Retired Navy Officer Launches 100s of Startups in Michigan ft. Dr. Eric Fretz | The Ryan Morrison Show
About Dr. Eric Fretz
Dr. Eric B. Fretz is a retired U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander, recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and an award-winning educator at the University of Michigan. He holds dual PhDs in Psychology and Education from Michigan, teaches courses in entrepreneurship, leadership, and emotional intelligence, and has been nominated multiple times for the university's Golden Apple Award. He serves as Chair of Michigan's Region 9 Veterans Community Action Team and State Director of the Selective Service System for Michigan.
The Birth of an Unconventional Class: "Do Epic Shit"
Dr. Fretz's approach to teaching entrepreneurship at the University of Michigan was unlike anything in traditional academia. When he was brought in to quickly develop a core course for the entrepreneurship minor, he was given minimal supervision—a freedom he used to revolutionary effect.
"I realized it didn't seem like anyone was really watching or was going to critique what I did," Dr. Fretz recalls. "I said, well, let's just go for it. I have all this knowledge and experience of what a really good class could be. Let's create a love letter to undergrad teaching—the class I would have always wanted to have."
The result was PSYCH/ALA 223, a course built on project-based learning and an audacious grading standard: "Do epic shit." This wasn't just a catchy phrase—it was a fundamental philosophy that pushed students beyond traditional academic boundaries.
The Power of Project-Based Learning
Drawing from his PhD training with the pioneers of project-based learning, Dr. Fretz designed a course where students didn't just learn theory—they launched real ventures. Over 12 years, the class produced between 1,000 and 2,000 teams, with dozens becoming actual LLCs and several growing into significant businesses.
Among the notable successes:
Valiant Clothing & Management: Founded by Jared Wangler, a former Michigan football player, Valiant started as a class project and evolved into a major force in college athletics NIL (Name, Image, Likeness) deals. The company now dominates Michigan's athletic merchandise space and manages NIL contracts for student-athletes across the university.
GoNanas Banana Bread: Another standout venture that demonstrated the practical application of entrepreneurial principles learned in the course.
The secret to this success? Dr. Fretz's unique ability to identify which student ideas had true potential.
The Art of Idea Selection: A Mentor's Eye
What separates Dr. Fretz's teaching methodology from traditional entrepreneurship courses is his intensive, personalized approach to idea validation. In a 300-person lecture, he meets with every single student at least twice—an unprecedented commitment that requires 40-60 extra hours in the first three weeks alone.
"Michigan students are incredibly smart and come up with tons of great ideas, but they have no idea which idea is really good," Dr. Fretz explains. "I can't come up with all the ideas, but I can sniff them over and say, 'That third one—you don't see it, but I see it. Trust me. Go down that road and you will have great success.'"
This convergent thinking process, where students ideate openly and Dr. Fretz helps them focus, has proven remarkably effective. He describes moments when students pitch ideas that have already been invented—like "gaiters" for hiking boots—and his decades of experience help them redirect their energy toward viable opportunities.
The "No Clothing Brand" Rule (With Exceptions)
Dr. Fretz is famously skeptical of student clothing brands, which he typically prohibits because they rarely lead to substantial entrepreneurship. However, Jared Wangler's pitch for Valiant was different.
"He had the potential as a football player to really do a brand, and he damn well did," Dr. Fretz notes. Wangler's success came from strategic positioning—he integrated Valiant into Michigan's official athletic retailer, MDEN, right as they were transitioning suppliers. When the new contract left 85 products uncovered, Wangler seized the opportunity, ultimately building a multi-faceted business that now shapes NIL deals across college athletics.
The University Bureaucracy Challenge: "Cancer for Innovation"
One of the most candid aspects of our conversation was Dr. Fretz's blunt assessment of how universities handle student innovation. His advice to students was consistently provocative: "If your idea involves getting permission or endorsement or some sort of official approval from some university administrator, it's basically the equivalent of giving your idea cancer."
This isn't an indictment of malicious intent, but rather an acknowledgment of institutional reality. In a 90-day class, getting through multiple layers of bureaucracy—dining hall directors, legal counsel, multiple committee approvals—means certain death for student projects.
