Most students have been there, sitting in their high school required courses and asking themselves why they are there. Many students sit through uninteresting classes wondering, “Why do I have to memorize quadratic equations?” Or, “Why should we discuss the importance of green-lighting The Great Gatsby?”
According to Dylan Kim, LSEHD '26, and Timothy Liu, CSOM '26, one of the most challenging aspects of high school is that there are so few courses that inspire future careers or teach skills that translate directly to the workforce. That's it.
To address this issue, the two co-founded MLV Ignite, an educational technology company that offers summer and winter courses for high school students interested in entrepreneurship and financial literacy.
“We knew there was a problem at school,” Kim said. “People don't really apply what they learn in high school in their jobs, maybe even in college. So what we wanted to do was help students understand what they really want to do in life, whether it's entrepreneurship education or financial literacy. It was about providing something that I personally think is very important.”
MLV Ignite is based in Kim's home country of Vietnam and offers summer and winter programs for high school students. This winter, 110 students applied to the company's inaugural 7-day program and 10 were accepted.
MLV courses focus on reflection and project-based learning, Kim said. During the program, students will facilitate the process of establishing their own company.
“We thought that teaching by giving homework and tests was not the right approach,” Kim said. “As I have told my students, the most important thing about this program is not what you do during the program, but what you do after the program. We are only at the beginning.”
Although Kim and Liu are only sophomores, this is Kim's third startup, so they are seasoned entrepreneurs.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim co-founded an app that provides academic support to students struggling with online learning. The platform attracted interest from his company called Fiveable, and Kim sold his app to the company for more than his six figures during his senior year of high school, he said.
“Those who were already doing well in school were doing even better, but I felt that was unfair to those who were already struggling in real life,” Kim said. “They would have a harder time if their teachers weren't there to guide them all the time.”
When Kim started college, she turned her company over to a trusted colleague so she could adjust to college life and focus on life in Boston. During his first year at BC, Mr. Kim met Mr. Liu through BC's Edmund H. Shea Jr. Center for Entrepreneurship, and the two connected through their shared interests in education, social justice, and entrepreneurship. I got it.
“Like Dylan, I was also interested in entrepreneurship because it was my childhood dream of owning a business,” Liu said. “Especially today, thanks to social media, all you need is a computer to start learning how to start a business and make money online.”
Mr. Liu works on the finance and banking side of MLV Ignite, and Mr. Kim said he has been a great partner.
“[Liu is] I'm a very financially oriented, logical thinking person, but I'm more creative,” Kim said. “I would say that the next five years are so absurd and unachievable that he would rather say, ‘How do we get there?’ So we broke it down into yearly goals and it was perfect. It worked.”
Mr. Kim's role is similar to that of a CEO, Mr. Liu said.
For the first winter program, Lieu said they conducted market research to understand entrepreneurship and education in Vietnam, and looked for companies with a focus on sponsorship and education that they might be interested in collaborating with. .
“Right now, for me, it's more of a learning experience,” Liu said. “You have to learn a lot to be a co-founder of a startup. I give myself the title of finance CFO, but really the purpose is to learn how to wear different hats. You learn how to do market research and how to contact sponsors. How to do all of these things that are skills that can be applied to any job. That's the beauty of being an entrepreneur.”
Liu said the startup was a big learning opportunity because he didn't start MLV Ignite with as much experience as Kim.
“It's an interesting dynamic,” Liu said. “Our company aims to teach entrepreneurship, but at the same time I learned everything and learned as I went. I tried to learn everything I could about entrepreneurship while building a startup. It was great.”
This learning-by-doing process mirrors how Kim learned the skills to drive successful startups in the past.
Kim said, “You have to actively do what you want to do.'' “I try to find opportunities to apply what I’ve learned from reading books.”
If it weren't for the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim said he might not have started his startup this early in his life. His goal with MLV Ignite is to allow students to take a deep dive into entrepreneurship.
“I had this opportunity when I was in high school,” Kim said. “I want to pass it on to other people and see if they are interested in following a similar path as me and starting a company at a young age.”
This goal for accessibility can be seen in MLV Ignite's cost and financial aid practices. This is a paid program and costs him between $200 and $300, while Kim said similar programs typically cost about $6,500. In the long term, MLV Ignite aims to work directly with schools to ensure that students do not have to pay out-of-pocket.
“I told Tim I don't care if the profits are negative as long as it makes an impact,” Kim said. “Once you make an impact, the money will follow. That said, we rely heavily on the generosity of our many sponsors who share our mission to support these students.”
Khoa Minh Nguyen Mau is one of the high school students who participated in MLV Ignite's winter program. He said the experience provided a unique and exciting opportunity.
“I have always been passionate about entrepreneurship, not because I want to make a lot of money, but because I want to realize my dreams and projects,” Mau said. “When I found MLV, I knew this had a vision. I am not the only one who has this dream. MLV has seized the opportunity of this market in Vietnam and provided the perfect course for it. .”
While at MLV Ignite, Mau is an app that connects high school students interested in becoming tutors at the International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) level with students who need academic support but may not have the funds. We worked on the development of Private tutor.
Thanks to MLV Ignite, the startup is already underway, Mau said.
“After the program, I had a clear idea of what it takes to start a business,” Mau says. “Dylan isn't that much older, but we have a huge connection. He's basically living my dream. When I told him that, he told me to aim higher. He is a resource to me and is always willing to introduce me to people and help those who want to become entrepreneurs achieve their goals.”