It\u2019s an audacious proposition.<\/p>\n
At Founders School, a new entrepreneurism-focused high school that opened its doors in the beginning of September in the Financial District, tuition costs a cool $150,000 per year. But, if students haven\u2019t launched a business that\u2019s made at least one million dollars in profit by the end of their fourth year, the school says it will refund a pupil\u2019s entire $600,000 tuition.<\/p>\n
At Founders School, students are taught the principles of entrepreneurship and guided towards launching their own business \u2014 with a goal of reaching $1,000,000 in profit by the end of their fourth year. Nat Eliason, co-head of Founders School, is seated at the table in the blue shirt. Courtesy of Founders School<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s bold but I don\u2019t think it\u2019s crazy,\u201d said Nat Eliason, the school\u2019s 33-year-old co-head and an entrepreneur himself. In 2025, he sold his content marketing agency, Growth Machine, to MBE Group for an undisclosed amount.<\/p>\n
Founders School is an offshoot of the NYC location of Alpha School, a network of AI-based schools and learning centers that launched in Austin in 2014 and has since expanded across the country.<\/p>\n
A student (seated in the green chair on the left) pitches her business to Joe Liemandt (standing, right), principal of the Alpha School System. Courtesy of Founders School<\/p>\n
Fifteen-year-old Sanjay Divakar, who hails from Greenwich, CT, asked his parents if he could transfer over from his hometown public school after seeing Kolin Jones \u2014 CEO of one of the world\u2019s largest private aviation companies, Amalfi Jets \u2014 speak about the school on Instagram.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve given two Tedx Talks on the fact that schools are not training students to their full potential,\u201d Divakar said. \u201cMy [public school] teachers used to tell me running a business wouldn\u2019t get me anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliason said the idea for Founders School came about after Alpha School head Joe Liemandt asked pupils how they could make high school \u201cten-times better.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already had students who were successfully starting businesses, but they felt they needed more support and resources to do that as effectively as possible,\u201d Eliason explained.<\/p>\n
According to Founders School, there are currently 21 students enrolled. Fifteen work out of the school\u2019s Manhattan location, while the six others are based in Austin and will regularly travel to NYC to confer with their East Coast peers and mentors.<\/p>\n
Nat Eliason (left) co-head of the Founders School and Jamey Gannon (right), an AI creative director and brand designer at Google, speak with students during the first week of classes. Courtesy of Founders School<\/p>\n
Some students started class with a project well underway. Divakar, for one, has been building\u00a0a B2B software product designed to help companies find and eliminate friction between departments<\/a> since July.<\/p>\n By the time he started at Founders School earlier this month, he had already surpassed $10,000 in revenue. Now, he\u2019s hoping the school will help him scale the business. He\u2019s aiming to hit $100,000 in revenue in the next 100 days, and $20 million by graduation.<\/p>\n \u201cWithin ten years, [maybe] we\u2019ll go public,\u201d Divakar told The Post.<\/p>\n Founding Families are the first families to enroll their children in Founders School. The first day of classes in the school\u2019s history was Sept. 6, 2026. Courtesy of Founders School<\/p>\n In a typical day at Founders School, lessons in core subjects such as English, Math, Science and Social Studies are condensed into just two or three hours of learning in the morning on tablets armed with AI-bots. There is no homework and no teachers, just human \u201cguides\u201d that roam the classrooms and assist when necessary.<\/p>\n That leaves the remainder of the school day for working on business plans and building out products and services, with the help of seasoned entrepreneurs and a proprietary entrepreneurial AI-platform. <\/p>\n The FiDi campus also houses a standard location of Alpha School, which launched in NYC in 2025 and currently has about 130 students. Like those in Founders School, they spend the morning learning core subjects with AI. Afternoons are focused on \u201clife skills workshops,\u201d with teens doing anything from assembling furniture to climbing rock walls and solving Rubik\u2019s Cubes.\u00a0<\/p>\n From its location at 180 Maiden Lane in the Financial District, Founders School looks out over the East River towards Downtown Brooklyn. Courtesy of Founders School<\/p>\n Founders School comes to NY at a time when the use of AI in schools is more divisive than ever.<\/p>\n