explore archetypes, and encode brand voice.
Explore identity territories, produce campaign kits and AI-video spots, rehearse against skeptical investors, and red-team the deck.
AI use & disclosure policy
bindingGenerative AI belongs in the curriculum and in the work. The syllabus names capabilities instead of products: use the strongest language, image, video, and design-to-code tools available when you need them. Products change. Authorship, taste, and intent last.
CU Boulder's Honor Code still governs the course. Individual assignment briefs may adjust these permissions.
grading
Where the points live and how you earn them.
The first fifteen minutes of each class are quiet writing. Two prompts, in your own words, no AI, reflecting on the work you just did and the reading behind it. Every entry is saved to your Venture Book and becomes part of the portfolio you leave with. There is nothing to pass or fail: you get credit for writing it, and one free miss across the semester.
Each week, your venture ships a milestone and puts it in front of the room. Work submitted late or skipped in critique earns at most half credit. Milestones are solo through Week 3 and team-based after that, with each person's contribution visible in the Venture Book.
From class 3 to class 14 the milestones are organized as the toolbox: twelve tools, one per class. Each adds a primary tool (the thing you make: the canvas, the research plan, the journey map, the prototype, the business case, the value proposition, the archetype and architecture, the voice system, the creative brief, the launch plan, the pitch deck) and an instrument that tests it (the assumptions map, the persona, the cap table, unit economics, the usability test, the metrics tree, pricing, the roadmap, the messaging matrix, the landing page, the acquisition funnel, the investment memo and model). Every tool has its own page with what good looks like and a template, at the toolbox.
Week 8. Teams present and defend the concept, evidence, business model, and prototype. Grading emphasizes evidence, honesty, and craft.
Finals week: a demo-day pitch plus the complete Venture Book. Grading emphasizes concept strength, validation, brand and campaign craft, narrative, delivery, and every founder's visible contribution.
Presence is part of the work. Engagement shows up in the questions you ask, the critique you give other teams, and the way you advocate for your own.
the studio night
The two-and-a-half-hour rhythm and what keeps it moving.
Most studio nights share a rhythm. Learn it once and you can feel what comes next.
Critique starts with intent, then description, then judgment. Feedback stays on the work. Pitch Day, the Midterm, the Agency Sprint, the Dress Rehearsal, and Demo Day break the pattern on purpose. Remote sessions may use video office hours and portfolio-grade narrated walkthroughs with written critique.
No textbook and no course fee. Readings, cases, templates, and lecture materials are linked in the schedule and distributed through Canvas and CU email. Free-tier or student accounts for a frontier language model, an image model, and a prototyping tool are sufficient. No paid subscriptions required.
Assignments must be presented in class for critique to receive full credit. Late or unpresented work receives at most half credit. The journal runs in the first fifteen minutes of the following class. There is nothing to pass or fail. Credit is for writing it, and you get one free miss across the semester.
Do not miss class. If you must, notify your instructor and teammates in advance and complete your responsibilities on time. If a session is remote or a presenter is unavoidably absent, the instructor may authorize a scripted, portfolio-grade narrated walkthrough.
the schedule
Sixteen Tuesdays. Open any row for the full class page.
policies
The standard for the work, followed by the university statements in full.
The syllabus sets the milestone. You decide what a great answer looks like.
Each week gives you a fresh chance to move the venture forward and wake up the room. Every assignment has dozens of valid outcomes. Find the one that feels inspired, sharply made, and unmistakably yours.
Treat every weekly presentation like a job-interview tryout. Bring polished, professional work that moves the product and the brand. Use these methods as scaffolding, then bring your own point of view to the outcome. Your fingerprints should be obvious, especially in an AI-native studio where generic output is one prompt away and worth nothing. This graduate program expects self-directed project management, design thinking, creative development, and an active designer-to-creative-director dialogue with your instructor. You are learning how to learn. Creativity, nerve, craft, and tolerance for risk matter as much as talent. Speak with your instructor or program director if that standard feels unclear or out of step with your expectations.
These course policies operate alongside the CU Handbook. Required university statements are updated annually. Current versions live at Required Syllabus Statements (Academic Affairs).
classroom behavior›
Students and faculty are responsible for maintaining an appropriate learning environment in all instructional settings, whether in person, remote, or online. Failure to adhere to such behavioral standards may be subject to discipline. Professional courtesy and sensitivity are especially important with respect to individuals and topics dealing with race, color, national origin, sex, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, veteran status, political affiliation, or political philosophy.
For more information, see the classroom behavior policy, the Student Code of Conduct, and the Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance.
accommodation for disabilities and temporary medical conditions›
Disability Services determines accommodations based on documented disabilities in the academic environment. If you qualify for accommodations because of a disability, submit your accommodation letter from Disability Services to your faculty member in a timely manner so your needs can be addressed. Contact Disability Services at 303-492-8671 or dsinfo@colorado.edu for further assistance.
