Manage Experiential Learning and Build Entrepreneurship Skills at Albion College USA

Experiential learning has become a critical component of higher education in the USA. As employers increasingly demand practical skills alongside academic theory, colleges and universities face the complex task of tracking, managing, and evaluating these hands-on experiences. At Albion College, students are not just participating in experiential learning—they are building businesses to solve the institutional challenges associated with it. By turning a classroom assignment into a legitimate startup, Albion College students demonstrate exactly how academic knowledge translates directly into career readiness and real-world entrepreneurship.

Identify Market Gaps in Higher Education Career Services

The foundation of any successful entrepreneurship venture is accurate market research. Carter Stahl, an economics and management major at Albion College, discovered this firsthand during an international entrepreneurship course. His initial hypothesis was straightforward: develop a multi-part, career-readiness application targeted directly at students. It seemed like a logical approach to improving career readiness across the USA.

However, direct outreach to university career services professionals revealed a different reality. The market for student-facing career readiness tools was heavily saturated. Career centers did not need another application telling students how to write a resume or prepare for an interview. Instead, they expressed a pressing need for a backend system capable of managing experiential learning data. They needed a way to track internships, research projects, and co-ops while simultaneously analyzing how these experiences benefited students, faculty, and external employers.

This pivot is a fundamental lesson in entrepreneurship. Rather than forcing an initial idea into an unresponsive market, successful entrepreneurs listen to their potential customers and adjust their products accordingly. Stahl recognized the opportunity to create a comprehensive management solution and founded Intern-O, a software platform designed to streamline experiential learning administration for higher education institutions.

Submit your application today to start your entrepreneurial journey at Albion College.

Develop Business Solutions for Experiential Learning Management

Building a software platform as an undergraduate student presents significant logistical challenges, particularly if the founder does not have a formal background in computer science. To overcome this hurdle, Stahl utilized artificial intelligence tools to assist in writing the code for Intern-O. This practical application of technology highlights a modern approach to entrepreneurship: founders no longer need to be expert coders to build functional software products. By leveraging available tools, students can focus on product design, market fit, and customer acquisition.

Create Software Without a Technical Background

The development of Intern-O proves that resourcefulness is often more valuable than raw technical skill in the early stages of a startup. The platform was built to address specific pain points expressed by career services professionals. It functions as a centralized hub where universities can log, monitor, and evaluate off-campus experiences. By using AI to bridge the technical gap, the founder maintained focus on the business strategy and user experience, ensuring the final product actually solved the intended problem.

Track Data Across Students, Faculty, and Employers

A major advantage of a dedicated experiential learning management system is the ability to aggregate data. Universities often struggle to quantify the return on investment of internships and experiential learning programs. Intern-O generates valuable data showing exactly how students benefit from these experiences, how faculty can better integrate them into academic curricula, and how employers engage with the institution. For colleges in the USA looking to improve their career readiness metrics, this type of data is invaluable for accreditation, recruitment, and institutional improvement.

Execute B2B Outreach Strategies as a Student Founder

Creating a functional product is only half the battle in B2B entrepreneurship; acquiring institutional clients is an equally steep challenge. To tackle this, Stahl secured a Foundation for Undergraduate Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity (FURSCA) grant from Albion College. Typically associated with laboratory sciences or humanities research, the FURSCA grant provided the financial backing necessary to conduct a rigorous, data-driven study over the summer.

The research project involved contacting approximately 450 university career centers across the country. The goal was to test the efficacy of various communication methods and determine the most effective ways to capture the attention of busy higher education administrators. This systematic approach to sales and marketing is rarely taught in traditional classrooms, yet it remains a vital skill for business management.

Through this outreach, several key strategies emerged for B2B sales in the higher education sector:

• Exercise Patience: Decision-makers in academia operate on different timelines than those in the corporate sector. Waiting for responses requires discipline and a long-term mindset.
• Lead with Questions, Not Pitches: Sending a cold email immediately asking for a sale often results in silence. Instead, asking career centers how they currently manage experiential learning data establishes a consultative dynamic.
• Secure the Meeting First: The initial outreach should focus entirely on discovering the prospect’s problems. Once a meeting is secured and the specific pain points are understood, the founder can then present their solution.

This method—learning what a client is struggling with before presenting a solution—is a cornerstone of effective business management. By treating sales as a research process rather than a transactional pitch, student entrepreneurs can significantly increase their conversion rates.

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Balance Academics, Athletics, and Entrepreneurship

Running a startup while completing an undergraduate degree requires exceptional time management. Stahl is not only an economics and management major but also a member of the Briton baseball team and the Carl A. Gerstacker Institute for Business and Management at Albion College. Balancing athletic commitments, rigorous coursework, and the demands of a growing company tests the limits of any student’s schedule.

The Gerstacker Institute provides a structured environment that specifically supports students pursuing leadership roles in business. By combining this academic framework with the practical application of building Intern-O, students experience a comprehensive approach to career readiness. They learn to prioritize tasks, delegate when necessary, and maintain focus on long-term objectives despite short-term pressures. The ability to manage these competing interests effectively is precisely the type of skill that employers in the USA actively seek in recent graduates.

Share your experiences in balancing academics and extracurriculars in the comments below.

Apply Experiential Learning to Your Own Career Readiness

The story of Intern-O provides a clear blueprint for other students looking to maximize their career readiness through entrepreneurship. Building a business around experiential learning management requires identifying institutional pain points, leveraging modern technology to build solutions, and executing methodical outreach strategies.

Pivot When the Data Dictates a Change

If your initial business concept does not resonate with your target audience, be willing to abandon it. The most successful entrepreneurs are those who prioritize market demand over their own attachments to an idea. Career services professionals clearly stated what they needed, and the pivot from a student-facing app to an institutional management platform made the business viable.

Utilize Campus Resources for Business Research

Undergraduate research grants, like the FURSCA funding at Albion College, are not exclusively for traditional academic research. Students can and should use these resources to fund market validation, customer discovery, and product development for their startups. Treating a business venture as a formal research project lends structure and academic credibility to the entrepreneurial process.

Sell by Solving Problems

Whether you are selling software to a university or pitching yourself to a potential employer, the principle remains the same. Understand the problems facing the person across the table, and position yourself or your product as the solution. Avoid leading with a hard pitch; instead, ask insightful questions that demonstrate your understanding of their industry.

Experiential learning is most effective when it mimics the realities of the professional world. By founding Intern-O, students at Albion College are navigating the exact same challenges that established business owners face: product development, B2B sales, market research, and time management. For prospective students evaluating colleges in the USA, finding an institution that supports this level of independent, business-focused experiential learning is a critical step toward long-term professional success.

Explore our related articles for further reading on student startups and career readiness.

Take the Next Step in Your Entrepreneurial Career

Building a business from the ground up as an undergraduate student is a demanding but highly rewarding endeavor. It requires a supportive academic environment, access to funding for research, and a willingness to engage directly with industry professionals. Albion College provides this framework, allowing students to apply economic and management theories to live startup environments. If you want to develop practical skills, build a professional network, and achieve tangible career readiness before graduation, consider how a liberal arts education with a strong business focus can facilitate your goals.

Have questions about starting your own business as a student? Write to us!