Topic Details
https://whop.com/blog/rss/
Last item retrieved
<item><title><![CDATA[How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education]]></title><description><![CDATA[Inside the five-week sprint that has seen 350 MSU students launch real businesses on Whop, and how universities across the country are doing the same.]]></description><link>https://whop.com/blog/msu-whop/</link><guid isPermaLink="false">698bfafce1b517000111bddd</guid><category><![CDATA[Whop]]></category><dc:creator><![CDATA[Monica J. White]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 19 Feb 2026 22:41:49 GMT</pubDate><media:content url="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/msu-1.webp" medium="image"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<img src="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/msu-1.webp" alt="How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education"><p>Ken Szymusiak has been teaching entrepreneurship at Michigan State University for years - but recently, something has shifted.</p><blockquote>"What has become very clear over the past two years is that my students now have the ability to build at superhuman speed. What used to take weeks now takes hours. This has profoundly changed how entrepreneurship education is taught - it has to be about experimenting, not case studies of the past."</blockquote><p>So that's exactly what he did. As Managing Director of Operations for the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Ken redesigned his curriculum around one simple requirement - every student launches a real business before the semester ends.</p><p>To do it, he partnered with Whop, and the results speak for themselves. Over 350 MSU students have launched their own businesses on Whop before graduating.</p><p>Here's how he built it, and what it looks like in practice.</p><h2 id="where-traditional-entrepreneurship-curriculum-falls-short">Where traditional entrepreneurship curriculum falls short</h2><p>A lot of entrepreneurship programs still reward <em>reading</em> about the thing instead of <em>doing</em> the thing. Students can complete an entire semester without ever learning how to create something, sell it, find customers, manage payments, or scale a business.</p><p>That's a problem, because the world isn't waiting. <a href="https://whop.com/blog/entrepreneurship-education/" rel="noreferrer">40% of college students</a> already have a side hustle. Employers expect 39% of key job skills will change by 2030 (World Economic Forum). Meanwhile, 58% of small businesses now use generative AI, up from 40% just a year ago (U.S. Chamber of Commerce).</p><p>When everything is changing faster than a textbook can be written, it's time to change how we teach entrepreneurship.</p><h2 id="what-michigan-state-university-does-differently">What Michigan State University does differently</h2><p>MSU ranks 8th on Princeton Review's <a href="https://www.princetonreview.com/college-rankings/?rankings=top-50-entrepreneurship-ugrad" rel="noreferrer">Top 50 Entrepreneurship undergraduate</a> list, and Ken's class is a good example of why.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/msu-ken-john-1.jpeg" class="kg-image" alt="How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education" loading="lazy" width="1200" height="1032" srcset="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/msu-ken-john-1.jpeg 600w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/msu-ken-john-1.jpeg 1000w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/msu-ken-john-1.jpeg 1200w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"><figcaption><i><em class="italic" style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ken Szymusiak & John Hill at MSU</em></i></figcaption></figure><p>Ken runs a five-week sprint where every single student launches their own business at the end of the semester. This is not a pitch deck or a business plan, but a real, live product.</p><p>Before students graduate, they learn how to set up an online business, position their offer, market themselves, and make money - all while learning from their peers.</p><p>The requirement to pass the class is to launch on Whop. Over 350 whops have been launched as a result.</p><h2 id="the-five-week-sprint-that-turns-students-into-entrepreneurs">The five-week sprint that turns students into entrepreneurs</h2><p>Here's what a typical curriculum looks like.</p><h3 id="week-1-get-acclimated-propose-an-idea">Week 1: Get acclimated & propose an idea</h3><p>Students set up their Whop account, join the MSU whop, and work through the university playbook, provided by Whop. </p><p>By the end of the week, they submit their business idea to Ken, along with their reasoning for choosing it.</p><h3 id="week-2-take-action-build">Week 2: Take action & build</h3><p>Students build out their whop and create at least one product offering. They submit their storefront link to Ken and reflect on how they found the process.</p><h3 id="weeks-3-4-experiment-market">Weeks 3 & 4: Experiment & market</h3><p>With a live product, students shift focus to finding real customers and refining their offering based on what they learn.</p><h3 id="week-5-reflection">Week 5: Reflection</h3><p>Students reflect on the full journey - what worked, what didn't, and whether the business is worth continuing beyond the class.</p><blockquote class="kg-blockquote-alt">"My whole goal with this project was to try to show my class that it was easy to get started and offer something of value to the world. I wanted to keep the stakes low and allow them to put their own creative touch on how to use Whop as a platform."<br>- Ken Szymusiak</blockquote><h3 id="msu-students-who-have-built-a-business-on-whop">MSU students who have built a business on Whop</h3><p>The businesses coming out of Ken's class span everything from wellness to design to lifestyle apps.</p><ul><li><a href="https://whop.com/blended-to-bloom/"><u>Blended to Bloom</u></a> shares curated weekly meal plans, grocery lists, and recipes for free, but it also has a second offer: a $25/month membership with dedicated support.</li><li><a href="https://whop.com/shearpair/"><u>ShearPair</u></a> is a $15.99/month app that helps people find their perfect hairstylist. It also offers a free trial.</li><li><a href="https://whop.com/uniqornu/"><u>UniqornU's Nadia Theders</u></a> designs Canva, Figma, and Framer templates, working directly with clients who need easy-to-use designs. She offers two product tiers, one free and one paid, including business presentations and resumes.