Dr. Fretz's solution? "Beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission." His students created guerrilla improvements across campus: stickers on Norman Doors (doors that look like they should push but actually pull), wayfinding maps in buildings that lacked them, and directional signs on stairwells. These interventions, while technically unauthorized, served thousands of students and improved daily campus life.
"From a fussy administrator standpoint: vandalism," Dr. Fretz acknowledges with a laugh. "But we don't do anything destructive. We have fun with it."
From Iraq to Ann Arbor: Leadership Under Fire
Dr. Fretz's teaching philosophy is deeply rooted in his 24-year Navy career, which included three deployments to the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War and Iraq War. His most transformative experience came during a particularly dark deployment to Iraq in 2008.
Building a Scout Camp in a War Zone
Deployed on short notice just days after Christmas, Dr. Fretz found himself isolated, under fire, and investigating his own unit for lost classified equipment. His family was struggling at home, the stock market was crashing, and he felt profoundly alone.
"It was dark. That's a dark place," he reflects. "But I now have a lot of empathy for people who are in dark places, and I can recognize and vibe with that."
A chaplain's simple suggestion changed everything: Why not rebuild the Boy Scout program in Iraq? Despite the seeming impossibility—no money, no approval, seven-day work weeks, and the "Highway of Death" between bases—Dr. Fretz and a small team of volunteers decided to try.
What followed was a masterclass in resourceful leadership:
They convinced an Iraqi Special Forces general to give them a junk-filled back portion of his base
Volunteers brought road graders to flatten the terrain
Security barriers were erected, creating a five-acre compound
They "requisitioned" equipment written off as trash—including a building hit by mortar fire and copper wire abandoned by the roadside
The camp included multiple tents, gym equipment, a soccer field, a basketball court, and even electricity and running water
The Victory Base Council Scout camp served Iraqi children for years, with separate programs for Boy Scouts and Girl Guides. The moment when Iraqi families trusted them enough to allow girls to participate marked a profound cultural breakthrough.
"It was one of the coolest things I've ever done," Dr. Fretz says. "It was tremendously healing, not just for me but for everyone involved."
Leadership Lessons from Combat
The Iraq experience taught Dr. Fretz several principles that became foundational to his teaching:
Purpose over procedure: When people have a meaningful mission, they'll sacrifice their limited free time and resources to achieve it.
Empowering trust: When senior enlisted men said, "Sir, if you'll lead, we'll follow," it created an unbreakable bond of mutual commitment.
Resourcefulness: Some of the greatest innovations come from reimagining what others consider garbage—whether literal trash in Iraq or "impossible" ideas in a classroom.
Brotherhood beyond hierarchy: The photograph of two senior enlisted men pretending to pull Dr. Fretz in Saddam Hussein's ceremonial wagon—something unthinkable in traditional military culture—represents the deepest form of team loyalty and mutual respect.
Emotional Intelligence: The Four Quadrants of Leadership
Dr. Fretz teaches emotional intelligence using Daniel Goleman's framework, which he studied directly with Goleman and holds certifications in. The model consists of four quadrants:
Quadrant 1: Self-Awareness
Understanding your emotions, strengths, weaknesses, and triggers. This is the foundation of all emotional intelligence.
Quadrant 2: Self-Management
Controlling your emotional responses and maintaining composure under pressure. For leaders, "every day needs to be your best day."
Quadrant 3: Social Awareness
Reading and understanding others' emotions, needs, and perspectives. This requires the bandwidth that comes from solid self-management.
Quadrant 4: Relationship Management
The pinnacle of emotional intelligence—using your self-awareness, self-control, and social awareness to build strong, productive relationships.
"If you really lock down those first two quadrants of basically knowing and having good control of yourself, you're always a positive vector," Dr. Fretz explains. "You have lots of time and energy to watch, to learn, to absorb, to notice others, and then to give them what they need."
This investment in emotional intelligence made Dr. Fretz's classes uniquely transformative. Students consistently rated his courses as the best they'd ever taken—not because of the curriculum alone, but because he invested deeply in believing in each student's potential.
The Controversial End of PSYCH/ALA 223
After 12 years and over 8,000 students, the University of Michigan unexpectedly shut down PSYCH/ALA 223. Dr. Fretz's analogy is telling: "This was like my pet dog. I'd raised this dog for 10 years. And now this dog is drowning, and lots of people at the university could throw me a life ring, but nobody did. They just stood there and stared at me while I watched the dog go under."
