MIT Entrepreneurship Center

Version 960620 By Joost Bonsen, MIT 92 EE, jpbonsen@mit.edu, Copyright (c) MIT 1996

Keywords: MIT, Entrepreneurship, New Ventures, Venture Capital, Education, Technology, Exponential Wealth Creation

The MIT Entrepreneurship Center (E-Center) seeks to inspire, educate, and understand entrepreneurs and the wealth creation process via a wide variety of entrepreneurial efforts throughout MIT and beyond, including:

• Inspiration: MIT-wide Entrepreneurship History and Goals
• Activities: Offices, Programs, and Student Organizations
• Education: Business, Design, and Entrepreneurship Faculty and Courses
• Research: MIT-related Publications and Programs
• Engagement: Networking among Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Capitalists
• Resources: New Venture Startup and Career Development Information

Inspiration: MIT-wide Entrepreneurship History and Goals

MIT is an oasis of excellence in thought and action and attracts people who are -- or will become -- prolific creators of wealth. As technology inventors and founders, builders, and leaders of companies, MIT students, faculty, staff, and alumni/ae create and sell products and services which benefit themselves and the world at large.

• MIT -- Fountainhead of Wealth Creation

  The MIT family has a rich history of entrepreneurship. A study prepared by the Bank of Boston in 1989 found 636 firms in Massachusetts founded by MIT alumni employing more than 200,000 with aggregate world-wide sales of nearly $40 billion. In 1990, a study released by the Chase Manhattan Bank found 176 existing MIT-founded companies in the Silicon Valley area employing more than 100,000 with aggregate sales topping $20 billion.

• Example MIT Alumni and Faculty Corporate Founders

  Corporate titans such as Amgen, AMP, Campbell Soup, Genentech, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, McDonnell Douglas, National Semiconductor, Rockwell International, Tandem, Teledyne, Texas Instruments, Tyco International, and 3Com -- all multi-billion dollar (end-1994 market capitalization) public companies -- were each co-founded by MIT alumni.

  Massachusetts-based concerns such as DEC, Gillette, Raytheon, ThermoElectron, EMC, EG&G, IDG, Lotus Development, Analog Devices, Teradyne, Bose, Computervision, Dynatech, M/A-Com, Arthur D. Little, PictureTel, Haemonetics, Ionics, and Avid -- all greater than $200 million/year (1994 revenue) companies -- were each co-founded by MIT alumni.

  SatCon Technology, PerSeptive Biosystems, Molten Metal Technology, Powersoft, and Atria Software -- all young publicly traded Massachusetts-based companies with revenue growth rates of greater than 100%/year (1993 to 1994) -- were each co-founded by MIT alumni.

  And these are only the most noticeable companies. Hundreds, if not thousands, of MIT alumni, faculty, staff, and current students have started and built their own firms and dozens, if not hundreds, more are in the labs and classrooms at MIT right now.

• MIT Entrepreneurship and Leadership Goals

  The E-Center is for those who would like to understand, match, or exceed this historic record of achievement by members of the MIT family. Highlighted here are some of the MIT entrepreneurship, invention, leadership, and technology transfer activities geared towards educating and inspiring the next generation of inventors and corporate founders, builders, and leaders.

Activities: Offices, Programs, and Student Organizations

In addition to academic programs organized under the five Schools at MIT -- Engineering, Science, Humanities, Architecture, and Sloan Management -- there are several MIT offices and student groups whose activities support invention and entrepreneurship:

• MIT Entrepreneurship-Support Offices
  • MIT Entrepreneurship Center (MIT E-Center) -- The MIT E-Center seeks to increase understanding of new enterprise development, teach skills fostering entrepreneurship, and nurture new business ideas by supporting research, teaching, and collaboration with MIT's many entrepreneurship activities. (For E-Center info, visit E51-209 or call 617.258.8653 or email ecenter@mit.edu)

  • MIT Technology Licensing Office (MIT TLO) -- The MIT TLO manages the patenting and licensing process for MIT, Lincoln Laboratory, and the Whitehead Institute. More than 100 companies have been founded based on TLO-licensed technologies. (For TLO info, visit E32-300 or call 617.253.6966 or email tlo-www@mit.edu)

  • MIT Libraries -- The MIT Librarians are top-notch sources of information useful for everything from technical research through business plan preparation. Dewey, the business library, has an entrepreneur's guide.