</li></ul><h2 id="how-whop-is-reshaping-entrepreneurship-education">How Whop is reshaping entrepreneurship education</h2><p>MSU is a compelling case study, but it's part of a much bigger shift in how universities are approaching entrepreneurship education. Ken has seen it firsthand:</p><p><em>"The most exciting thing about Whop as a platform for entrepreneurship education is how flexible it is to bring an idea to life. Because the platform is free and has so many no-code tools, it allows students to move quickly, and the marketplace gives them immediate access to potential users and customers. <br><br>This combination of marketplace and platform takes the complexity out of going to market, which can be very confusing for students who may have never experimented with a web-based platform before."</em></p><p>Whop Higher Education is the community built around this idea - designed for college faculty, staff, and higher ed professionals who want to bring hands-on entrepreneurship to their students. And there's more than one way to do it.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/image-22.png" class="kg-image" alt="How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education" loading="lazy" width="1600" height="1200" srcset="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/image-22.png 600w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/image-22.png 1000w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/image-22.png 1600w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"></figure><p>Some professors integrate Whop directly into their curriculum, like Ken's five-week sprint at MSU. </p><p>Others use it to run student clubs or Greek life, using apps like Events for calendar scheduling and Courses for onboarding new members. </p><p>The most popular route is the Whopathon - a time-boxed event, anywhere from three hours to multiple weeks, where students build and launch their own products on Whop. MSU is running its first Whopathon soon, where participants will pitch their ideas in the hopes of winning a cash prize.</p><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/Whopathon-Graphic.png" class="kg-image" alt="How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education" loading="lazy" width="1080" height="1080" srcset="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/Whopathon-Graphic.png 600w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/Whopathon-Graphic.png 1000w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/Whopathon-Graphic.png 1080w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"></figure><p>At the center of it all is the <a href="https://whop.com/higher-ed/" rel="noreferrer">Whop Higher Education</a> team, who have collectively spoken at 249 universities and have been building out the program from the ground up.</p><p>As John Hill, VP of Story at Whop, puts it:</p><p><em>"Every student builds a Whop. Every student learns to build that business in class or through entrepreneurial center support. Every student graduates with a sustainable income."</em></p><p>Nearly 100 universities have now claimed their university pages on Whop - free to set up, with faculty training included - and Whop is approaching 4,000 student businesses launched through these efforts. </p><p>The goal for 2026: 1,000 universities and 100,000 students building companies.</p><p>And the reason is clear. As John puts it: <em>"The economic graph is changing from 'finding a job' to 'being the job.' Students will need the applied education that entrepreneurship supports. Whop is working with universities to meet that need."</em></p><h3 id="other-universities-teaching-entrepreneurship-with-whop">Other universities teaching entrepreneurship with Whop</h3><figure class="kg-card kg-image-card"><img src="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/image-23.png" class="kg-image" alt="How Michigan State University is using Whop to redefine entrepreneurship curriculum in higher education" loading="lazy" width="1600" height="1200" srcset="https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w600/2026/02/image-23.png 600w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/size/w1000/2026/02/image-23.png 1000w, https://whop.com/blog/content/images/2026/02/image-23.png 1600w" sizes="(min-width: 720px) 720px"></figure><p>MSU is far from the only one. Universities across the country are finding their own ways to bring Whop into the classroom.</p><ul><li>At the <strong>University of South Carolina</strong>, an Innovation and Design course used an "innovation tournament" structure, researching which existing whops had the most growth, then using those learnings to launch their own. </li><li><strong>USC</strong> ran a 25-day sprint that led to 29 student founders launching whops with $0 personal investment.</li><li>At <strong>North Carolina State University</strong>, a capstone class treated Whop adoption like a growth campaign, tasking students with getting at least 100 student whops on campus and reporting on which outreach channels worked best.</li><li><strong>GA Tech and Startup Exchange</strong> facilitated a Whopathon in just 8 days to a room packed full of students ready to build and launch. </li><li>And the <strong>University of Buffalo</strong> ran a three-week "instant hustle" incubator with funding and coaching, plus a 48-hour Whopathon with prizes and live support.</li></ul><h2 id="the-future-of-entrepreneurship-starts-here">The future of entrepreneurship starts here</h2><p>MSU shows what's possible when universities stop teaching entrepreneurship and start practicing it. Every semester, hundreds of students launch real businesses for $0 - learning by doing, dealing with real outcomes, and walking away with something no textbook can offer: actual experience.</p><p>That's the model Whop is bringing to universities across the country. </p><p>If you want to bring this to your students, getting set up is straightforward. There's no barrier to entry - professors don't need any tech experience, and students can have their own product live in under ten minutes.</p><p>Visit highered.whop.com to request a university Whop, schedule onboarding with the team, and get your students building from day one.</p><div class="kg-card kg-button-card kg-align-left"><a href="https://highered.whop.com/" class="kg-btn kg-btn-accent">Whop Higher Education</a></div>]]></content:encoded></item>
These legal disclaimers are here because this hub is run by Google as a service. If you don't want to agree to these terms you can use a different hub or even run your own. The PubSubHubbub protocol is decentralized and free.
©2022 Google - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy