Lake Forest resident Paul Burt has big dreams to see future generations achieve their goals, and he is beginning with Lake Forest College students. Burt is building a revolutionary incubator—a business that helps startup companies or people with business ideas who need resources, such as office space, legal advice, and the proper equipment— to develop their model or invention.
Burt’s incubator, called Entanglement, is located just a few miles from the College’s campus. He seeks to attract students from the College to participate in Entanglement, since he believes that students often have innovative ideas that could lead to some outstanding inventions. However, most students don’t have the means to pursue these ideas.
For a lack of money, students sometimes stop their ideas,” Burt said. Burt, on the other hand, has the means to help students obtain the resources they require. He recently bought SaveUp.com, a free financial management site and app that uses prizes to incentivize Americans, especially the millennial generation, to save money and pay down their debt.
He is currently converting a 20,000-square-foot warehouse into a modern, creative space where students can work. Lake Forest College students Jacob Gilman ’17 and Charles Black ’16 agree with and share Burt’s vision and are working with him to design Entanglement. Entanglement is a space designed by students for students to work. There are plans to build an applications lab and a science lab with 3D printers and even drones.
Since Entanglement is focused on building a future, it’s going to look like the future: Burt said that the incubator would run off of solar and windmill power, have a green garden on the roof, glass office spaces, and walls that will change color every 20 minutes to keep students’ minds active and thinking.
He also hopes to keep students entertained and plans to build an arcade room, a “Think Tank” room to stimulate students’ creative processes, and even mentioned the possibility of a bar for students of age. Burt believes that this is his way to give back to the community. He expressed his desire to build “an economy of ideas.”
Interested students will go through a screening process, based off of academic performance, to become part of Entanglement’s network and community. If selected, students can join free of charge. Residents of the surrounding area are also encouraged to join the incubator. Burt wants the environment to reflect a “free sharing of ideas” amongst all generations that will work in the incubator.
Residents will pay a fee to join. Like students, residents can bring their business ideas to the incubator and also have the option of hiring students that have the skills they need for their growing businesses. For example, residents may want to hire student developers. Burt challenges Lake Forest College students to take advantage of this opportunity and see what they can invent, build, develop, and create. Entanglement’s motto, “You may be the smartest here, but you may not be the smartest there” reflects just that.
Burt has begun to work with the Career Advancement Center and Lake Forest College professors to see if students can earn some course credit for working in the incubator to promote his project. The incubator is expected to open in early May of this year.
