Learning Economics at a Startup

Decode Econ is a startup. Our goal is to help you see the economy clearly — and your place in it. It is a media firm with a mission to improve economic understanding. It is fun building it and seeing its impact, but the biggest joy is in working with the team that makes this work possible. I love working with young professionals and current students. They bring energy and creativity, and in return I mentor them on public engagement and translating research into impact. It is a win-win situation. This week, we sat down with Frannie and Claire to talk about experiential learning through on-the-job work at Decode Econ.They talked about how working at Decode Econ has taught them so much about economics and business, but also about teamwork, creativity, and understanding your audience. Most importantly, they discussed how they grew their adaptability muscle.The classroom only gets you halfway.Claire told me she joined Decode Econ because of my macro class. She learned to love the content, but she appreciated my class more for the energy I brought to a silent classroom on day one, which made her feel comfortable speaking up.Frannie said something similar about her marketing classes: the value wasn’t the frameworks, it was “being able to be applicable and actually figure it out for myself” before getting thrown into a real job.This tells me that the actual value of what we do is to help our students transfer knowledge and skills into action.Confidence isn’t taught. It’s built in reps.Claire shares with us that her turning point in college was showing up to observe the Haile research lab, staying silent for a while, then finally speaking up. Each exposure helped her open up new doors to new opportunities. Opportunity rewards students who are already in the room.My favorite moment: Frannie was on campus for an unrelated meeting when Dr. Raska (Chair of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management) passed by and, on a whim, invited her, on the spot, to tour a market research firm partnering with our college. There was no calendar invite and no time for her to prepare. She said yes anyway. Being present helped her open a new door and expand her network. Adaptability is the actual labor market skill, and startups teach it for free.Both students described Decode Econ’s early days as constant pivoting. The daily changes in direction that, at first, felt like personal failure. Frannie said she used to wonder, “Did I do something wrong?” every time we changed course. It wasn’t her. It was a small team figuring out its audience in real time, which is exactly what most of their future employers will also be doing.This is the argument I’d make directly to other business and econ educators: if you want to teach adaptability, you cannot lecture it into existence. You have to put students inside genuine ambiguity — a live project, a startup, a research team— and let them feel the discomfort of the pivot. That discomfort is the curriculum; do not shy away from it.Pick the manager and team over the salaryThat was a big takeaway from this conversation.If you are interested in supporting the students or have projects you want to work on together, please reach out. Students are funded through consulting projects, public speaking engagement, sponsorship, and gifts.Timestamps00:00 — Economic literacy has to meet Gen Z where they already are02:18 — Frannie’s background: marketing coursework meets real-world application07:05 — Claire’s origin story: how one macro class built her classroom confidence09:31 — Building confidence through low-stakes reps at the research lab14:17 — Purpose and impact: why Gen Z engagement is the point, not a side effect19:09 — FOMO as a signal of investment21:25 — Career advice: pick the manager and team over the salary23:54 — Naming and working through perfectionism and imposter syndrome31:05 — What community inside a startup actually provides