Dozens of students enroll in the Business Incubator course their junior year, all with the hope of turning a profit. Many of them don’t get off the ground within the first few months, while others continue to Business Accelerator. But most of these businesses cannot achieve the same level of success as Neighborly Knowledge.
Neighborly Knowledge connects Lake Forest and Lake Bluff students with upperclassmen for tutoring in academics and athletics. Led by seniors: Alejandro Leahy, Fin Michael, Molly Clark, Hayden Hill, and Will Lancaster, they have seen an unconventional rise after not being invited to Pitch Night, to looking to franchise.
Their idea stemmed from personal experience, as they hoped to better improve the community through their own backgrounds with tutoring.
“Most of those experiences were negative, but I actually had a positive one. And I don’t think it was by luck. I think I succeeded with my tutor because he had formerly went to Lake Forest High School. So he knew the teachers, he knew the curriculum, and he knew how to teach the material how it was being taught,” said Neighborly Knowledge’s CTO Fin Michael.
Despite having an attractive business model for viable customers, they fell short of being invited to the annual “Pitch Night,” which provides the bulk of funding for Business Incubator classes. In years past, this would mean the end for the business.
That did not stop Neighborly Knowledge from continuing into their senior year.
“We’re really happy to have them in the Accelerator program because they do work hard and they’re on task. I thought they did a great job last year. I was shocked that they didn’t get into Pitch Night,” said business teacher Mr. LaScala.
Among a field of lucrative businesses in Accelerator, they have distinguished themselves with a strong, user-friendly website.
“We have booking, scheduling, reviews, payments, and then we also have a virtual online section. And this is very modern, and a lot of other companies have outdated websites,” said Michael.
This website, along with their work ethic, has led to earning the most sales in this year’s program and retaining 11 returning clients. The group has transcended the school and gained the attention of possible business partners.
“We definitely see a market for franchising out our model to other companies, and that’s what we’re working on now. We can still license out our material even when we’re in college,” said Michael.
The team does not intend to stop the company here, as there are still several remaining steps to secure a franchise deal.
“Usually we have a meeting, we demo the product and everything. If a client is still interested, we need to do some market research, figure out what kind of demands are they going to have. And then afterwards, it’s talking to our lawyer, getting the contract set up the way that we agreed to it in the call, and signing it,” said CEO Alejandro Leahy.
What was a junior-year project has become a key example for which LaScala looks to coach the next wave of businesses.
“They have really good teamwork skills and a good distribution of people getting their jobs done,” said LaScala. “You need good teamwork, and you need people staying on the other people, but not in a negative way.”
Reflecting on their 18-month career as entrepreneurs, Neighborly Knowledge fully endorses the skills they learned through the Business Incubator and Accelerator.
“This class is one of the best experiences you can have because it’s you get the opportunity to build something you and your teammates are proud of, with the professional guidance to give us feedback and give us their knowledge of business,” said Leahy.
