Teaching Economics Through a Startup

This one is a must-watch for every economic and business educator!

Decode Econ is a startup. Our goal is simple: to help you see the economy clearly — and your place in it.

Every organization deals with scarcity. We have limited resources, but have unlimited wants. That means every organization, especially startups, has to answer three equations: What to produce, how to produce it and for who to produce it for.

Here is how we’re answering them.

• What: educational and entertaining economics content.

• How: newsletter, video, and graphic media.

• Who: honestly, that’s still an open questions. We are still figuring it out in real time.

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 Staley and Claire Maddox to talk about experiential learning through on-the-job work at Decode Econ.

They shared 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 discuss how they grew their adaptability muscle, a necessary skill in today’s labor market.

If you teach economics or business, this conversation is worth 33 minutes of your time.

Here’s why:

• 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. This is a good reminder that success compounds.

• Opportunity rewards students who are already in the room.

  My favorite moment from the podcast: Frannie was on campus working on Decode Econ content when Dr. Raska (Chair of Marketing, Sports Business, and Construction Management) passed by and, 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.

  The lesson here is to be present and open for new opportunities.

• 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 salary

  That was a big takeaway from this conversation.

Watch the entire podcast; I would love to hear your thoughts. Your comments and engagement help us grow our work and reach new people. If you know an economics or business educator that would benefit from this, share this post with them.

JET SET

This week I present at the Journal of Economics Teaching with Jadrian Wooten from Monday Morning Economist and Stephen Day from Paper Robots on building public-facing research. I am excited to share with the audience how Decode Econ runs and what our value proposition is across Instagram, the newsletter, LinkedIn, and the podcast.

If you’re interested in supporting our students or collaborating on a project, I’d love to hear from you.

Decode Econ is powered by partnerships through consulting projects, speaking engagements, sponsorships, and philanthropic gifts. Your support does more than fund student opportunities—it gives students meaningful, real-world experience while helping us make economics more accessible and relevant to a broader audience.

Together, we can strengthen the next generation of economists by fostering curiosity, building a stronger sense of belonging in the profession, and challenging students to develop the confidence and growth mindset needed to solve tomorrow’s problems.

Timestamps

• 02:18 — Frannie’s background: marketing coursework meets real-world application

• 07:05 — Claire’s origin story: how one macro class built her classroom confidence

• 09:31 — Building confidence through low-stakes reps

• 14:17 — Purpose and impact: why Gen Z engagement is the point, not a side effect

• 19:09 — FOMO at work

• 21:25 — Career advice: pick the manager and team over the salary

• 23:54 — Naming and working through perfectionism and imposter syndrome

• 28:44 — Pivots are the name of the game

• 31:05 — What community inside a startup actually provides