Ethan Havertape and Nate Royal developed Due Gooder, an AI-powered application designed to help college students stay organized and manage their coursework. Fed with users’ syllabi or learning management system information (such as Blackboard), Due Gooder can help students manage their work and plan for class deadlines.

Royal, a senior majoring in computer science in , and Havertape, a junior majoring in CIS in the , employ AI both within the software programming and in their business operations.

“Within the app, we’ve developed ‘Duey,’ a personal AI assistant that understands students’ class schedules, assignments and coursework context. Duey can help students plan study blocks, answer questions about syllabus policies and assist with schedule-related decisions,” Havertape said.

The system includes adaptive AI learning tools that generate flashcards and practice tests from the student’s notes, slides and coursework. It even identifies areas where the student needs improvement and adapts the study resources to strengthen those skills.

“Beyond the product, we use AI heavily across coding, operations, marketing and internal business workflows to increase efficiency,” Royal said.

The team gained support and mentoring for the project through Sandbox, a year-long class that guides students as they navigate the process of developing software businesses.

“Since entering Sandbox, we’ve grown from only a few hundred users to tens of thousands of student signups across thousands of universities, taken on investment and expanded into university research pilots focused on student engagement, persistence and retention,” Havertape said.

First offered during the 2025-26 year, UofL’s Sandbox chapter gave the student teams the opportunity to network with mentors and other Sandbox teams from across the U.S. The class allows students to form interdisciplinary groups to identify and validate software products, sell them and seek venture financing. The students retain 100% of the equity in any company they build as part of Sandbox.

Sandbox is for entrepreneurial students in any area of study, whether or not they are technologically trained, said , entrepreneur in residence and instructor for the course.

“Students with a desire to experience a startup team and develop a software business can benefit from spending a year in Sandbox,” Manzella said. “The resources and national networking opportunities available to Sandbox students help them lay a solid foundation and actually work through the steps to launch a business.”

Havertape and Royal said Sandbox gave them a distinct advantage in growing their idea.

“You do not need to already have a startup or even know exactly what you want to build,” Havertape said. “Sandbox gives students the opportunity to learn entrepreneurship from the ground up while being surrounded by people who are motivated to create and solve problems. The more effort and energy you put into the program, the more valuable the experience becomes.”

AI tool for Etsy sellers

Stephanie Sithu, another Sandbox alum, advanced her AI marketing tool, BeforeMe, through the class. Born out of a need to enhance her own Etsy business, BeforeMe is for Etsy sellers who want to grow their business on Pinterest. It generates pins from the user’s Etsy listings and schedules them.

In developing BeforeMe, Sithu engaged with both platforms’ tech teams and refined her marketing approach through Sandbox.

“I worked directly with both the Pinterest and Etsy API teams to build it. AI is central to BeforeMe in two ways: using Gemini to generate optimized pin copy and building my own heuristic AI layer that adapts scheduling based on which pins are gaining traction and what audience intent (shopping, lifestyle, gift-giving, solutions) they serve,” Sithu said.

The 2026 Speed School graduate in computer science said the structure of the Sandbox course was just what she needed.

“The customer discovery framework helped me stop guessing and start finding the real, specific problems Etsy sellers face with Pinterest marketing, which directly shaped the features I built,” Sithu said. “The lineup of industry speakers walked us through every stage of building something real, and I especially enjoyed the branding sessions. The pitching process was also humbling in the best way. I revised my pitch up to the final day, and by the end it felt genuinely like me, not a rehearsed product-benefit script.”

About Cardinal Intelligence

empowers the University of Louisville to lead and learn in the age of artificial intelligence (AI) with human-centered guidance and responsibility. For generations, Cardinals have embraced technology, expanding how we learn, discover, connect and work. While AI raises important questions, our students, faculty, researchers and staff bring the curiosity and innovation needed to find answers. Through Cardinal Intelligence, we are shaping how UofL uses AI to advance our university and uncover solutions that strengthen the communities we serve.

Students enrolled in Elevator are working in small groups to lead real change in the Louisville community. Sandbox participants are building a software business from scratch, retaining 100% equity in the company. Although the classes are coordinated by the Center for Positive Leadership and Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship in the College of Business, students from the College of Arts & Sciences and J.B. Speed School of Engineering also may take the classes and earn 18 hours of credit toward their degrees. The goal is to encourage collaborative, multidisciplinary experience, accomplishments and professional networks that the students can directly build on for the next steps in their careers.

“Our vision is to make hands-on learning a common experience for our students, to give them deep knowledge and immediate job readiness” said Ryan Quinn, associate professor of management and entrepreneurship and academic director of the Center for Positive Leadership.

Elevator: Leading change

In the Elevator class, teams of students majoring in business administration, communications, criminal justice, management, sociology, sustainability or urban studies work at least 24 hours per week with local organizations to improve some aspect of life for Louisville residents. The students receive mentorship throughout the class from professional experts and faculty.

In the current Elevator class, four groups of students are working on projects to implement change in various areas of Louisville:

• Collaborate with Feed Louisville to reduce hunger in the city by identifying untapped sources of surplus food as well as areas of high food insecurity where needs are not being met. The team plans to then connect the sources of food with areas of need to close hunger gaps in the city.
• Grow Da Lat’s Gateaux and Café, a Vietnamese restaurant on the south side of Louisville, by increasing revenue, launching a digital presence and improving training for new employees. They also plan to explore options for a second location.
• Enhance the health and well-being of Louisville residents through the development, improvement and maintenance of greenspaces across the city. The group is working with members of the Greenprint initiative and the UofL Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute to help coordinate efforts among greening organizations.
• Reduce loneliness among seniors in the city with practical, community-grounded interventions. Working with the Envirome Institute, the students will conduct surveys, focus groups and interviews with community members and then create, implement and evaluate strategies tailored to the needs of the specific communities.

Upon completion of the class, students receive access to the Elevator network as a resource for mentorship and job placement. Elevator is supported by the Bufford Family Foundation and managed by the at the UofL College of Business. 

Sandbox: Building software businesses

The Sandbox class allows students from business administration, computer information systems, electrical engineering, graphic design and management to form interdisciplinary teams to identify and validate software products, sell them and seek venture financing. The students retain 100% of the equity in any company they build as part of Sandbox.

Small groups within the current class of 18 students are working on six ideas:

• Due Gooder: Tracks due dates so you don’t have to
• Daker: Home care app connecting clients and caregivers across languages
• Nexus Audit: Finance platform for small-to-midsize businesses to manage accounts payable and accounts receivable
• Night District: A nightlife application that provides guests with a platform to discover, explore and order drinks at bars and nightclubs
• Stuf’d: Digitized menu made for real-time ratings
• CUB: Truck repair invoice and waitlist system for shops

The Due Gooder group already has built and launched a software product that is being used by more than 2,000 schools worldwide. It has more than 10,000 users and is generating $6,000 recurring revenue per month.

In the course, facilitated by Jack Manzella, an instructor and entrepreneur-in-residence in the College of Business, students learn using proprietary technology along with students from other universities around the country which also offer Sandbox. Successful  companies developed at other institutions are now valued at over $120 million.