Category Archives: Demo Day

Celebrating Our Entrepreneurs

Posted on by
Reply


Photo credit: MIT

It is with fond memories that I watched this year’s MIT delta v Demo Day presentations. Even though I was traveling out of the country, Demo Day generates the kind of enthusiasm and excitement that had me tuning in and watching the passion of these student entrepreneurs. (You can catch the replay of the Cambridge presentation here. The group also presented in San Francisco and New York City.)

MIT delta v Demo Day

Demo Day is an annual event that showcases the culmination of three months of work with the intensive delta v capstone educational accelerator program. Why am I so passionate about delta v? For five years I served as the director of this MIT program – a full immersion into a wide variety of innovative technologies and startups.

This year, watching from abroad, I saw a new cohort of entrepreneurs pitch their innovative and potentially world-changing companies to an audience of MIT students, mentors, friends, investors, and perhaps even customers. Kudos to Executive Director Paul Cheek, Jenny Larios Berlin, and Ben Soltoff, along with the entire Martin Trust Center staff for a successful Demo Day! Like any successful performance, there is an immense amount of hard work and preparation that goes into the final production. Like a proud parent, it was gratifying to pass the torch and see the program grow and move forward.

delta v 10-year Impact Study

In addition to celebrating this year’s delta v entrepreneurs, MIT just released an in-depth longitudinal study of the impact of delta v. I’d like to highlight some of the findings here to show how much this program has meant to the students and their startup companies, the MIT community, and to demonstrate the overall economic impact of the program.

The study was based on 10 cohorts of delta v students who comprised 181 teams. There were 692 participants during that time (67% were MIT students), and 322 of them (47%) responded to the survey. Some of the highlights include:

  • Survival Rate: Since its inception, 61% of delta v projects have become real companies that either continue to exist to this day or have been acquired. (For companies from the past five years of delta v, that number increases to 69%.)
  • Attractiveness to Investors: 63% of all the projects have resulted in companies that raised money.
  • Funding Attracted: The companies that have raised funding to date have totaled over $1 billion, and that continues to grow.
  • Founding Other Companies: Over 130 new additional companies have been created and raised an additional $2 billion beyond the companies started from the projects worked on in delta v.
  • Broader Entrepreneurship Communities: 68 (37.5%) of delta v startups were accepted into external, private/for-profit accelerators, including Y Combinator, TechStars, and Mass Challenge.
  • Connected Community: 83% of survey respondents say they are still in touch with their delta v cohort.

What’s Next for Me?

So, how can we help the next generation of entrepreneurs around the world be successful in their endeavors? Now that I’m working on the “fourth act” of my career, I’m working one-on-one with entrepreneurs and their startups in a consulting and coaching role.

These days I’m also traveling more for both pleasure and business. And, I’m working on an e-book resource on Global Entrepreneurship and Accelerator Programs around the World.

Interested in the e-book? Sign up here and I’ll send you a copy once it’s completed.

Pivots, a Pandemic, and Startup Founders’ Mental Health

Posted on by
Reply

The pandemic affects everyone. Today, we are all dealing with a different model for living – many people are working or attending school virtually, there is less social interaction, greater isolation, more juggling of home and work duties, and of course the anxiety and pain if loved ones become sick or die from COVID-19. A study by the CDC in June of this year reported 40% of US adults are struggling with mental health or substance abuse – substantially higher figures than in 2019.

Where does that leave our entrepreneurs? Beginning in March, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship closed its doors until further notice. We are continuing to support MIT’s entrepreneurship community virtually, including via online resources like Orbit. This past summer, our delta v accelerator moved to a completely virtual experience, including online Demo Day presentations.

One question we continue to ask ourselves is:
How has the pandemic affected the mental health of entrepreneurs?

Building Entrepreneurial Confidence

As we look to answer that question, we realize we were fortunate that MIT started the first self-awareness program for entrepreneurs last year – the Entrepreneurial Confidence and Communication (ECC) Program. We piloted this program with the delta v accelerator class of 2019 to help student entrepreneurs prioritize their own individual well-being while building their businesses. The culture of entrepreneurship celebrates working 24/7 to demonstrate passion and dedication for your business. A founder’s self-identity is often tied to the success of their startup, and as a result, entrepreneurs often experience loneliness, depression, and anxiety as they work through the normal ups and downs of startup life. This has only been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic which has caused delays, roadblocks, and failures for many startups.

Traditionally, entrepreneurs have lacked the support and tools to improve their mental well-being. The ECC pilot program, created by MIT Sloan MBA alumna Kathleen Stetson, taught MIT student entrepreneurs the tools and benefits of self-awareness; they then applied their learnings – discussing key choices entrepreneurs face, such as: taking breaks vs. spending all your time on your startup, working through limiting beliefs, considering others’ perspectives, and approaching challenges with fear or curiosity. The results were impressive, after taking part in the program 93% of participants felt that a self-awareness practice could help entrepreneurs create more successful businesses.

