Business grad aims to support college applicants with technology company

Eyal Lavian wanted to graduate college having created something of his own. 

He will accomplish this goal when he graduates on May 20 with a Bachelor of Science in Management and a specialization in Entrepreneurship from the A. B. Freeman School of Business.

Two years ago, in the midst of COVID-19 lockdowns, Lavian developed plans for edVIZE, an education technology company. He wanted to focus on helping students through the college application process.

“I thought about outdated industries that needed to be revamped. Wealthy families have (college application) resources that kids in middle America or underprivileged school districts are not even aware of,” he said.

edVIZE began as a social media mobile application where college applicants could share advice, news and events during the application process. After receiving customer feedback, the product was revamped as a software platform that is licensed out to high schools. 

The platform is designed to help everyone involved with college applications. Students can use it to manage and track their applications, research schools and receive feedback from their school counselors. College counselors can use it to monitor all of their students and track who may be falling behind. School administrators can receive custom reporting regarding outcomes at both the district and school levels. Parents can monitor student progress through their own portal.

“Wealthier, more densely populated areas have more access to products like these. We want to make sure everyone has that kind of access,” Lavian said. 

To accomplish this mission, they offer the platform for free under the foundation arm of edVIZE, The Edvance Foundation, for underprivileged schools and students. 

He worked closely with his own college counselor, Jeremy Bourdon, and engineering architect Alexander Rindone to develop the software, which is already being tested by a handful of schools.

Lavian is excited to be able to focus entirely on his business as graduation approaches. He credits the support of professors like J. Cameron Verhaal, holder of the Albert R. Lepage Professorship in Business, for helping him to formulate a business plan and apply concepts he gleaned through entrepreneurship classes at Tulane. 

“I’ve definitely learned that when you are creating a business, you need to know how to tap into relevant resources. Tulane has many of those resources, and that’s been very important to me,” he said.