MICHAEL LEE
Co-founder, Connect and Panda Provisions | Age: 20
Michael Lee achieved a milestone when he closed a contract between the Ritenour School District and Connect, his video-chat platform designed to link high school students with college and career counseling from parents, peers and alumni, following a pilot. Students got advice about what they should be doing — college or career — after graduating.
As Connect continues to grow, Lee’s other major venture, the Panda Provisions convenience store, continues at Washington University's South 40 residences, providing an amenity for the school's Asian community and beyond. The 20-year-old is active in WashU's Skandalaris Center for Interdisciplinary Innovation and Entrepreneurship, too.
How does Connect work? Do students and mentors know each other? Connect is a social network that enables high schoolers to get college and career guidance from alumni, parents and high-achieving peers from their community. It's kind of like how college kids use LinkedIn to network for jobs or learn about industries but for high schoolers trying to get into college or go straight into a career. Students and mentors do not necessarily need to know each other; however, we hope that they get to know each other through our platform.
I first became interested in this work because I used LinkedIn to try and reach out to people from my high school that went to different colleges. To my surprise, it was really hard to actually get these people to respond to my messages — much less talk with me. However, the information I got from these people was absolutely invaluable. They helped me revise my essays, understand schools better and ultimately go to WashU. To make this process easier, I teamed up with my co-founders — Fortuna and Ethan — who had similar experiences and wanted to create a tool that self-selected the mentors who want to talk to high schoolers.
What does the (two-year) Ritenour contract look like? We have a basic SaaS (software as a service) agreement with them.
Why did you open Panda Provisions? What kind of products do they sell? Are you trying to fill any niche among Greater St. Louis convenience stores or Asian groceries? Similar to Connect, I experienced a problem and took matters into my own hands. When I first arrived at WashU, I noticed that it was a 40-minute round trip to the nearest Asian grocery store — United Provisions — from campus. Thus, I figured other people might have this problem, too! So I created a form and it turns out other people were also experiencing this problem. Thus, I teamed up with David (my partner who also was experiencing this issue) and the rest is history!
We sell Asian snacks and personal care products (skincare, makeup, etc.). We are trying to make Asian convenience items more accessible on college campuses. Our long term goal is to open up a chain of Asian convenience stores across college campuses in the U.S. (similar to Insomnia Cookies or Saxby's). I find the general problem-solving process incredibly enjoyable. I've always loved solving puzzles due to the thought process: 1. You get a problem. 2. Research the issue. 3. Create a high-level solution. 4. Execute the solution.
What about entrepreneurial work, particularly in terms of logistics, sales analysis and pitches, intellectually interests you? This has actually driven my studies in school and my passions outside of the classroom. For instance, when I first came to WashU, I wanted to get a PhD in Mathematics because you get to solve puzzles all day! I find that business problems are no different. For instance, let's observe the following problem: "How should Connect sell to high schools?" Problem: How should Connect sell to high schools Research: Figure out what sales strategies and methods other edtech companies use as well as what solutions I think could work that other people haven't explored yet High-level Solution: Use conferences, warm outreach, cold outreach, etc. Execute: Go to conferences, cold call people, etc.
Click on the links below to read profiles of this year's Inno Under 25 honorees:
