One semester. Real ventures on the line.
While most schools were still writing AI bans, a first-of-its-kind practicum put one in front of the room: 51 MBA students, the bot as co-teacher.
The spark came earlier: Baxter Webb, Director of the Owen Center for Entrepreneurship, brought new entrepreneurial energy and dynamism to Vanderbilt's CONVOY conference — and helped Oliver see what a class built around this could become.
What the class was for.
An AI-accelerated entrepreneurship practicum: every student takes a raw idea toward a real venture in 45 days. The question being tested: does an AI that refuses to answer make students sharper?
It met every student first.
Each student answered a short questionnaire — out came their founder archetype and their spirit animal — and Vanderbot calibrated its coaching to both from the first message.
try it yourself ↓Twelve stages. Every one earned.
Each stage opened only when the reasoning held — customers named, assumptions tested, evidence logged. Faculty watched the whole cohort on one live dashboard and stepped in before anyone slipped.
Built to teach entrepreneurship. It taught thinking.
Students stopped asking it for answers and started bringing it their reasoning. The deliverable was a venture. What compounded was judgment.