Louisiana Tech University College of Business freshmen used technology and AI to turn ideas into marketable businesses in a matter of hours during Freshman Night on September 10.
The evening centered on the Whopathon, an interactive workshop powered by Whop, a digital commerce platform that enables entrepreneurs to launch and manage online businesses. Marking Whop’s first workshop at this scale, students moved from idea to execution in real time by developing a business concept, building a website, setting prices, and considering how to attract their first customers.
“Entrepreneurship is about more than starting a company,” said Jessica George, director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. “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.”
The event provided freshman Marketing major Jaxon Bufkin immediate value for an existing business.
“I came to the event with an exterior window cleaning business,” Bufkin said. “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.”
While some students arrived with existing business ideas, others explored entrepreneurship for the first time and discovered how accessible the process could be.
“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,” said Lexi Shackelford, a freshman Marketing major. “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.”
Before students launched their own ventures, they heard from Louisiana Tech alumnus Marlon Watts, co-founder and CEO of WRLDINVSN, who shared his journey of transforming an initial run of a dozen t-shirts into a seven-figure apparel brand. Watts shared insights on the challenges and opportunities that come with building a business from the ground up.
“It’s inspiring for me to come back and connect with students that are in the same position I once was,” said Watts. “One of the core beliefs at WRLDINVSN is that everyone is an entrepreneur. I would tell students interested in entrepreneurship to hop off the porch and don’t be afraid to try something. Believe in yourself and trust your vision.”
The evening also provided students an opportunity to connect with classmates while beginning to leverage innovation and technology, a mindset that has become a hallmark of the College of Business experience.
“This is exactly the kind of experience we want our students to have from the moment they enter the College of Business,” said Dr. Chris Martin, dean of the College of Business. “We place an emphasis on technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship thoughout 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.”
Freshman Night marks the beginning of a calendar of programming to reinforce the College’s mission to graduate business and academic leaders who are innovative, entrepreneurially minded, and analytically and technologically skilled for a globally competitive marketplace.