This year, because of the additional stress due to the pandemic, and the need for teams to feel connected when working remotely, we added two simple elements to the small groups within the ECC program that startup teams could quickly and easily implement in their own team interactions:

Red/yellow/green check-in – this not only encouraged small group members to practice self-awareness during small group, but many teams took this check-in strategy back to their teams, practicing it at the beginning of each of their standups.

A more structured way to give and receive help – after a small group member expressed a challenge they were facing, small group members asked clarifying questions rather than immediately jumping into solutions and advice. This not only made the speaker feel that they were heard, but helped participants practice active listening. They then took this back to their team interactions, helping them better understand their team members’ perspectives.

In a Fast Company article, Kathleen Stetson explains, “The 24/7, hustle-till-you-drop attitude has been a problematic fixture of startup culture for years. And now, due to the pandemic, sustaining one’s health is even harder. ‘I don’t know a startup founder who’s not burned out,’ a founder friend of mine told me recently.”

The Pivot: A Key Pandemic Strategy

“Pivot” has become the go-to word for 2020. People are pivoting with career changes and businesses are pivoting with strategies, as we all try to keep moving forward dealing with the unanticipated changes brought by a global pandemic. Entrepreneurs need to realize that a startup failure can be due to external circumstances, and the founders are not marked with a scarlet “F” for failure. A change in business strategy or taking a break from trying to start your own company is a pivot that will make you stronger the next time.

One of our delta v teams faced this type of challenge recently. Easel was a startup service that matched parents with top quality centers for last-minute childcare needs. The company was a member of the delta v class of 2019 and was faced with the tough decision to wind down the business this year. With the COVID-19 pandemic, so many people have transitioned to working from home that their childcare model was no longer sustainable. Although childcare continues to be a huge need, co-founders Neha Sharma and Michael Leonard realized they would need to shelve their plans for Easel and pivot to the next chapter in their lives. However, as delta v’s Managing Director Bill Aulet stated, “I still chalk these up to success for sure. They are much stronger than when they got here.” That strength, in part, came from MIT’s ECC program.

This type of a transition is one that often tests an entrepreneur’s sense of worth and purpose. They have put blood, sweat, and tears into their business only to watch their dreams fade. As stated in the Thrive Global article I co-authored with Kathleen Stetson, startup founders “tend to connect their self-worth and identity to their start-ups, which can lead to feelings of depression if their start-up fails.” Yet, we’ve found data affirming that when entrepreneurs understand their thoughts, feelings, and biases, it is useful in managing stress – and this is a skill that can be taught. This is why MIT is proud to host the Entrepreneurial Confidence and Communication program – the first comprehensive program to address mental health challenges in the start-up community and teach entrepreneurs how to effectively manage stress.

MIT delta v Founder’s Talks Culminate with Hayley Sudbury of WERKIN

Posted on by
Reply
Hayley Sudbury – photo courtesy of MIT delta v

This summer, MIT’s delta v accelerator program for student entrepreneurs was adapted as a virtual experience. Although this called for a flexibility and creativity all around, one of the benefits was that we were able to virtually connect with some amazing speakers.

Our Founder’s Talk Series let us hear about journeys of successful entrepreneurs, the challenges they’ve had to face, and their advice for our students. This year, we were lucky enough to hear from: Eleanor Carey, an Australian adventurer who gave an inspiring talk relating to the realities of entrepreneurship; George Petrovas, a serial entrepreneur who shared his founder journey; John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna, who spoke about leadership; Perry Cohen, Founder and Executive Director of The Venture Out Project who spoke about his journey; and Ed Baker, Investor, Entrepreneur, and Growth Specialist, previously with Uber and Facebook, who talked to students on scaling their businesses.

We concluded the series by speaking with Hayley Sudbury, founder and CEO of WERKIN, a company that raises the visibility of underrepresented talent. What Hayley and her team are doing at WERKIN is extremely important because although people talk about diversity and inclusion in companies, they don’t always know what to do about it. Here’s a short recap of what we learned from Hayley during her Founder’s Talk.

Overlapping Boundaries between Work and Life

Hayley commented that the boundaries between work and life have formally collapsed since March 2020 when the pandemic hit, and we all went remote. But also, there’s a bit of a trend toward moving back to our true humanity of who we are as people and the businesses we want to build to create change.

As an Aussie Brit, openly gay, tech, female CEO, Hayley jokes that she seems to tick a few boxes around “different.” She comments that getting a more diverse mix of founders will help create change in the world.

Driving Forces for Founding WERKIN

From her job at large bank managing a £ 50 billion balance sheet, Hayley notes she looked around and realized, there were no women above her, and there were certainly no gay women.

Even for the most extroverted types, it’s important to be able to see the version of yourself in life, as you look to create an aspirational pathway for your career or the businesses that you’re building. For Hayley, this was a real motivation to kind of get out and do something different.

Creating Inclusivity and Belonging at Scale for Business

WERKIN is very much focused on helping companies create inclusion and belonging at scale. The name comes from “We Are Kin” – and is dedicated to building a kinship and community within a workplace, helping employees feel visible and supported every day.

With the death of George Floyd earlier this year, there is a greater global awareness that we’re operating in a world where not all is equal. Race is a very important conversation that’s being had right now. This has opened up a broader conversation around consumers demanding more from companies – both companies we work for, and companies that we want to purchase from. Whoever we are, and whatever our lived experience or background is, how we choose to spend our money creates power.

Millennials, particularly, make decisions around wanting to work for a purpose-led organization. They expect more. They expect organizations to not only talk about being equal and fair and transparent, they demand that they are. And they’re looking for the data to kind of back that up as well.

WERKIN has been on a mission for quite a long time around helping organizations create this and inclusion and belonging. But now it feels like there’s much more of a sense of urgency and importance. CEOs are realizing if you really want a different result, you must do different things, and this year has really tipped the balance.

It Started with Mentoring

The seed for WERKIN starting with mentoring and sponsorship, which essentially go hand-in-hand. It’s the stuff that people do for you. It’s the doors that get opened. It’s the connection that someone makes for you to a colleague. It’s those small actions.

So, we looked at ways to democratize this idea of access to the right people, so that you’re visible, and the traditional “having beers in the pub” is not the only way to build rapport. WERKIN was created help that accessibility be open and available to more people.

We then leveraged technology to manage and measure these programs and demonstrate ROI. For us, it is very much a data play, as we create this digital standard for inclusion and belonging.

Love Your Customers, Not Your Product.

Falling in love with your product is a very easy thing to happen. You can see the pain point, for example, but if you fall into the trap of being product-first, not customer-first, it’s very easy to miss the real opportunity to create change.

At WERKIN, we think about how we want to change someone’s journey inside an organization so that they are seen, they are heard, they are visible to a larger percentage of the population. But not only that, they have a clear pathway to accelerate through to the highest levels that are, obviously, economically beneficial for that individual, but also allow them to influence the outcome of the organization.

Embrace the Most Exciting Time in our Lifetimes

While it may look terrifying from an economic outlook, if you’re in the business of building new ways to do things, this is probably the most exciting time in our lifetimes. Both from a change in civil rights, equality, and the move towards shutting down this very separate life we had between work and life, and actually coming back to our humanity. This means businesses that are purpose-driven, sustainability-focused, forward-looking, tech-enabled and changing the way we work, are all presented with massive opportunities right now.

The entrepreneurial journey is certainly a roller coaster ride – enjoy it!

For further insights about Hayley and her founder’s journey, watch her TEDx talk, read the WeAreTechWomen Inspirational Woman profile and the Forbes article on How to Create Change for the Transgender and LGBTQ+ Community in the Workplace.

To see what delta v has been up to this summer, register for our September 17 Demo Day live webcast.

An Entrepreneurial Partnership: Wellesley College and MIT students team up for delta v 2020

Posted on by
Reply

This week, I had a chance to meet with Wellesley students at an on-campus event and experience their passion for entrepreneurship. They had an excellent reason to be excited. Wellesley has just announced its Batchelor Feld Entrepreneurship Fellowship program.

Amy Batchelor and Brad Feld are known as a power couple in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and philanthropic circles. Amy is a Wellesley grad and Brad is an MIT grad, so creating a partnership between the two schools made sense for them.

The Batchelor Feld Fellowship program

Wellesley students will now have the opportunity to apply to the 2020 MIT delta v summer accelerator program, made possible by a grant from the Batchelor Feld Fellowship program. (Applications close Monday, March 30, 2020 at 8 pm EDT, so if you are interested, start the application process now!)

As a bit of additional background on the program founders, Brad Feld has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur since 1987. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures. Brad is also a co-founder of Techstars. As a long-time venture capitalist who has supported entrepreneurship in the for-profit sector, he also provides his expertise and leadership to non-profits. Brad holds Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Management Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Amy Batchelor is a writer and community leader who has been deeply involved in non-profit activity for two decades. She is the co-author of the book Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur. Amy graduated from Wellesley College in 1988 with a B.A. in Political Philosophy, and she served on the Board of Trustees at Wellesley College from 2009 to 2015, and 2018 to the present.

Their generosity has enabled Wellesley students to apply to be a Batchelor Feld Entrepreneurship fellow and be full participants in the MIT delta v program in either Cambridge or New York City, alongside the MIT students.

We are excited to have Amy and Brad join our long list of generous donors that have made this program possible, including Jack and Anne Goss who helped get delta v off the ground. It is the generosity of these philanthropists and their support of entrepreneurship that allows us to continue to innovate and elevate our entrepreneurship programs.

What is delta v?

MIT delta v is MIT’s student venture accelerator, providing a capstone educational opportunity for MIT student entrepreneurs that prepares them to hit escape velocity and launch into the real world. The name delta v literally means a change in velocity, and this program has been called the gold standard of academic entrepreneurship accelerators.

From June to early September, teams work on their ventures full-time for the whole summer. Teams will define and refine their target market, conduct primary market research and build knowledge about their customers and users.  They will use the Disciplined Entrepreneurship approach to building their ventures. At the end of the summer, the delta v teams formally present their startups at the culmination of the program on Demo Day.

Here are the basics to consider as students think about the program:

  • All Wellesley students are eligible to apply as individuals or as a team
  • Full participation in delta v in either Cambridge or New York City
  • Up to $20,000 in equity-free funding available
  • $2,000/month per student to cover living expenses in June, July, and August
  • Monthly video mentorship meetings with Amy Batchelor and Brad Feld
  • Join a cohort of peers changing the world through entrepreneurship
  •  Become part strong network of delta v alumni teams with a proven track record

Thanks to our Wellesley team!

I’d like to give a special thank you to Anabel Springer and Carolyn Price at Wellesley College. These two women are co-founders of NRICH Invest, a fintech startup designed to motivate college students to invest and save, and they drove the charge for this program. The pair worked as a part of the MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund’s Fall 2019 cohort, so are familiar with the benefits of the MIT entrepreneurship community, such as mentorship, funding and peer support.

In speaking about the program, Anabel Springer said, “We are ecstatic that this opportunity will provide a way for Wellesley students to engage with entrepreneurship and the larger startup community. Cheers to growing this community and supporting more women and nonbinary student founding teams. Let’s celebrate this moment for entrepreneurship!”

Carolyn Price added, “The fellowship program is an unparalleled opportunity for Wellesley student entrepreneurs to learn and create within Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s entrepreneurship accelerator program, delta v.”

In addition, Celine Christory, head of WeStart, and Tarushi Nigam Sinha, president of Wellesley Women in Business (WWIB) also supported us with this program.

Application, Deadline and Planning for Summer

As a reminder, applications are due at 8:00 pm EDT on Monday, March 30th. You can apply at: https://bit.ly/deltav-wellesley 

We hope to welcome several Batchelor Feld Entrepreneurship Fellows to delta v this summer! For any questions, please email mtc-deltav20@mit.edu or visit deltav.mit.edu.

As we respond to the COVID-19 outbreak and make every effort to keep our students, faculty and staff healthy, both MIT and Wellesley are conducting classes virtually for the remainder of the Spring 2020 semester.

Our physical space at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship is currently closed, but we have committed to making delta v a reality this year and are still exploring different formats if they are needed. We will keep our applicants and the Entrepreneurship community updated.

Why Give Back? Reflections from delta v Board Members

Posted on by
Reply

At MIT delta v, the capstone educational accelerator for MIT students run by the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, our board members are a very special part of the entrepreneurial mix. Each summer, the student teams work extremely hard to identify their beachhead market, build the right product, and secure initial customers as they form and grow their startup companies. On a daily basis, they receive mentorship and coaching from the Trust Center staff and the Entrepreneurs in Residence, but the rubber really meets the road when it’s time for the board of directors meetings. The board members bring in their real life, outside perspectives as the teams prepare to formally present their startups at the culmination of the program on Demo Day.

The delta v students live and breathe each detail of their startups every day, and interactions with their board members gives the students a chance to step back, look at the big picture, and convince others of their vision. They must rise to the challenge of communicating their business plan clearly and succinctly. There is a huge opportunity to learn from people on the board, who know a great deal about business fundamentals and have tremendous networks that can help an entrepreneur.

Our board members are incredible! Each of them is assigned to a startup team based on their industry interest, and they dedicate a minimum of 90 minutes per month during the summer to these meetings, not even counting preparation and follow up. The board’s specific role is to evaluate a team’s progress based upon rubrics and metrics focusing on customer and market understanding in month one, product development in month two, and the readiness of the business to launch in month three. In each meeting, the board evaluates how successful the team has been in meeting benchmarks and then awards the team an associated amount of equity-free funding. As a result, both the teams and the members of the board take these meetings very seriously.

But what’s in it for these volunteer board members?

Each of these people are highly successful, incredibly busy business executives, entrepreneurs, faculty, or domain experts. I’m sure each and every one could use a little extra downtime in their lives – especially over the summer – but instead they choose to engage with us at delta v. None do so passively; they come prepared and are tough graders for these student teams. Since delta v is an education accelerator, none of them have an equity stake in the companies they advise.

So why give back? I reached out and asked board members why they chose to do this. Their answers are truly amazing and inspiring.

Why have you chosen to give of your time, talent, and wisdom?

