Every question about MakerSquare,
answered.

MakerSquare is a 2-week in-person AI builder program in Austin, TX for non-technical professionals. Operators, founders, and managers learn to build and deploy real AI products — no coding background required. Students ship 3 deployed AI products and present at a public Demo Day in front of Austin's tech community. Learn more →

MakerSquare is the only multi-week in-person AI builder program currently available. Online courses teach concepts; MakerSquare graduates ship 3 deployed AI products. The in-person, immersive format — 9am to 3pm, Monday through Friday for 2 weeks — means you actually build rather than just watch videos. You also leave with a cohort network and a public Demo Day presentation that online courses can't replicate.

Cohort 1 starts July 6, 2026. Enrollment closes June 26, 2026. MakerSquare runs 8 cohorts in 2026, from July through December — roughly every 3 weeks. See the full schedule →

15 builders per cohort. This is intentional — small enough for real instructor attention and fast feedback on your build, large enough for a meaningful cohort dynamic and network.

Yes. MakerSquare offers a custom 2-week intensive for teams of 8 to 20, either in Austin or on-site at your company. Your team builds real AI tools for your actual business problems — not generic exercises. Custom pricing. See corporate training →

No. MakerSquare is designed specifically for professionals without a technical background. We've had doctors, lawyers, marketers, real estate agents, and finance professionals all build exceptional AI products. Your domain expertise — knowing your industry's problems deeply — is more valuable than coding knowledge.

Basic computer fluency (you're comfortable with Google Docs, email, modern software) and real-world domain expertise in your field. Ideally you have a problem in your industry that AI could help solve — that context makes your builds dramatically better. No coding, no math, no computer science required.

No. MakerSquare welcomes builders from anywhere in the US and internationally. The program runs in person in Austin, TX, so you'll need to be in Austin for the 2 weeks. We work with vetted housing partners near campus for builders who relocate temporarily. See housing options →

Yes, if you have a clear problem you want to solve with AI. MakerSquare works best for people who bring real-world context to their builds — a domain you know, a problem worth solving. College grads who've worked in a field, interned in an industry, or have a startup idea they want to build have done well. The program is not a job placement bootcamp — it's a builder program focused on shipping real products.

No interview, no essay, no technical test. You fill out the enrollment form, pay the deposit, and your seat is confirmed within 24 hours. Enrollment is open — we trust you know whether this is the right fit for you.

Tuition is $3,999. You can pay in full or split into 2 payments of $2,100 each ($4,199 total, which includes a $200 split fee — no interest). A $500 deposit secures your seat, with the remainder due before the program starts. There is also a $500 scholarship for military veterans, first responders, and educators. See full pricing →

Everything in the program: 10 days of instruction (9am–3pm), 24-hour async instructor support during the 2 weeks, a pre-cohort AI toolkit, Demo Day participation, and lifetime access to the MakerSquare alumni Slack. Not included: housing, and approximately $15–30 in AI service fees (Claude, Whisper, ElevenLabs) paid separately during the program.

Yes. A $500 deposit is required to secure your seat. The deposit is refundable up to 14 days before your cohort's start date. See the full refund policy below.

Full refund (minus the $500 deposit) up to 14 days before your cohort start date. 50% refund up to the first day of the program. No refund after the program begins. If MakerSquare cancels a cohort for any reason, you receive a full refund. The guarantee: if you complete the program and don't leave with 3 deployed AI products, you receive a full refund.

Yes. Many participants have their employer cover tuition as professional development. MakerSquare can issue an invoice directly to your company. The scholarship for military, educators, and first responders is also stackable with employer reimbursement — your employer pays the discounted rate, not the original.

Yes. A $500 Service Scholarship is available for military veterans, active duty service members, first responders, and educators. Tuition drops from $3,999 to $3,499. Simple verification process — submit a short form, we verify within 2 business days. Apply for the scholarship →

Yes, two things outside of tuition: (1) approximately $15–30 in AI service fees during the program — Claude, Whisper, and ElevenLabs API usage — paid directly to those services; (2) housing if you're coming from out of town, which runs approximately $1,600/month with partner discounts. No income share agreements, no hidden fees.