If you have a temporary medical condition or required medical isolation for which you require accommodation, please call or email your instructor. You are not required to state the nature of your illness when alerting your instructor, nor will a doctor's note be required for appointment verification. Also see Temporary Medical Conditions on the Disability Services website.
preferred student names and pronouns›
CU Boulder recognizes that students' legal information doesn't always align with how they identify. Students may update their preferred names and pronouns via the student portal; those preferred names and pronouns are listed on instructors' class rosters. In the absence of such updates, the name that appears on the class roster is the student's legal name.
CU honor code›
All students enrolled in a University of Colorado Boulder course are responsible for knowing and adhering to the Honor Code. Violations of the Honor Code may include but are not limited to: plagiarism (including use of paper writing services or technology such as essay bots), cheating, fabrication, lying, bribery, threat, unauthorized access to academic materials, clicker fraud, submitting the same or similar work in more than one course without permission from all course instructors involved, and aiding academic dishonesty.
All incidents of academic misconduct will be reported to Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution: honor@colorado.edu, 303-492-5550. Students found responsible for violating the Honor Code will be assigned resolution outcomes from Student Conduct & Conflict Resolution as well as be subject to academic sanctions from the faculty member. Visit Honor Code for more information on the academic integrity policy.
Note on AI: in this course, directed and disclosed use of generative AI tools is authorized, and taught, under the AI Use & Disclosure Policy above. Undisclosed AI use, AI use in the journal, or submission of AI-fabricated evidence constitutes academic dishonesty under this Honor Code.
sexual misconduct, discrimination, harassment and related retaliation›
CU Boulder is committed to fostering an inclusive and welcoming learning, working, and living environment. University policy prohibits protected-class discrimination and harassment, sexual misconduct (harassment, exploitation, and assault), intimate partner violence (dating or domestic violence), stalking, and related retaliation by or against members of our community on and off campus. These behaviors harm individuals and our community. The Office of Institutional Equity and Compliance (OIEC) addresses these concerns, and individuals who believe they have been subjected to misconduct can contact OIEC at 303-492-2127 or email cureport@colorado.edu. Information about university policies, reporting options, and support resources can be found on the OIEC website.
Please know that faculty and graduate instructors have a responsibility to inform OIEC when they are made aware of incidents related to these policies regardless of when or where something occurred. This is to ensure that individuals impacted receive outreach from OIEC about their options for addressing a concern and the support resources available. To learn more about reporting and support resources for a variety of issues, visit Don't Ignore It.
religious observances›
Campus policy regarding religious observances requires that faculty make every effort to deal reasonably and fairly with all students who, because of religious obligations, have conflicts with scheduled exams, assignments, or required attendance. Please alert your instructor in advance regarding any potential conflicts. See the campus policy regarding religious observances for full details.
a commitment and invitation from our college›
Our college, now the College of Communication, Media, Design and Information (CMDI), strives to be a community whose excellence depends on diversity, equity, and inclusion. We aim to understand and challenge systems of privilege and disadvantage in higher education, such as those based on class, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and dis/ability. We seek to reach across social and political divides and to make space for voices historically underrepresented in higher education and marginalized in society. In other words, diversity is not just a future reality for which we try to prepare students. It is a priority we want to put into practice here, now, and together, in order to foster places of learning where all members can thrive.
Our question for you is, how are we doing? Please contact the college's diversity team (dei-cmci@colorado.edu, or see the college DEI team page) if you need support or other resources but don't know where to turn; if any aspect of your educational experience with the college does not reflect the commitment expressed here, or if you want to share a positive instance of this commitment in action; or if you have any questions, concerns, or ideas related to diversity. We want to hear from you so that we can do better, and to support you however we can.
mental health and wellness›
The University of Colorado Boulder is committed to the well-being of all students. If you are struggling with personal stressors, mental health, or substance use concerns that are impacting academic or daily life, please contact Counseling and Psychiatric Services (CAPS) located in C4C or call 303-492-2277, 24/7. Free and unlimited telehealth is also available through Academic Live Care, which also provides information about additional wellness services on campus available to students.
academic dishonesty and plagiarism›
Academic dishonesty includes cheating, plagiarism, unauthorized collaboration, falsifying records, dishonest requests for postponements or extensions, and submitting substantially the same work in multiple courses without permission. Plagiarism includes presenting another person's words, phrasing, argument, or line of thinking as your own. You may use others' ideas and words (and, in this course, AI outputs) only with appropriate credit. Quote exact language; paraphrase genuinely rather than swapping synonyms; cite non-common facts and borrowed ideas. When in doubt, cite the source or ask your instructor.
university extracurricular activities›
Students participating in an officially sanctioned, scheduled university extracurricular activity will be given the opportunity to make up class assignments or other graded assignments missed as a result of their participation. It is the responsibility of the student to make arrangements with the instructor prior to any missed scheduled examination or other missed assignment for making up the work.