6
semester pitches, students follow the Business
Canvas Model and ask for Minimum Viable Funding
to experiment with their idea to see if it has legs.
“The entire first semester revolves around the
nine parts of the business model canvas: Problem
with existing alternatives, solution, customer segment
with early adopters, unique value proposition, cost
structure, revenue streams, channels, key metrics
and unfair advantage,” Soulakian said. “They work on
validating the hypothesis for each part of the model
throughout the first semester.”
In May, the groups once again go before the
Advisory Board, this time asking for enough funding
to actually launch their businesses. If their business
is selected and funding is granted, these students will
take the second year curriculum of the Incubator,
which continues work on starting and developing the
company.
“Some of the ideas that our kids have come up
with are truly amazing,” Leonard said.
If a student team successfully launches a new
business as a result of the class, the enterprise will
be owned by the students. If the Barrington 220
Educational Foundation invests in a selected student
business, any proceeds from that investment will be
returned to the program.
“This class will just continue to get better over
time as we refine the order of the modules, develop
more rich content, have coaches and mentors that
have been in the program for multiple years, and as
students begin to realize the possibilities and see real
live businesses,” Miles said.
The class is in its infancy at Barrington High
School, but has been funded through private
donations to be sustained for the next six to seven
years. At the end of that time frame, the program will
either raise additional funds, remove the in-market
element of the program to make it purely educational,
or new businesses generated by the class may
create additional proceeds to fund future years.
“Our goal is to have more and more operational
businesses,” Miles said. “Think about if we had 50
students running businesses. Then we could have a
live incubator. “
Interest in the Incubator class in surrounding
districts is on the rise. Those affiliated with the
program in Barrington 220 are eager to share the
concept with high schools across the country,
regardless of each district’s unique population and
resources.
“While it was never our initial intent to have this
replicated anywhere, as districts around us have
found out about this course the interest has been
extremely high. That has led us to host a couple of
visits to Barrington High School and to think about
how best to partner with other schools in sharing this
curriculum and model,” Leonard said.
“Our vision is to expand this nationally and in
schools in various demographics. The key to success
is that there are certain things that every school is
going to need to be committed to: One is curriculum,
two is a qualified teacher, and third is recruiting
coaches and mentors. That’s absolutely core to the
program. The rest becomes optional,” Miles said.
“The concept we are teaching students about starting
a new business applies to every demographic. This
transcends any demographic, any region and really
any age.”
(Continued from page 5)
The Incubator classroom features modern furniture,
glass-framed white boards, office chairs, MacBook Air
computers, and other unique amenities.
The Igniter Bar is a prominent feature when entering
the Incubator classroom at Barrington High School