Monday through Friday, 9am to 3pm in Austin for 2 weeks (10 teaching days). Optional Saturday office hours from 10am to 1pm for extra build time. Instructors are also available async outside class hours. Pre-work takes 2–3 hours and should be completed before the program starts.

Three deployed AI products:

Product 1 (end of Week 1): A live website with a Claude Skill, deployed to a public URL using Lovable, Vercel, and Supabase.

Product 2 (Day 9): An agentic automation — combining Composio, Playwright browser control, or voice AI with Whisper and ElevenLabs — connected to your real data.

Capstone (Demo Day): Your most ambitious product, combining Claude Code, agentic APIs, and the full stack. Presented live on stage at Demo Day. See full curriculum →

Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, OpenRouter, Warp Terminal, GitHub, Vercel, Supabase, Lovable, Composio, Playwright, CodeRabbit, Obsidian, Splashtop, ElevenLabs, and Whisper. No visual automation toys like Zapier or Make — production-level skills only.

The 2-week format is what makes the products real. You can watch AI tutorials for months without shipping anything. The immersive environment — surrounded by other builders, with instructors available in real time, with a Demo Day deadline — creates the pressure and support that actually produces shipped products. Self-paced learning optimizes for content consumption, not building. The alumni network and Demo Day connections only exist because everyone is in the room together.

Pre-work before the program (3 self-paced steps: set up accounts, run your first expert-level Claude conversation, define your capstone problem) takes 2–3 hours. During the program, most building happens in class from 9am to 3pm. There's no formal homework, but many builders continue working on their products in the evenings because they're excited about what they're building.

Demo Day is the public event that closes every MakerSquare cohort, held on the Friday evening of Week 2. Each builder presents their capstone AI product live to an audience of Austin's tech community — seed-stage investors, operators, and builders. 5-minute live demos with real feedback. It's free to attend and open to the public. The first Demo Day is July 17, 2026. Learn about Demo Day →

MakerSquare is in Austin, TX. Exact location details are shared with enrolled students. The campus is near downtown Austin, accessible by car and ride-share. Partner housing is available nearby.

No. Housing is not included in tuition. For builders coming from out of town, MakerSquare works with vetted Airbnb partners near campus who offer discounted rates — typically starting around $1,600/month for furnished, private rooms. Booking codes are shared after enrollment. See housing options →

A laptop (Mac or PC, relatively modern), a willingness to build, and a real problem from your industry you want to solve. Detailed setup instructions and account creation guides are sent in the pre-work packet before the program begins.

No. MakerSquare is an in-person program. The in-person format is not incidental — it's the reason the products get built. A future part-time format (Fridays plus weekends) is planned for professionals who can't take two full weeks away from work, but it will also be in-person in Austin.

Three deployed AI products at public URLs. A Demo Day presentation in front of Austin's tech community. A cohort of builders who become your long-term network. A certificate of completion shareable on LinkedIn. And the practical skills to keep building — the tools, the mental models, and the confidence that comes from having shipped something real.

Yes. MakerSquare issues a certificate of completion that is shareable on LinkedIn. More importantly, you leave with 3 deployed AI products — which are a more credible demonstration of skills than any certificate.

All MakerSquare graduates get lifetime access to the alumni Slack, where builders across cohorts share what they're building, swap resources, and find collaborators. The cohort itself — 15 builders who spent 2 weeks in the same room, shipping together — tends to stay tight. Cohort 1 graduates in July 2026.

MakerSquare is not a job placement bootcamp. It's a builder program for professionals who want to use AI in their current work or build something new. That said, demonstrating 3 shipped AI products at Demo Day in front of Austin's tech community has real value for anyone looking to transition into AI-adjacent roles or showcase AI fluency to current or future employers.

That's the guarantee: complete the program and leave with 3 deployed AI products — or receive a full refund. The curriculum and pace are designed so that shipping is the expected outcome, not the exceptional one. Instructors are in the room to make sure everyone ships.