A live 4-week sprint for senior, principal, and staff engineers who want founder optionality: a real, testable path to your own thing. Find a buyer problem, shape an offer around your expertise, and leave with a direction you can actually evaluate.
$1,850 $100 with code USLSTART · August 19 – September 15 · Live via Maven
Not sure if you are ready? Find out in 8 minutes. → Take the Founder Readiness Scorecard
You have shipped systems at scale and can see what AI makes possible. But turning that ability into something people will pay for is a different problem, one most engineers never get taught.
You have ideas, but nothing anchored to a real buyer or a sellable offer you can put in front of someone.
You can build fast, but not necessarily on the right thing, or for someone who would actually pay.
You want a real, testable path to your own thing, without gambling the career capital you have already built. You need to know which problem is worth solving, who would pay for it, and how to shape your expertise into an offer that feels real.
A real, testable path to building your own thing while staying employed: not a leap, not a vague side project, not entrepreneurship-in-theory.
You can see what AI makes possible and want something of your own, but it is still an idea, not a direction.
Identify a real buyer problem worth solving, and learn to talk to the people who would actually pay for it.
Shape your expertise into an AI-enabled offer someone can understand and evaluate, before you build the wrong thing.
Leave with a credible direction and a 30-day plan you can test in market, without leaving your job or career capital behind.
Here is what you will build inside the sprint.
Apply for the Founding CohortMap what you know and the problems you are best positioned to solve, before chasing random ideas.
Pressure-test whether a real buyer problem exists and learn to talk to buyers without pitching too early.
Scope your AI-enabled solution and package it into an offer someone can understand and evaluate.
See USL Systems, USL Creative Studio, and Exelita being built in real time, decisions and all.
Leave with a buyer-facing offer, a landing-page draft, and a clear 14–30 day plan to test in market.
Most founder education teaches from finished stories, polished frameworks, or outside-in startup examples. USL Academy is different. You will study the live work behind USL Systems, USL Creative Studio, and Exelita as they are being built, including the problem choices, offer decisions, product tradeoffs, buyer assumptions, and execution lessons behind the scenes.
A live, AI-enabled software product built in the open.
11,000+ around AI, business, and the founder transition.
Active creative and offer-building work in motion.
Active company-building, decisions as they happen.
A former Microsoft operator building outside the corporate path.
Direct access and live working sessions, small by design.
USL founder and former Microsoft PM with AI, software, and hardware experience.
Connect on LinkedInI build things where trust is not optional. Founders and operators work with me when they want a builder in the room, not a consultant.
Over the past decade I have built across hardware, software, AI tools, and business formation. The gap between what AI can generate and what real building experience can judge is where many new businesses fall apart.
The workshop exceeded my expectations, and what I liked so much is the hands-on method and framework approach. I am going to continue building on the idea, implement the AI tips shared during the chat, vibe coding LOL, and recycle the framework for future ideas.
I liked how interactive and detailed it was. You could tell there was a lot of preparation, thought, and experience put into the session. We used the framework in real time to shape our business ideas, and I enjoyed the facilitation by Irewole, his deep knowledge, and his insightful answers to our questions.
A great hands-on session. I learned how to go from idea to MVP and how AI can make the process way more accessible. Super practical. I would highly recommend.
The skills and tools gained from the event immediately leveled up an ongoing project I'm working on. I will continue to build the project I worked on in the session and apply the knowledge to future projects.
Wole, we were so lucky to have you lead a workshop this semester. I hope you can continue to mentor a few student entrepreneurs this fall. Thanks again for visiting us!
Thanks to Illinois Tech alum and Microsoft Product Manager Irewole Akande for visiting Kaplan. A student told Wole he had been learning about Gen AI in class but hadn't had the chance to apply it to build something. He walked away with that experience, combined with the knowledge to build something people want.
Four weeks from now, you could have a real answer.
Not a vague plan. Not another side project you have not started. A validated problem, a buyer you have talked to, an AI-enabled offer shaped around your expertise, and a 30-day plan for testing it in market.
Most senior engineers know they could build something. The part that stays unclear is what, for whom, and whether anyone would pay for it. That is exactly what this sprint resolves.
Founding cohort access is limited by the live format, direct feedback, and depth of review. No artificial countdowns. No fake urgency. Just a clear choice: keep entrepreneurship vague, or spend 4 weeks turning it into something you can evaluate seriously.
Use code USLSTART at checkout for $1,750 off.
Apply for the Founding CohortComplete the work and leave with your first sellable offer, or USL will work with you 1:1 until you do.
No. The sprint is built for engineers who have founder interest but not necessarily a clear idea. You will start by mapping your expertise, identifying credible problem areas, and validating which direction is worth testing.
If you are not sure where you stand, the Founder Readiness Scorecard takes 8 minutes and gives you a concrete starting point.
Plan for 4 to 6 hours per week. That includes a live working session, buyer conversations or homework on your offer, and a short review window. The sprint is designed to fit around a full-time engineering job, not replace it.
No. The point is founder optionality, not reckless transition. You are building a serious business direction you can test while staying employed.
Free content can give you concepts. AI tools can help you move faster. This sprint gives you structure, feedback, buyer-facing outputs, and live founder execution examples so you are not piecing the business side together alone.
USL Academy is built for senior, principal, and staff engineers, not a broad founder audience. This is not a general entrepreneurship class. The cohort is shaped for engineers who have already shipped at scale. The work centers on turning technical expertise into a validated, sellable AI-enabled offer, with live breakdowns from USL Systems, USL Creative Studio, and Exelita.
You leave with a validated problem direction, a scoped AI-enabled solution, a sellable offer, a landing page or offer page draft, and a 14 to 30 day plan for testing it in market.
If you complete the work and do not leave with your first sellable offer, USL will work with you 1:1 until you do.