“Entrepreneurship requires a support network. It is almost impossible to do it alone. I have received so much support from the MIT ecosystem (that) I want to do whatever I can to help provide the same support for others in the community.” – Adam Blake, entrepreneur and investor, Board Member for Viridis

“To me, the energy that radiates from the MIT community is like no other in the world. The ‘pay-it-forward’ mindset is so intrinsic to the culture at MIT; thus, I feel honored to be able to share anything I have learned so far, which might be helpful to others.” – Amanda von Goetz, FERMATA Profiling,
Board Member for Season Three

“My brain finds all this engaging. The board members and the structure help these [students] move along on their developmental path, which in turn contributes to the world’s ‘good’ business karma.”
– Antoinette Russell, Eaton Vance, Board Member for CaroCare

“I have received a lot of help and encouragement in my career to take on tasks that seemed impossible (sort of like starting a company!), and this is my way of paying it forward.” – Chris Zannetos, Covered Security, Board Member for Quantifai

“All the time I invest in it is well spent, for it’s equally inspiring and enriching to hear new ideas, thought processes, and extract so much from all this talented and diverse melting pot.” – Jerome Selva, IBM Watson Customer Engagement, Board Member for Quantifai

“Entrepreneurship matters! It drives our society forward and helps us solve the world’s greatest problems. Giving our time and sharing our experience is how we keep the startup fire alive.” – Max Faingezicht. Entrepreneur, Board Member for Precavida

“Servant leadership is very important to me – it’s all about enriching the lives of others, building better organizations and ultimately creating a world that is more caring and equitable.” – Rita B. Allen, Rita B. Allen Associates, Board Member for CaroCare

With all the worthy causes, why delta v?

“It’s always as much of a learning experience for me to be a part of a team on the ground floor of some amazing ventures. It’s also a wonderful opportunity to network with students in the program, as well as colleagues and business professionals/executives throughout different disciplines and industries within the Boston community.” – Rita B. Allen

 “delta v is the program that I wish existed when I was a student. I believe it epitomizes the ‘manus’ part of the MIT motto ‘mens et manus’ and serves as one of the most important mechanisms for enabling MIT technology and talent to create value for the world.” – Adam Blake

“It is an incredible opportunity to connect and reconnect with out-of-this-world alumni from all corners of the MIT community, to problem solve alongside diverse minds, and to continue learning and growing through the experiences of others.” – Amanda von Goetz

“delta v is a driving force of the entrepreneurial ecosystem where you mix talent with motivation to go out and change the world.” – Max Faingezicht

What is one thing that you can look back on during this summer’s program that makes you say, “This was worthwhile”?

“The common passion and conviction embodied by the participants – alumni, faculty, and board of directors – to seek ways to make the world a better place.” – Jérôme Selva

“The team I worked with is moving to India to start the company that they worked on. I’d like to think that we helped them to refine their approach over the summer and seeing the team follow through with real action is very gratifying.” – Adam Blake

“To be able to be a part of the launch and initial pilots of CaroCare, a new venture founded by two visionary young women.” – Rita B. Allen

 “I have found the teams to be tremendously open to feedback and re-assessing their assumptions; seeing them not just take our advice on face value, but really evaluating the feedback and exploring whether it should impact their plans. That makes it worthwhile.” – Chris Zannetos

“Seeing the progress of the teams is humbling. The amount of work that happens in just a few weeks gives us a glimpse of what is possible when we are focused and determined.” – Max Faingezicht

“The team’s energy, their passion, their pure and unbridled excitement for what they do, is contagious in the best possible way. This is positive energy that reinvigorates and re-inspires you, which you can then take back with you into your own respective spheres.” – Amanda von Goetz

If you could share one piece of advice with students as they launch their startups, what would it be?

“You need to lead. Never forget that pivoting – and communicating the pivots – is an integral component of building.  You cannot build this on your own – you need those teammates – but you also need to lead.” – Antoinette Russell

 “Try to get as far as you can with as little capital as you can before scaling up.” – Adam Blake

“Get physically fit and work as hard as possible to stay that way. Being a founder is not an easy job, and it comes with a pretty hefty amount of stress. For that reason, it is really important that you stay as strong and healthy as possible. Get into ‘fighting shape,’ not just for yourself, but also for your team, and for all of the people who believe in you.” – Amanda von Goetz

“Be intellectually honest about your assumptions and challenge them constantly.” – Chris Zannetos

“Follow your passion, fuel your conviction, focus on outcomes to succeed together! The results will come!” – Jérôme Selva

“It’s always about people. Don’t get lost in the minutia and forget about your team, your customers, your partners, or your investors. In the end, people make up the journey, and that will determine the breadth of your impact.” – Max Faingezicht

“Stay humble, honest, paranoid, and ALWAYS hustle.” – Rita B. Allen

One final note …

I’d like to give a big thank you to Martin Trust and his family; without him there would be no platform for delta v. Marty Trust passed away recently, and he will be fondly remembered by all of us at the center that bears his name. To learn more about Marty and his legacy, read this tribute by our Managing Director, Bill Aulet.

MIT delta v 2019 Startups … and a Look Back at How Far We’ve Come!