  • MIT Enterprise Forum -- The MIT Enterprise Forum provides advice, support, and educational services to technology-based companies of all sizes. The Cambridge Forum hosts monthly case and start-up presentations, Fall and Spring workshops, IAP 5-day seminars, publishes the monthly Forum Reporter. (For Forum info, call 617.253.8240 or send email)

  • Technology Capital Network (TCN) --The TCN is a service matching entrepreneurs with individual "angel" investors. (For TCN info, call 617.253.2337),

  • Lemelson-MIT Program -- The Lemelson-MIT Prize Program awards $30,000 to an MIT graduating senior or MIT graduate student who demonstrates remarkable inventiveness and creativity while at MIT. The Program also grants year-long fellowships to doctoral students investigating topics related to invention, innovation, and/or entrepreneurship. (For info, email invent@mit.edu)

• MIT Student Operations
  • MIT Sloan New Ventures Association (NVA) -- The student-run NVA hosts guest Entrepreneurship speakers, helps run the MIT $50K Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition, and generally champions new venture efforts at Sloan and MIT. (For NVA info, email nva-request@mit.edu or drop a note in the NVA folder in E52)

  • MIT Sloan Venture MBAs (VMBA) -- This student-run venture capital (VC) club promotes awareness of the VC industry, hosts VC speakers, and helps develop new venture teams for the MIT $50K Business Plan Competition. (For VMBA info, send email)

  • MIT Entrepreneurs Club (e-club) -- An entrepreneur support club with weekly meetings in 66-144 @ 6pm, Tuesdays. Members started, have helped run, and have entered the MIT $50K Business Plan Competition. (For info, please call 617.253.2000 or email e-club-request@mit.edu

  • MIT Student Business Plan Competition Organizers
    • Fall semester MIT $1K Warm-up Business Idea Competition -- A spin-off of the MIT $50K Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition. The aim is to encourage students to flesh out their business concepts and to reward the most intriguing with numerous cash prizes and recognition. (For specific $1K Warmup questions, email 10k-request@mit.edu)

    • Spring semester MIT $50K Business Plan Competition -- An annual competition encouraging MIT student-led teams to flesh out their high potential new venture ideas inspired, in part, by prizes provided by generous individual and corporate sponsors.

    Additional benefits of the Competition include great contacts, feedback from venture capitalist and successful entrepreneur judges, and generous publicity and business community recognition. The $50K Competition promotes cross-campus teambuilding, provides students with a solid, real-world educational experience, and helps start real companies, including:

    • Stylus Innovation
    • QDB Solutions
    • DiVA
    • Brainstorm Technologies
    • Novus Products
    • i3 technologies
    • NFIC
    • SterWave
    • Redfire Capital Management
    • Osprey Engineering
    • Fairytale Fashions
    • HyperLearning
    • ThinkFish Productions
    • SensAble Devices
    • Applied Impulse Systems
    • NanoWave Inc
    • Agents Inc
    • net.Genesis

    The 1996 Competition Winner was WebLine Communications, whose internet callserver products add a Human Connection to Electronic Commerce. The other five Finalists in 1996 were:

    • OnCyte Technologies -- developers of a biodegradable chemotherapeutic delivery system.
    • InterSense Technologies -- developers of head position and orientation tracking devices for the virtual reality market.
    • WebSmart -- developers of Java applets for business purposes.
    • Epic Snowboarding -- suppliers of innovative snowboard and binding equipment.
    • Internet Telephony Company -- reducing your long distance telephony bill to almost nothing.

    (For specific $50K Competition questions, please email 10k-request@mit.edu)

Education: Business, Design, and Entrepreneurship Faculty and Courses

Both undergraduate and graduate students may take advantage of the farsighted MIT policy allowing anyone to take any subject, regardless of major, assuming appropriate prerequisites, instructor permission, and space. Thus Engineering and Science students might take targeted business subjects and Sloan students certain Engineering or Media Lab subjects.

