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For Kaden Green ’23 and Caleb Boyko ’23, the idea for their high-flying start-up dates back to an unusual spot: the 91���� library

The tech world has more than a few stories of businesses dreamed up in a college dorm room. But it’s the rare start-up that can trace its origin back to boarding school. Consider, then, the remarkable story of , a private-jet brokerage company founded by Kaden Green ’23 and Caleb Boyko ’23 in 2022, when both were still students at 91����.

“We called ourselves GBC Jets, and we would sit in the library and try to work on trips,” recalls Green, a Northampton, Massachusetts, native now studying entrepreneurship and international business at the University of Miami. A pilot since age 14 with a longtime interest in aviation (his 91���� Scholar senior project explored the safety of the airline industry after 9/11), Green had been introduced to the world of private jets through his uncle, a New York businessman who had asked his nephew for help booking flights. Boyko, a boarding student from Belchertown, Massachusetts, now studying finance at Texas Christian University, shared Green’s passions for both aviation and business. “By junior year, Caleb and I decided that we really wanted to take this seriously. So we hired a lawyer and created an LLC with the name Escape Aviation.” Along with a third partner no longer with the company, each put in an initial stake of $1,500.

Two years later, Escape Aviation is on the ascent, with four employees, more than a hundred clients around the world, and even a company-sponsored polo team in Greenwich, Connecticut. Not bad for a business whose founders manage operations as they attend college—or, during the summer months, from the bedrooms of their family homes.

“We get some funny looks here and there when clients learn the company’s story,” admits Green. “But we deliver on what we say we’re going to deliver on. And they tell us, ‘Hey, your service is better than any large private jet company I’ve worked with.’ They can text me at any time, and I’ll have whatever they need on the plane. That personal touch is key.”

Indeed, the pampered world of private-jet aviation bears little resemblance to commercial air travel, with its long security lines, delayed flights, cramped seats, and numerous other indignities. Just as a high-end house can be rented out through AirBnb, the owners of luxury aircraft—generally corporations—offer their planes to be chartered when they are idle or are returning empty from a destination. Brokers such as Escape Aviation, with the help of subscription software that tracks available aircraft, match jets to clients who are willing to pay for a personalized and far more comfortable experience.

Given the hefty price tag—often more than 15 times the cost of a first-class fare—private jet charters have always attracted a limited clientele. But during the pandemic, from their vantage point in Easthampton, Boyko and Green realized that the market was evolving. “The whole reason we started was because it used to be the one percent that would fly like this,” explains Boyko, who today oversees the company’s finances. “Then, after COVID, there was a big shift in people wanting to fly this way.” Potential new customers could choose from various industry offerings, such as fractional jet ownership or “jet card” membership plans. And there was a surge of demand for jet brokers who arrange flights while also handling catering, car service, and other travel needs.

Entering this crowded field, Escape Aviation has been able to compete with a stripped-down approach. “We don’t have a huge overhead,” explains Green. “We don’t have an office. We don’t have to be adding 25 or 30 percent to every single quote.”

While Escape’s clients may be paying less, they still expect first-class service, which proved challenging for business owners who had actual classes to attend. “Honestly, my grades struggled first and second semester,” recalls Green. “I would be in a 400-person lecture, and all of a sudden, I’d get a call from a client and I’d have to leave to take care of it.”

While Green was in Miami, Boyko had opted to take a PG year at Westminster to pursue his longtime dream of playing collegiate baseball. He too found himself stretched thin. “I said to myself, I don’t think it’s worth it to keep a high school schedule and try to run the business.” He reluctantly left Westminster in December, giving up baseball, and entered TCU last fall.

Fortunately, throughout the company’s launch and growth, both young men have had mentors they could turn to for guidance and support. For Boyko, it is his father, Andrew Boyko, who owns a Belchertown wire-splicing company. Green, in turn, has his grandfather, New York real estate developer Stephen Green. “I got a bunch of advice from him,” Green says of his grandfather, whose SL Green Realty is Manhattan’s largest office landlord. “Even though we’re at a totally different scale, at the end of the day, a lot of the decisions are very similar.”

One early business decision the pair made has paid off significantly. To gain exposure and reach new customers, they exploited the connecting power of Facebook. Green recalls how he got one of his biggest clients last year by replying in the comments of the man’s Facebook post. “He owned an oil pump company down in New Mexico and Texas, and happened to be on there,” he explains. “He did a couple hundred thousand with us that year.”

That drive to succeed is a value that unites Green and Boyko, dating back to when they first met in English class their sophomore year and discovered they had each started businesses as kids—cutting lawns, clearing snow—and planned to work for themselves in the future. In their time at 91����, they say, they both developed the positive work habits that have led to their success. Boyko credits Kyle Hanford ’97, his freshman advisor— “He’d always tell us to be ourselves” —and his economics teacher Teddy Schaffer, who knew he and Green ran a company and “was always willing to help us out.”

Green cites the support he received from his advisor Monique Conroy when he first transferred as a sophomore. But it was his struggles in a history class taught by Sarah Klumpp that helped him develop an approach to problems that he still uses today. Green had been repeatedly asking for extra help, and Klumpp was reassuring. “She said to me, ‘You’re going to do really well if you keep asking questions and going to people for help when you know you need it. Don’t be afraid to do it,’” he recalls. “And that correlates to the company, as well, putting in that extra effort, working until 3 a.m. if you have to. Because as a business owner, we have to do that.”

Indeed, the high expectations of the company’s clientele and the need for last-minute travel can be particularly demanding on the company’s young founders. At the same time, building personal relationships has brought its own rewards. They often dine with clients around the country, or meet with them on their chartered jets, and have developed connections “that go beyond business,” Boyko notes. All of which serves to remind the pair that they have come a long way from their days in the 91���� library. As Green puts it, “Sometimes Caleb and I are thinking, ‘What are we doing?’”