Posted on by
1

MIT delta v Demo Day is TODAY, Friday, September 6 at 4:00 pm ET!

This is your chance to meet the next generation of world-changing startups …
If you’re on campus, join us at Kresge Auditorium; please register here. (Doors open at 3:30.) For everyone else, you can join us virtually by watching the Livestream link. You can also follow the Trust Center’s Twitter feed and the #MITdeltav hashtag.

A quick background … MIT delta v is MIT’s student venture accelerator providing a capstone educational opportunity for MIT student entrepreneurs who spend three months in the summer working in preparation to hit escape velocity and launch. Demo Day is the culmination of the program – the biggest day of the year for entrepreneurship on the MIT campus – so get ready to learn about the next wave of MIT startups that are ready to change the world!

Every summer we select the best of the teams that apply – students with an interesting idea or proof-of-concept – and we help them to create impactful, innovation-driven startups. For 2019, 17 teams worked full-time at the Martin Trust Center on MIT’s Cambridge campus, plus 7 teams that worked at the MIT NYC Startup Studio in New York City.

These teams were focused on:

  • Team building, organization development, and dynamics
  • Understanding their target market, customers, and users
  • Learning the mechanics of venture creation (company formation, legal, financial, raising money, and more)

This year’s delta v teams are listed below, with a brief description and the companies’ web sites. At Demo Day, each team will have an opportunity to launch their company to the world via a short intro video followed by a live presentation from the founders. (You can also see more in-depth overviews of the 2019 delta v teams on our website with each team’s Demo Day presentation shared on our website after the event.)

delta v startups – 2019 cohort

Abound
Early learning, without the screens https://aboundparenting.com/ 		Hardworkers
A digital community for working-class Americans hard-workers.com   		Ocular Technologies
Diagnostics at the speed of sight
www.ocular-tech.com  
Acoustic Wells
Intelligent IoT for the oil and gas market
www.acoustic-wells.com 		Haystack Ag
Empowering a new generation of farmers www.haystackag.com 		Precavida
One-stop shop healthcare platform with a personalized navigator www.precavida.com.br  
Alpaca Technology, Inc. Helping people find their homes www.rentalpaca.com  
Haystack Health Intelligent chronic disease management platform https://www.haystack.health/  
Quantifai
We scale low-touch customer success with machine learning www.quantif.ai
Atem Helping people breathe easy https://www.getatem.us/  

Insanirator
Solving urban sanitation, now https://www.insanirator.com/   		Season Three
Boots for Humans www.seasonthree.com  
auggi
Building AI technology for better gut health management www.auggi.ai   		Live Sports Markets Fantasy sports shouldn’t end when the game begins www.livesportsmarkets.com SirMixABot
Preferred drinks, preferred location https://www.sirmixabot.com/  
CaroCare
Personalized, on-demand care for new parents and their babies www.carocareco.com   		Lynx
Explore the city in a new way!
www.lynxsharing.com 		Spatio Metrics
Enabling a future in which every building makes us healthier www.spatiometrics.com

Easel
Flexible Childcare, because life happens!
easel.care  
Mantle Biotech
Extreme biology, extreme impact http://mantlebiotech.com/   		TireTutor
Buying tires made easy https://tiretutor.co/    
Elemen Skin care so personalized that it evolves with you www.skinelemen.com   Nextiles Smart apparel for superior workout www.nextiles.tech    
Viridis
Enabling financial inclusion through affordable and scalable data solutions www.viridisrs.com  

As our 2019 teams have been preparing for Demo Day, I’ve been reflecting on my past five years as a leader of the program, and my current role as Executive Director of delta v. The program has evolved and changed during that time, and I believe it has gotten stronger each year.

My reflections on five years with delta v

My plan for the summer of 2015 was to take some time off, enjoy a little rest and relaxation, and figure out the next chapter of my life after serving as an IBM executive and completing my doctorate degree. I learned about MIT’s Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, which was a place where I could see ultimately merging two of my passions – education and entrepreneurship. That initial phone call from Bill Aulet, the Center’s Managing Director, meant my relaxing summer plans were ruined!

Bill talked to me about this accelerator program he had started and how he needed someone to run it for the summer. I had never met Bill, but his passion, energy, and approach to entrepreneurship was in sync with my experience, and his excitement was contagious – so I signed on for summer 2015.

Over the years, the program name has changed.

We’ve gone from the Beehive, to FSA, then GFSA, to delta v, a name that literally means a “change in velocity.” We believe delta v truly captures what happens to these students when they join us for MIT’s accelerator program. The venue for Demo Day at MIT has also changed as we keep growing and more people want to come and be the first to meet our teams!

We’ve experienced geographical expansion as well. After initially taking the Demo Day show on the road with invitation-only events in New York City and Silicon Valley/San Francisco, we’ve now completed the third successful year of the MIT NYC Startup Studio – a separate cohort run by Carly Chase. (Watch this NYC Startup Studio video for a quick overview.)

