The Perfect Pitch: Marketing Meets Entrepreneurship at Inspire
"When students collaborate across disciplines in authentic settings, they leave with lessons that extend well beyond the classroom." - Eric Martin
What happens when aspiring marketers are paired with student entrepreneurs who are launching a startup?
At Inspire 2026, the answer is Inspira, a student-run marketing agency created by students in the Inspire Digital Marketing course. Throughout the program, Digital Marketing students partnered with teams from the McIntire Business Institute (MBI), serving as each startup’s marketing agency and developing comprehensive marketing strategies for real business concepts.
Inspire is UVA Northern Virginia’s academic summer program for rising 10th-12th grade students, offering immersive academic experiences that allow students to explore new skills and interests. In the McIntire Business Institute course, students take a business idea from concept to execution as they learn entrepreneurship, innovation, and the fundamentals of launching a startup. Meanwhile, students in the Digital Marketing course explore the fast-changing world of online marketing, learning how organizations use social media, digital advertising, email marketing, artificial intelligence, and content strategy to connect with audiences. This summer, the two classes came together through a collaborative project that mirrored the way startups and marketing agencies work together in the professional world.
The collaboration transformed two independent classes into a collaborative learning experience, giving students from both classes the opportunity to work together much like professionals do every day.
“Our Digital Marketing students and the MBI students essentially become the agency and the client,” said Digital Marketing instructor Christine Wilson. “The MBI teams bring real startup concepts, and our students step in as the marketing agency, running the intake meeting, then building out a full launch strategy: paid media, organic and social, landing pages, email, audience targeting, all of it. By the end of the program, they pitch that complete plan back to their ‘clients.'”
Rather than working from a fictional case study, Digital Marketing students were responsible for understanding actual business concepts and tailoring their marketing recommendations to each startup’s goals. The businesses themselves reflected the creativity of the MBI students, ranging from personalized consumer products to AI-powered home renovation tools and community-focused mobile applications.
One team created Architech, a startup that uses AI-generated images to help homeowners visualize renovation projects before connecting them with trusted local contractors. “Architect takes people’s dream home renovations and allows them to better visualize them through AI-generated images. When they decide to move forward with their renovation, they’re connected with a local, reliable contractor,” one MBI student shared.
Another team designed an app that connects teens with local families looking for help with everyday tasks, creating opportunities for young people to gain work experience while providing affordable services for parents. “It helps teens find jobs like babysitting, grocery runs, and lawn mowing at an affordable price, while giving teens who don’t have much work experience a chance to earn money and build their skills,” another MBI student shared.
A third team developed a business centered around personalized jeans, allowing customers to customize tailored denim with unique designs at a variety of price points. “Our business is about personalized jeans. We create jeans that are tailored to each person, and customers can customize them with specific designs at different price points. It’s like having your own unique pair of jeans,” another student shared.
“The moment you’re working with an actual founder instead of a fake brief, everything changes,” Wilson said. “Students have to ask better questions, listen for what the client actually needs versus what they said, and defend their strategy to someone who has a real stake in the outcome. It allows them to take what they learn in the classroom and apply it to a real-world startup.”
Throughout the two-week project, Digital Marketing students applied concepts they learned in class while strengthening professional skills that extend beyond marketing. From leading client meetings and managing communications to presenting recommendations, students gained experience that mirrors the tasks of agency work.
“I want them to leave with the confidence that they can walk into a room, understand a business they’ve never seen before, and build a real, channel-by-channel strategy for it—paid, organic, email, landing pages, targeting, AI implementation, and more,” Wilson said. “If they can do that with a brand-new startup in two weeks, they can do it anywhere.”
The collaboration also provided valuable experience for the McIntire Business Institute students, who were tasked with developing startup ventures throughout the program.
“One of the most rewarding aspects of Inspire is finding opportunities for students in different programs to learn from one another,” said MBI instructor Eric Martin. “While both groups study business fundamentals, they approach them from different perspectives. Bringing the two groups together created an environment where each could contribute meaningful expertise while learning from the other.”
As MBI students refined their business ideas, the Digital Marketing teams challenged them to think more deeply about their audiences, messaging, and go-to-market strategies. In turn, the marketers gained experience adapting their recommendations to meet the needs of real clients.
“Students had to explain their thinking, listen to outside perspectives, refine their ideas, and present recommendations—just as they would in a professional setting,” Martin said.
The project reflects Inspire’s commitment to experiential learning by giving students opportunities to collaborate across disciplines while solving authentic challenges.
“Experiential learning has always been at the heart of Inspire,” Martin said. “Rather than working in isolation, students experienced what it feels like to collaborate across disciplines, combining different perspectives and skill sets to solve real problems. In the process, they developed not only technical knowledge but also the communication, teamwork, and adaptability that employers consistently value.”
For many students, the experience didn’t end when the project concluded. Several MBI teams invited members of the Digital Marketing course to join them during the program’s final startup pitch competition, where they presented the marketing research and campaign recommendations they had developed together.
“Ultimately, this is what Inspire is designed to accomplish,” Martin shared. “Whether students are exploring business, engineering, applied sciences, or another field, the goal is to provide them with meaningful experiences that build practical skills, confidence, and a deeper understanding of how professionals collaborate to create value. When students collaborate across disciplines in authentic settings, they leave with lessons that extend well beyond the classroom.”