Students created free223.org, initially to advocate for saving the class, then as a memorial. The website features hundreds of testimonials from former students describing how the class transformed their lives and careers.
Despite this setback, Dr. Fretz continues teaching full-time at Michigan, recently promoted to Teaching Professor—the highest designation for non-research faculty. He teaches leadership and emotional intelligence in engineering (ENTR 550) and is developing a new educational technology course for the psychology department.
The Legacy Continues: The ECC Club
Former students from PSYCH/ALA 223 founded a student organization to preserve the class's spirit. Dr. Fretz is working with them to create a "baby incubator" for entrepreneurship-curious students—a year-long program that provides mentorship and community without the constraints of the formal class structure.
"I told the students, 'I'm not going to do this for you, but I'll do it with you,'" he says. "As long as you guys stay fully involved, this could be an amazing experience."
Lessons for Founders and Leaders
Dr. Fretz's journey offers several critical insights for entrepreneurs and leaders:
1. Master Your Emotional Intelligence
"Work on your own emotional intelligence and really pay attention to that," Dr. Fretz advises. "Get a 360 feedback. Get a coach. Get a therapist. Make sure that your game is immaculate. Because if you are bringing your best self to the table and nearly 100% of your energy is available to push out to those around you, they will feel it."
2. People Are Your Competitive Advantage
"Not being able to attract and maintain the best people kills more ventures than anything else," he notes. The depth of loyalty he inspired—from Iraqi volunteers giving their only free time to students dedicating themselves to class projects—came from genuine investment in others' success.
3. Embrace Calculated Risks
From authorizing unauthorized equipment requisitions in Iraq to encouraging students to improve campus without permission, Dr. Fretz believes innovation requires accepting some risk. "If you want to make awesome omelets, an egg is going to end up broken on the floor here and there."
4. Failure Is Curriculum
One team in his class failed four consecutive times before their final presentation—which was about their journey of failure and what they learned. It became one of the best reports in the class's history. "They learned you're not going to repeat those mistakes, so you're going to be a better entrepreneur in the future."
5. Purpose Trumps Everything
Whether in a war zone or a classroom, giving people meaningful work they personally own creates extraordinary commitment. "No one has ever turned them loose on something they have personal ownership for and told them your grading standard is epic," Dr. Fretz says of his students. "When they get going, it's just amazing."
Health Challenges and Resilience
Dr. Fretz's commitment to his students is perhaps best exemplified by his response to serious health issues. In 2022-2023, he experienced heart failure—including what doctors called a "widowmaker heart attack" that he initially refused to address.
More remarkably, after crashing his bike and breaking five ribs, he refused EMS assistance and rode the rest of the way to class because his students were presenting their semester's work. "I was goddamned if I'm gonna let that happen," he says of potentially missing their presentations.
"Not many people have a widowmaker heart attack, refuse to go to the hospital, and are still alive several years later," he reflects. "That someone that stupid gets to be alive years later is pretty cool, and I'm just trying to make good use of my time."
His cardiologists at the University of Michigan don't fully understand why he's doing as well as he is, but Dr. Fretz views his continued health as "bonus time" to keep making a difference.
Looking Forward: The Next Chapter
At 60, Dr. Fretz is planning a gradual wind-down. He'll teach full-time through 2026, then shift to fall-only teaching in 2027, giving himself winter terms off—"I'll be in Disney World probably," he jokes.
But retirement from full-time teaching doesn't mean stopping. Beyond his continued university courses, he chairs Michigan's Region 9 Veterans Community Action Team, directs Veterans Treatment Court mentorship programs, and remains involved in multiple 501(c)(3) nonprofits supporting veterans.
"I get up every morning and get to go in and teach these classes and help people live a better version of their life," he says. "That just means everything to me."
Key Takeaways for Entrepreneurs and Educators
Believe in people before they believe in themselves: Dr. Fretz's ability to see potential in student ideas they couldn't see themselves created dozens of successful ventures.
Bureaucracy is the enemy of innovation: Whether in universities or corporations, layers of approval kill momentum. Sometimes you need to "beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission."