The teams are amazing, which has been a constant through the five years.  

Many teams from my first year (Sandymount, Woobo, Khethworks, Humon, Ori Systems, VS Particle, and Spyce) are still going strong and even growing by leaps and bounds. Each year we see delta v startups become successful; they gain funding, win awards, even get acquired.

Feedback from our students each year has helped shape the program along they way. They’ve let us know how they want to learn, what is valuable to them, and what is different from what they learn in their classes. The initial feedback was that delta v was too curriculum-based, and since MIT had a lot of entrepreneurship course work that students had previously taken, we pivoted and began bringing in outside subject matter expert speakers plus added the support of multiple Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs). The hands-on, experiential learning at delta v is what differentiates these successful startups.

Our board members are incredible.

The delta v teams are guided along the way by a mock board of directors. The board is made up of heavy hitters – business executives, entrepreneurs, faculty, and domain experts – who give generously of their time and talents. When I started in 2015, I reached into my community, particularly with The Boston Club and the Society of Women Engineers to increase the diversity and technical expertise on our boards.

We also familiarized the boards with our rubric, and the Disciplined Entrepreneurship vocabulary that is so central to our everyday discussions. Last year was the first where we added delta v alums to the board, allowing current teams to learn from their peers who had gone through the same process.

We’re constantly improving our storytelling.

The best startup idea in the world will fall flat if you can’t explain it effectively. Each year, we realize more and more how communication – within delta v, with the board members, and ultimately at launch – is just as essential as a team defining its target market or raising funds. This year we used more video, put a greater emphasis on storytelling for Demo Day, and introduced Entrepreneurship Confidence and Communication as part of our program.

We have fantastic stories to tell and inspiring businesses to launch. Tune in to Demo Day 2019!

How the MIT Ecosystem is Supporting Entrepreneurs

Posted on by
Reply

0044_8788 copyAnother MIT delta v Demo Day is in the books! Our 2018 cohort was the biggest yet, with 25 teams presenting, and for the first time, we had a program in New York City in addition to our Cambridge team.

With all our preparation for Demo Day and the excitement of the day itself, sometimes it’s tough to step back and look at the big picture – but, it’s important. In this case, the big picture is the MIT ecosystem for entrepreneurs, and how it works to support our startups.

As our Managing Director Bill Aulet said in his introductory presentation, the mission of MIT is that we DO things, and that’s what this is all about. We are driven to bring knowledge to bear on the world’s great challenges. Our entrepreneurship program at delta v is about trying to solve some of these great challenges – and we do it by creating an environment and an ecosystem where these entrepreneurs can thrive and flourish.

An Inspiring Environment for Diverse Ideas

Delta v is the most inspiring environment I can think of for an entrepreneur. There’s an energy here that propels each of our teams forward. For 90 days, the delta v teams eat, sleep, and breathe their companies. They are guided through a process that makes them really think through the realities of starting an actual business. It’s not just chasing a cool idea – the fundamentals and bedrock of the business must be in place, including a solid business plan, working collaboratively with a board of directors, and testing their concepts with customers. The mentors, Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, our board of directors and the customer community are all part of the ecosystem.

This year, I was really impressed by the diverse industries in which the students worked. We had students with business ideas in crypto-currency, social, agriculture, mental health, financial, construction. And despite these wildly different spaces, the students still managed to find common ground and problem solve together. Three big themes stood out this year:

  • Inclusion – such as financial and societal inclusion
  • Human isolation – people are more connected today, but there is a lack of real relationships
  • Machine learning & AI – technologies with strong MIT foundations

A Strong Entrepreneurial Community

At delta v, we realize that a startup is only as strong as its community. So, we really focused on building more support systems for our students. We brought back delta v alums, like our keynote Spyce, a 2015 delta v alum who just closed on a $21 million series A round. We did consistent one-on-one counseling with founders and hosted outside advisors and speakers to provide novel perspectives for our students. In addition, this area provides an unparalleled innovation ecosystem access. The MIT campus and Kendall Square area is the densest innovation cluster in the world, with its concentration of startups, high-tech companies, and venture capital firms. This enriches the lives of our student entrepreneurs and expands the ecosystem where our they can grow and learn.

Personal Development as Leaders

A lot of this summer was about personal development for our entrepreneurs. I never worry about these students when it comes to technology. But it takes intentional entrepreneurship education – through many different teaching methods and technologies – to help create leaders that can rise to the challenge of starting a business. That’s something we hope to continue to grow at delta v in the coming years. Because really, anyone can raise money for their startup. But it takes better leaders and teams to know how to use that money and tech knowledge more effectively to continue generating revenue and try to solve some of the world’s great challenges.

If you want to get the full experience (and have 3+ hours), watch the video of the entire Boston Demo Day 2018 program:

To learn a little about each of the teams and view the startup videos (about 5 minutes each).

Also, see what BostInno and the MIT Sloan Newsroom have to say about Demo Day 2018!

