---
title: How Louisiana Tech helped 350 freshmen build businesses with Whop in 2 hours
slug: louisiana-tech
excerpt: "Inside Louisiana Tech’s Whopathon, where business students used Whop AI, payments, and Ads to turn an idea into a working offer, and walked into their degree with real decisions to build on."
customExcerpt: "Inside Louisiana Tech’s Whopathon, where business students used Whop AI, payments, and Ads to turn an idea into a working offer, and walked into their degree with real decisions to build on."
metaTitle: "Louisiana Tech: 350 freshmen build businesses in 2 hours"
metaDescription: "Louisiana Tech’s Whopathon had business students building websites with Whop AI, pricing offers, and planning ads before classes began."
featureImage: "https://storage.ghost.io/c/12/7b/127b828b-bdc2-4972-9cf2-de857df9c324/content/images/2026/10/lousiana-tech.jpg"
status: published
publishedAt: "2026-10-26T23:40:01.000Z"
updatedAt: "2026-10-27T07:31:04.000Z"
createdAt: "2026-10-26T05:33:36.869Z"
tags:
- { name: Case studies, slug: seller-stories }
- { name: "#whophighered", slug: hash-whophighered }
authors:
- { name: Brett Malinowski, slug: brett }
- { name: Keisha Singleton, slug: keisha }
---
# How Louisiana Tech helped 350 freshmen build businesses with Whop in 2 hours
## Key takeaways
- Louisiana Tech had 350 freshmen build sellable businesses on day one, so students learn by doing first.
- AI handles the technical build, while students make the real decisions about customers, offers, pricing, and acquisition.
- Early business decisions give students concrete context for later courses in marketing, accounting, and finance.
Louisiana Tech gave 350 freshman business students a first-day assignment: build something they could sell.
They had 2 hours.
Through a Whopathon, a hands-on entrepreneurship event powered by Whop, students worked individually to choose an idea, build a website, set a price, and work out how to get their first customers.
Many had never built a website or [sold anything online](https://whop.com/blog/ways-to-make-money-online/). By the end of the session, they had taken their first steps toward running a business before getting far into their business degrees.
[Watch video](https://storage.ghost.io/c/12/7b/127b828b-bdc2-4972-9cf2-de857df9c324/content/media/2026/10/louisiana-tech-whopathon.mp4)
Louisiana Tech's Whopathon by the numbers
- 350 freshman started a business on their first day of school.
- 2 hours to work through the business-building process.
## Starting business school with a business of your own
Louisiana Tech's College of Business has held AACSB accreditation since 1955. For its incoming freshmen, the university wanted hands-on experience to be part of their education from the beginning.
The Whopathon took place during [Freshman Night on September 10, 2026](https://www.latech.edu/news/college-of-business-challenges-students-to-launch-their-first-business-during-freshman-night.php). Students worked through developing a business concept, building a website, choosing prices, and considering how to attract customers in a single session.
The timing was intentional. Give students experience making business decisions on day 1, and they have something to draw on as they study marketing, accounting, finance, and operations.
For Jessica George, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the point went beyond the businesses themselves.
> "Entrepreneurship is about more than starting a company. The skills practiced during the Whopathon, including communication, critical thinking, and adaptability, are skills students will use regardless of their career paths. Our goal was to show students that innovation is accessible to everyone and that learning often happens through experience."
>
> - [Jessica George](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessrgeorge/), Director, Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Students had to decide who they wanted to serve, what they could offer, and what someone might pay for it. Each decision shaped the business they were building.
## How Whop made a 2-hour build possible
An entrepreneurship event can end with a pitch. Louisiana Tech wanted students to go further and build something a customer could *actually* buy.
AI made more of that process achievable within the session. Students could turn an idea into a website without first learning to code, then use Whop to set up payments and work on reaching customers.
With 350 students building at once, Whop provided a shared framework to follow. Each student worked on their own business, moving through the same core decisions.
### Building a website with Whop AI
Students used Whop AI to [create websites for their businesses](https://whop.com/blog/whop-blueprints/).
Building the site meant making the offer concrete. They needed to explain what they were selling, who it was for, and why that customer would care.
AI helped with the build, while students made the decisions behind it. Choosing a customer and putting a price on an offer gave them something specific to test and improve.
### Setting up payments
Students used Whop to set up their products and pricing so customers had a way to pay.
That brought a practical question into the process: what, exactly, would someone be buying?
An idea had to become an offer with a defined price. Students could then connect what they were building to the possibility of a real transaction.
The session also introduced ways to [take payments in person](https://whop.com/blog/tap-to-pay-on-iphone/). Freshman marketing major Jaxon Bufkin arrived with a business already running and left with a way to get paid on the spot.
> "I came to the event with an exterior window cleaning business. During the Whopathon, I learned to create a website and reach a bigger customer base. I also learned about integrating AI into my business. AI helped me build my website, and I learned how to use tap-to-pay technology to accept payments from customers."
>
> - [Jaxon Bufkin](https://www.latech.edu/news/college-of-business-challenges-students-to-launch-their-first-business-during-freshman-night.php), freshman marketing major
### Working on customer acquisition
Students also used Whop's advertising tools as part of the workshop.
[Whop Ads](https://docs.whop.com/manage-your-business/growth-marketing/ads) lets businesses manage campaigns from their Whop dashboard. That gives a student a place to start promoting the offer they've just built.
Including advertising in the session brought customer acquisition into the process early. Students had to consider how someone would discover their business, what would get their attention, and why they would visit the website.
## Useful for first-time builders and existing business owners
For Jaxon, the workshop provided tools he could apply to a business he already operated. He used AI to build a website for his window-cleaning service and explored how to reach a wider customer base.
Other students were experiencing the process for the first time.
Freshman marketing major Lexi Shackelford had never built a website before the event.
> "I didn't think I would start a business on my first day of school, but this was a fun and engaging way to learn. I had not built a website before this, but it felt achievable and a lot easier than I thought it would be. I think it's realistic to start a business this way."
>
> - [Lexi Shackelford](https://www.latech.edu/news/college-of-business-challenges-students-to-launch-their-first-business-during-freshman-night.php), freshman marketing major
That range mattered. Students could use the same workshop to develop a new idea or improve something they had already started.
## An experience they can build on for the next 4 years
The value of holding the Whopathon on day 1 extends into what students learn next.
When they study marketing, they can think about how to reach the customer they chose during the workshop. When they study accounting, they can work through the costs behind their offer and what it would take to make a profit.
Pricing, customer acquisition, and product development become decisions they've already tried making.
Dr. Chris Martin, dean of the College of Business, sees the event as the model for how students should start.
> "This is exactly the kind of experience we want our students to have from the moment they enter the College of Business. We place an emphasis on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship throughout our curriculum, and the Whopathon brought those priorities together. Our freshmen were using AI to turn an idea into something they could actually take to market. That ability to use emerging technology to identify opportunities, solve problems, and create value is central to how we want our students to think."
>
> - [Dr. Chris Martin](https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-martin-619b83/), Dean, College of Business
The businesses students start may change as they learn. They may adjust their prices, find different customers, or discover a better idea altogether.
They now have a starting point for that work.
Louisiana Tech gave its freshmen the experience first. They have the next 4 years to learn how to do it better.
## Bring a Whopathon to your campus
Give your students hands-on experience finding an idea, building a website, setting up payments, and planning how to get customers.
Host a Whopathon and help them start building a business they can keep learning from.
**[Host a Whopathon](https://edu.whop.com/whopathon/)**