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founding_up△Your unique genius, aligned with the work that needs it.
FIND YOUR DOOR

Where do you come in?

One exchange, five ways in. Each door shows it from your side.

01 · Students & Families

A job that fits you, not a job you fit yourself into.

Start with what you love. See real work that fits it, and the courses that lead there, before you spend time and money on a path.

SEE AN EXAMPLE
Manufacturing designEXAMPLE ORDER
What the work takes: four college courses.
01Electrical circuitsHow electricity moves through a machine, and how to measure it safely.
02Fluid power systemsHow hydraulics and air pressure move heavy equipment.
03Programmable controllersThe small computers that run a production line, and how to set them up.
04Reliability engineeringHow to spot what will break before it breaks, and keep the line running.
Proof it acceptsThe four courses completed, or the same skills shown on the job or in service
Pay$74,000 / year to start
Seats this year6
StartsFall
A scholarship holds this seat.
LISTEN
Uncharted: Your Sidekick for Life, a founding_up podcast
Uncharted: Your Sidekick for Life
founding_up's podcast. Real people on mentorship, career turns and finding your way, hosted by Dan Dillard.
Listen on Apple Podcasts
WHY IT MATTERS · TODAY

Knowledge used to be the job. Now AI supplies much of it. What’s scarce is what only you bring.

The path you’re handed was built for an economy that hired for knowledge. So you pick a major from a list, pay for years, and find out at the end.

Nationally, fewer than four in ten graduates of four-year public universities finished within four years.4

WITH THE EXCHANGE

The work now needs people who can direct that knowledge toward bigger problems, with imagination, judgment and the gifts that are yours. That’s why we start with what you love. It’s where your genius is.

In high-demand fields, Texas law now requires each university system to offer competency-based bachelor’s degrees, where you earn credit for what you can show you know.7 About twenty such programs already run at six public institutions in Texas, as of September 2026.8

WHERE TEXAS IS HEADED

On August 26, 2026, Governor Abbott directed the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to convene a working group to develop a statewide framework for three-year bachelor's degree pathways in high-demand, high-wage fields. The goals are lower cost for Texans and less time before students begin their careers. The framework must weigh student demand and employer workforce needs.

That is what founding_up is built for: students start with what they love, employers say what they need now, the courses connect them, and a receipt at the hire shows what it was worth.

Source: Office of the Governor, letter to the Commissioner of Higher Education, August 26, 2026
MEET CLEO

Meet CLEO, founding_up's SI specialist, built for one thing: helping you find your genius and connecting you with the opportunities looking for someone like you. No quiz. No score. Just conversations that uncover your gifts and point you in the right direction, before you spend money down the wrong path.

But at heart, she's modeled to look out for you: a mentor in your corner. You're the hero. She's your sidekick.

HOW IT WORKS FOR YOU
01Start with two questions. Answer in your own words. There's no right answer.
02Keep talking. The conversation adapts to you, and goes deeper as you figure out what you love.
03You'll see the work that fits you and what it pays, then the courses and the way in that lead there.

The other way around, from your side.

01What you love.Start with you, not a major. CLEO helps you find it and sharpen it, and your family can see it with you.
02Who’s asking for it.You’ll see the employers reserving that kind of work, and where they are.
03The courses it needs, first.From a university’s own catalog. The degree still counts. You just start with what the work asks for.
04Then you choose, together.With the work, the employer and the path in front of you, before the tuition bill.
HOW THE EXCHANGE WORKS
AN EXAMPLE OF THE EXCHANGE · NOT LIVE DATA EVERY ROW IS AN EXAMPLE
→FROM STUDENTS · CLEO
"I like drawing buildings."El PasoBACHELOR'S FIRST · ABOUT 18 MONTHS REMAINING · PROJECTED JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
"I like numbers and patterns."PlanoREADY EARLY · AS SOON AS CAPABLE JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
"I like cooking for a crowd."Corpus ChristiREADY EARLY · AS SOON AS CAPABLE JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
"I like teaching kids."LubbockBACHELOR'S FIRST · ABOUT 18 MONTHS REMAINING · PROJECTED JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
"I like music and sound."AustinREADY EARLY · AS SOON AS CAPABLE JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
"I like being around animals."College StationBACHELOR'S FIRST · ABOUT 18 MONTHS REMAINING · PROJECTED JUST NOW · SAID TO CLEO
COURSES EMPLOYERS ARE ASKING FOR
ELEC 1310Electrical Circuits
FLPW 2320Fluid Power Systems
CTRL 2340Programmable Controllers
MFGE 3350Reliability Engineering
4 COURSES · 12 CREDITS · EXAMPLE
RESERVED SEAT ORDERSFROM EMPLOYERS · REEVE←
Manufacturing design Example Manufacturing Co. · AustinNEEDED IN 6 MONTHS · EST. $74K / YR$3,500 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER JUST NOW · SEAT RESERVED
Electrician apprentice Example Builders · AustinNEEDED NOW · EST. $46K / YR$2,500 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER EARLIER · SEAT RESERVED
Data analyst Example Bank · DallasNEEDED IN 18 MONTHS · EST. $70K / YR$1,500 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER EARLIER · SEAT RESERVED
Sous chef Example Hotels · San AntonioNEEDED IN 6 MONTHS · EST. $48K / YR$2,000 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER EARLIER · SEAT RESERVED
Welder Example Fabrication · BeaumontNEEDED NOW · EST. $55K / YR$3,000 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER EARLIER · SEAT RESERVED
Pharmacy technician Example Pharmacy · El PasoNEEDED IN 6 MONTHS · EST. $39K / YR$1,500 SCHOLARSHIP ON THE ORDER EARLIER · SEAT RESERVED
Coming in from both sides.
Every person, employer, seat and course here is an example. Students appear by what they love, never by name, until they say yes.
Your moveWhat you see
YOUR MOVE01 · STUDENT · CLEOThe student, with CLEO.Starts with what they love. CLEO helps them find it and sharpen it.
02 · EMPLOYER · REEVEThe employer, with REEVE.Reserves the seat it needs, in its own words. A scholarship can hold the seat.
WHAT YOU SEE03 · UNIVERSITYThe university.Its own courses connect the two. It sees demand as seats are ordered, and decides what to teach.
WHAT YOU SEE04 · BOTH SIDESBoth sides see the pipeline.The student sees who is reserving the work they love. The employer sees students growing toward its seat, by number, not name.
YOUR MOVE05 · BOTH SIDESThe introduction.When the student says yes, the two meet.
YOUR MOVE06 · BOTH SIDESThe hire.Both sign one record. No money moves until the hire.
THE RECEIPT AT THE HIRE
This time, you saw the work first.
FOR YOUBuilt to get you to work you love sooner. Not just what was open.
ONE NEXT STEP

Get updates as founding_up opens.

More than 200,000 Texans have two or more years of college and no credential to show for it.13

If you’ve completed 50 or more hours and have been away two years or more, Texas law doesn’t count the first 15 hours you take after coming back toward its excess-hours limit.12

Under 18? Ask a parent or guardian to join for you.