It's very important to consult the latest MIT Bulletin and seek updates published by each School or department (especially by the MIT Sloan School of Management) since there are often dramatic last minute additions and changes to the subject offerings.

January Independent Activity Period (IAP) activities are particularly unique and useful parts of the MIT curriculum.

Here are a few subjects you should know of:

• 15.375 New Enterprises (Fall and Spring) -- Russ Olive (Fall), Eric von Hippel (Spring). A project course where the end-of-semester deliverable is a business plan for a new venture. Engineering and business students often team up and flesh out their business concept. These teams are encouraged to enter the extracurricular MIT $50K Entrepreneurial Business Plan Competition.

• 15.615 Managers Legal Function (Fall and Spring) -- Dan Nyhart and Joe Hadzima. Provides a basic understanding of the legal issues corporations meet during their existence. Follows one company from founding through bankruptcy. (See also 15.649 Law for New Products)

• 15.973 Venture Capital Lecture Series (Spring) -- Gordon Baty. Introduces members of MIT community to the venture capital industry as potential users and employees. 12 guest lectures, 8 Boston-area VCs and 4 MIT alumni founders who were VC backed.

• 15.97X Product and Venture Development ProSeminar (Fall) -- Drazen Prelec. Successful entrepreneurs and business developers from different industries visit MIT and share their lessons-learned and wisdom.

• 15.837 Special Seminar on MIT Technologies with New Venture Potential (Fall) -- Drazen Prelec. Technologists and business students are teamed up to jointly investigate business opportunities based on new inventions. Student teams in the Seminar are encouraged to submit their deliverable for the course to the MIT $1K Warm-up Business Idea Competition held Fall semester.

• Engineering School Wide Electives (SWE) -- Management in Engineering and others. (See the 1995-6 MIT Bulletin) (See also Undergraduate Seminars)

• 6.901/6.931 Inventions and Patents (Fall and Spring) -- Robert Rines. History and practice of intellectual property rights protection. Review of actual cases. Final project possibilities include policy-oriented papers or patent applications.

• IAP 15.974 Preliminary Venture Analysis (PVA) and Personal Entrepreneurial Career Strategy (3 units) -- Russ Olive. Develop a PVA providing a relatively quick decision on the feasibility of a new start-up or new product line. Consider and develop a personal career strategy. Students are encouraged to submit viable PVAs in the MIT $50K Competition.

• IAP 15.976 (For Credit in 1996!) Nuts and Bolts of Preparing Business Plans -- Organized by Joe Hadzima to inspire entrepreneurial thoughts and educate students on various aspects of preparing business plans. Subjects covered include: the Business Plan Document, Marketing, Financing, Legal Issues & Intellectual Property, People & Co-founders Considerations, and War Stories from Entrepreneurs.

• Thesis -- Many students use the thesis opportunity to study an entrepreneurial firm or topic. Business plans have been accepted as theses.

There are dozens of additional subjects worth considering from an entrepreneurship and leadership standpoint. These include communications, software project management, product development, design, leadership and business skills for engineers, negotiation, strategy, marketing, finance, intellectual property law, and more.

Since MIT undergraduates are required to take roughly 25% of their class load as "humanities" courses, it pays to pick them so they're also useful.

Research: MIT-related Publications and Programs

Engagement: Networking among Inventors, Entrepreneurs, and Capitalists

Resources: New Venture Startup and Career Development Information

• Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) -- MIT Sloan MBA, and possibly Engineering and Science, students are inserted into MIT spin-off companies during the school year, earning credit while learning by doing. They participate in many different aspects of building these companies and receive mentorship from company officers, investors, and board members.

• UROP and Graduate Research Programs -- Students working in labs at MIT are often the nucleus of spin-off companies. Certain professors have especially strong reputations for their orientation towards commercializing lab products.

• Internship Programs -- Corporate facilities are often excellent training ground for one's personal entrepreneurial career and are also goldmines of underexploited technologies and great talent. Internship-oriented programs for undergraduates (such as 6-A and EIP) and for graduate students (such as LFM) are worth considering.

Potential Applicants

There are plenty of entrepreneurship-oriented schools, for example Babson College, founded by MIT alumnus Roger Babson, class of 1898. Upon careful appraisal, we hope you'll consider applying to MIT!