Founders School

Founders School opened in the Financial District of Manhattan, New York, in early September 2026, with its first day of classes on September 6. The school shares its space at 180 Maiden Lane with Alpha School’s New York campus and is an offshoot of Alpha’s New York location; entrepreneur Nat Eliason serves as co-head.⁠[1][1][1][1][1][1]

Eliason said the idea for the school came about after Alpha School head Joe Liemandt asked students how they could make high school “ten-times better”: some students were already successfully starting businesses but felt they needed more support and resources. As of late September 2026, the school had 21 students, 15 of whom attended classes in Manhattan, while the other six were based in Austin and would regularly travel to New York to confer with their East Coast peers and mentors. As of October 2026, Alpha School’s website listed one “Founders” location for grades 9–12 in each of New York and Austin.⁠[1][1][1][2][2]

Like Alpha’s New York campus, Founders School is not recognized by the New York State Education Department and is legally considered a “learning center”; parents must register their children with the state as homeschoolers. As a result, the ban on AI in public elementary and middle schools announced in September 2026 by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the city’s Department of Education does not apply to the school.⁠[1][1][1][1]

The school’s high tuition and million-dollar refund promise sparked debate. Laurie Kopp Weingarten, co-founder of a college counseling service in New Jersey, questioned whether the school was asking students to take on too much too soon, asking “what’s the big rush to be an entrepreneur?” The school responded that academics would not be sacrificed: students complete a full curriculum through a personal learning platform, cannot move on until they truly understand a concept, and can participate in entrepreneurial activities only after completing their academic work.⁠[1][1][1][1][1]

Founders School covers all four years from grades 9 through 12, primarily admitting freshmen while also considering particularly strong sophomores and juniors; its first class enrolled in fall 2026, and the school is admitting students for the 2027–2028 school year. Students attend full-time and in person, on campus from 8:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, with no homework. In the morning they study core subjects through AI-assisted, mastery-based learning using Alpha School’s Timeback software, with most finishing before 11 a.m.; a daily standup is held at 11:00, lunch at 11:30, and from 12:00 students run their own businesses. The school says this adds more than 1,000 hours of hands-on entrepreneurial experience each year.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3][3][3][3][3][3][3]

The first year is a 40-week “founder boot camp” divided into five eight-week sessions: Sell, Build, Validate, Grow, and Scale. Each student is paired with an entrepreneur who works alongside them every afternoon, with a student-to-entrepreneur guide ratio of 1:10. Over the year, students read 20 books and write 40 long-form essays, with targets of more than $50,000 in revenue from one validated venture, an SAT score of 1400 or above, and completion of one AP course. In years two through four, students focus on a single business, with planned milestones of $200,000 in the second year and $1 million in the fourth. Students keep the intellectual property and equity in their businesses.⁠[4][3][3][4][4][3][3][3][3][3]

Tuition is $150,000 per year, and the school promises that if a student’s business has not made $1 million in profit by the end of the fourth year, it will refund the full $600,000 in tuition. The “$1 million” the school refers to is profit. The refund promise applies only to students who enroll as freshmen, is subject to the terms of the enrollment agreement, and has exceptions; students who drop out voluntarily are not eligible, but if the school decides at the end of a year that a student is not a fit and asks them to leave, the tuition will be refunded.⁠[1][1][3][3][3][3]

The school also offers Founders Scholarships for applicants whose businesses are already in motion, funding first-year tuition from partial support up to the full $150,000; awards are not means-tested and are not guaranteed to continue into the second year. The scholarships are separate from the million-dollar promise.⁠[5][5][5][5][5]

Founders School runs on the Alpha School platform and is funded and led by Liemandt, founder of Trilogy Software and Alpha School, with operators from his portfolio companies executing the program. Mentors listed on its website include Justin Mares, Claire Vo, Dan Shipper, Eric Jorgenson, David Booth of Andreessen Horowitz, and Joe Liemandt. Admissions has five stages: an online application, the CCAT cognitive test, an entrepreneurship challenge plus video, a 30-minute interview with the Head of Founder Development, and an in-person interview and school visit.⁠[3][3][3][3][3][3][3]

Founders School: Official website: https://founders.school/ (opens in a new window).⁠[3]

Alpha School: Official website: https://alpha.school/ (opens in a new window).⁠[2]