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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

The Incubator classroom features modern furniture, glass-framed white boards, office chairs, MacBook Air computers, and other unique amenities.

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.”

The Igniter Bar is a prominent feature when entering the Incubator classroom at Barrington High School

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