Amir Arrington wants to be a serial entrepreneur. So far, he’s off to a strong start.

Arrington, a rising senior guard for men’s basketball, is the co-founder of AthLead Network, a digital platform seeking to streamline the connection between youth athletes and their parents with athletic trainers, sports coaches and training facilities. Released on Apple’s App Store in May, AthLead operates on a subscription basis for both independent trainers and athletic facilities with contracted trainers who can promote their services to athletes and parents searching for trainers and athletic facilities using geographic, sport-specific and price-range criteria.

“It’s mainly for athletes to connect with trainers and facilities so that they can train, get better at their sport and learn as much as they essentially can,” Arrington said.

Arrington, who is from Atlanta, Georgia, said the venture began earlier this year when his former high school basketball teammate, Zachary Burns, who now attends Arizona State University, brought the idea to him. Arrington said he met Burns in eighth grade, and they bonded when Arrington’s father hosted after-school basketball training sessions, but as they progressed as high school athletes, the pair found it increasingly difficult to work with full-time trainers and coaches who bailed on appointments and overcharged.

With AthLead, the pair strived to create a singular platform where verified athletic trainers could be contacted and booked with transparency, starting in their hometown of Atlanta.

While Arrington continued his basketball career, becoming a walk-on at GW in the fall of 2023, and Burns’ career ended after high school, Arrington said their entrepreneurial and athletic mindsets persisted with Burns proposing they develop AthLead with Arrington’s extensive knowledge of Atlanta’s youth athletics scene.

“Humbly speaking, I know a lot of people in terms of athletics in Atlanta,” Arrington said. “And so we definitely wanted to start here for sure and to build that out, and to build that brand awareness and growth because we’re both from here as well, and so it just essentially made sense.”

Committed to the vision of AthLead, Arrington said Burns began developing the software, adding that Burns “built the whole system” utilizing Arrington’s extensive local knowledge to preliminarily launch the platform in the Atlanta region. Arrington said the duo used outside assistance sparingly, garnering occasional voluntary support from connections including a family member knowledgeable about taxes, to develop AthLead’s terms of usage.

Arrington said AthLead’s initial reception has been strong, but that they have received valuable constructive feedback, too. Arrington said after the platform launched, he spoke with a youth sports leader in Atlanta who recommended the pair find a way to prevent trainers from recruiting clients on the app, but later moving to other services like direct messaging on Instagram.

He also said that Burns, who has spent the summer leading a brand awareness campaign in Atlanta, found that athletic facilities often have contracts with trainers, preventing them from reaching new clients on AthLead independently of their facility. He said this caused the duo to open up the app to individual trainers and facilities themselves.

“We would have to get a lawyer, get an attorney to unwind that whole thing and get them out of their contracts with the facility that they’re tied to, essentially,” Arrington said. “And so that’s why Zach said ‘Hey, let’s just do subscriptions for the actual gyms.’”

Arrington, who has spent his summer as a wealth management intern at BIP Wealth in Atlanta, has made time to spread the word about AthLead in his home city, too. He said he and Burns have sent cold emails and made in-person pitches but are expanding their social media and digital presence as well.

Arrington credited his experience on the men’s basketball team, being a student in the School of Business and the network he has developed as a Posse Scholar with his learning and development of AthLead. He said he has been able to connect with GWSB alumni and men’s basketball season ticket holders, like D.C. real estate executive Bruce Pascal and 48 Blocks Fine Candy owner Amy Hughes, for advice on growing the business.

Arrington added that his mentors with the Posse Foundation, including Dean of Students Colette Coleman, have been valuable to his holistic growth as an athlete, student and entrepreneur.

But for Arrington and Burns,  the past few months have just been the beginning for AthLead, with the duo hoping to expand the app to Arizona and Washington, D.C., in the near future.

“Obviously, this is the ground floor, base level where we start, and I think the sky is the limit for us,” Arrington said.

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