Learn how business
actually works.
Then go build one.
An institute taught by the people who do the job — founders, investors, and operators. In the fall you learn every function of a business and take apart a real company’s problem. In the spring you build a company of your own — coached by entrepreneurs — and pitch it from a stage.
Every year at DBI
Application season · Fall 2026
Applications
are open.
The Flagship Program — around 50 students exploring every function of a business: strategy, operations, marketing, finance, HR, AI. The fall ends at the Case Competition — and earns you the chance to join the second semester, where you’ll work with real entrepreneurs to build a company of your own and compete for $20,000+ in prizes on the Summit stage.
Want to start smaller? The Finance Program is a new 25-seat offshoot for going deep on one lane — markets, investing, corporate finance — ending in a stock pitch. Apply to one or both, and see where you land.
What DBI is
Catholic business leaders.
Not just business leaders.
The Dons Business Institute is Cathedral Catholic’s business institute — where students serious about a career in business jump-start it in high school. Real business, taught hands-on by the industry professionals who do it for a living: founders, investors, and operators, in the room, every session.
Every session opens in prayer, and the prayer is tied to what we’re about to teach — never a formality bolted onto the front. Stewardship: we’re managing something that was entrusted to us. The dignity of work, and of the worker. Honest scales — integrity in what we measure and what we claim.
A Don was a title from the Latin Dominus — Lord. In medieval Spain it belonged to exactly two kinds of people: nobles and the clergy. Worldly standing and religious vocation, in one word. Sixty years on, it is still the only word this school calls its own. Once a Don, always a Don.
Hearing about the ethical dilemmas that come in business — it really kind of confused me at first, because you wouldn’t really expect to have to think about that. But looking deeper into it, I saw that faith is a huge part of your business journey.
Where to next