Emotional intelligence matters more than you think: Self-awareness and self-management create the bandwidth to truly serve others—which builds unbreakable loyalty.
Purpose-driven work changes everything: From Iraqi children experiencing scouting to Michigan students launching businesses, giving people ownership of meaningful work unlocks extraordinary effort.
Your experiences are your curriculum: Dr. Fretz's military leadership, deployment trauma, and Eagle Scout background all became teaching tools that made his classes uniquely transformative.
Scale personal connection impossibly: Meeting individually with 300 students twice in 90 days "shouldn't" be possible, but Dr. Fretz proved it could be done—and that the investment pays off in student outcomes.
Legacy is measured in changed lives: The hundreds of testimonials on free223.org, the businesses still running years later, and the students who use his lessons daily represent the truest measure of success.
Final Thoughts
Dr. Eric Fretz's story is a testament to what's possible when military discipline meets educational innovation, when personal trauma transforms into empathy, and when someone refuses to accept conventional limitations on what teaching can be.
His PSYCH/ALA 223 class may have been shut down, but its impact continues through thousands of alumni, the companies they've built, and the student organization working to preserve its spirit. Most importantly, his approach to teaching—investing deeply in individual students, demanding excellence through the "Do Epic Shit" standard, and creating space for meaningful failure—offers a blueprint for transformative education in any field.
For entrepreneurs, his message is clear: master your emotional intelligence, attract and retain great people, embrace calculated risk, learn from failure, and above all, give people purpose-driven work they can own. These principles worked in building a scout camp in a war zone, launching businesses from a classroom, and changing thousands of lives over a 24-year military and academic career.
As Dr. Fretz makes good use of his "bonus time," his influence continues to ripple outward—proof that the most powerful form of leadership isn't commanding from above, but investing deeply in those around you and believing in their potential before they do.
Memorable Quotes from the Episode
"If your idea involves getting permission or endorsement or some sort of official approval from some university administrator, it's basically the equivalent of giving your idea cancer. Your idea will die."
"Your grading standard is epic. What does that mean? Well, I want you to see you do something amazing. Like, I know what you're capable of. Show me."
"Michigan students are incredibly smart and come up with tons of great ideas, but they have no idea which idea is really good. I can't come up with all the ideas, but I can sniff them over and say, 'That third one—you don't see it, but I see it. Trust me.'"
"Here I am alone under fire. My life's coming apart. No friends, no one will talk to me. I mean it was dark. That's a dark place. And now I have a lot of empathy for people who are in dark places, and I can recognize and vibe with that."
"Sir, if you'll lead, we'll follow. Let's do this." — The senior enlisted men who believed in building a scout camp in Iraq
"If you really lock those first two quadrants down of basically knowing and having good control of yourself, you're always a positive vector, right? You have lots of time and energy to watch, to learn, to absorb, to notice others, and then to give them what they need."
"Work on your own emotional intelligence and really pay attention to that. Get a 360 feedback. Get a coach. Get a therapist. Make sure that your game is immaculate. Because if you are bringing your best self to the table and nearly 100% of your energy is available to push out to those around you, they will feel it."
"No one has ever turned them loose on something they have personal ownership for and told them your grading standard is epic. When they get that idea and something they really believe in and you show them, 'I believe you can do this,' they get so excited."
"If you want to make awesome omelets, right, you know, an egg is going to end up broken on the floor here and there, but how many awesome omelettes can you make? And it turns out with Michigan students, you can make a lot."
"Not many people have a widowmaker heart attack, refuse to go to the hospital, and are still alive several years later. That someone that stupid gets to be alive years later is pretty cool, and I'm just trying to make good use of my time."
"I get up every morning and get to go in and teach these classes and help people live a better version of their life. That just means everything to me."
Links You May Find Valuable
Free223.org: Memorial website for PSYCH/ALA 223 featuring student testimonials and class history
Valiant Management: Founded by Dr. Fretz's student Jared Wangler, now a major force in college athletics NIL deals
Victory Base Council: Search for records and videos of the Iraqi Boy Scout camp built during deployment
University of Michigan Center for Entrepreneurship: Home of Dr. Fretz's ENTR 550 leadership course
Veterans Treatment Court: Mentorship programs serving Michigan veterans
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