 

The delta v Culture: Six Entrepreneurial Essentials at MIT

Posted on by
Reply

delta-v-2017-On June 12, we’ll open the doors to this summer’s delta v cohort, beginning an intensive 3-month entrepreneurial “boot camp” for MIT student entrepreneurs. This post looks at the culture of delta v and how this environment helps to grow entrepreneurs.

The saying “culture eats strategy for breakfast” is attributed to management guru Peter Drucker and was made famous by Mark Fields, president at Ford Motor Company. It speaks to how vital culture is in an organizational setting. At MIT, Professor Bill Aulet has written an article that explains why, as an organization, we believe culture is essential for entrepreneurs.

For delta v, MIT’s capstone student venture accelerator, we create a culture of entrepreneurship that is all about risk-taking and the freedom to make mistakes. Although delta v operates out of a cool space with a startup feel, it’s about more than the free coffee and ramen noodles or the walls you can write on. The vibe of delta v is different because of the people inside it and the meaningful work they do. If you’re one of the fortunate student teams accepted into the summer-long “entrepreneurship boot camp,” you’ll be surrounded by smart people all working on new companies with big goals. During the summer, the teams will be working in small cohorts in similar fields and will also participate in being part of a greater cohort, where a true sense of teamwork and collaboration is established.

The staff at delta v know they are assisting students who are making a positive impact in the world. In this experimental culture, failure is expected because students are encouraged to take risks and stretch to their full potential. This is a safe zone to try new ideas and the disciplined entrepreneurship framework provides a basis and common language for the staff to work with students. The framework isn’t a hard and fast set of rules, but it’s more like a common operating system that guides all of the teams.

As part of the culture of delta v, we also bring in the outside community to meet and assess the student teams from an educational perspective – not to look for deal flow but to participate in the students’ learning experience. A key milestone for MIT delta v teams is meeting with their board of directors and gaining valuable input from these advisors. This year we are also starting a delta v cohort in New York City to expose students to a network that is relevant for their company, for example, fintech, real estate, fashion, media, the arts – but, again, with a common operating system. As students gain experiences throughout the summer, they also build trust and respect within the greater Boston and New York communities that will be important as they launch their companies.

Six elements of the delta v culture are shaped by our principles at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship:

  • MIT Standard of Excellence and Rigor – The delta v teams receive not only the highest quality education, but also the highest quality advising, and practical experiences as well.
  • Collaboration – By partnering with various departments and centers within MIT and the greater community these startups will be prepared to collaborate for the success of their businesses.
  • Diversity – Encouraging a wide variety of perspectives, people, and ways of doing things mean that new ideas and concepts are examined from many angles and the diverse contributions make each company stronger.
  • Experimentation – delta v is the place to “fail forward” and try everything in a supportive environment.
  • Honest Broker – Since MIT does not take a financial stake in the delta v startups, our focus is solely on nurturing and assisting the education of the entrepreneur.
  • Mens et Manus – MIT’s motto, “mind and hand,” fuses academic and practitioner perspectives for a well-rounded entrepreneur.

The way the Martin Trust Center shapes the culture within delta v will be reflected by each of the entrepreneurs and their ventures. Good or bad, all our past experiences come into play as we create something new. Sometimes we choose aspects of a culture we want to emulate. Other times, we actively realize that a certain way of doing things is something we want to avoid. Many of the delta v teams will go on to become successful entrepreneurs that help to solve some of the world’s toughest problems. (Read about some of them in the news here.)

We hope that each student and team carries forth the culture of delta v.

 

Reflections on delta v 2017

Posted on by
Reply

mit_delta_v

It’s hard to believe I’ve recently finished my third year of guiding MIT startup teams through our delta v student venture accelerator. The 2017 cohort was another fantastic group of entrepreneurs and startups, and I look forward to seeing the places they will go as they develop their businesses and grow as individuals.

One useful exercise that we’ve done each year is to look critically at the delta v program at the end of each session and assess what went well and what could be improved. I believe this has helped us refine and grow our program, and I’d like to share some of our top findings:

Positive changes

We had great feedback from this year’s cohort, and did a comparison between 2016 and 2017. Here are some stats, and our take on what we’re doing well:

  • This was our largest cohort to date. We supported 21 teams and 65 entrepreneurs.
  • The average team size decreased from 5 members in 2016 to 3 members in 2017 – we feel that a smaller team size means more involvement in the process for each student.
  • The percentage of female entrepreneurs increased from 26% in 2016 to 45% in 2017 – we are making good strides toward gender parity and neutralizing gender bias, both important goals.
  • For the first time we expanded the delta v program with a Startup Studio in New York City supporting seven additional teams
  • The students were especially pleased with the founders’ dinner speakers and the interaction and support from our Entrepreneurs in Residence (EIRs).
  • They also generally liked the amount of programming included this year.
  • We implemented longer and more structured board meetings in response to requests made after the 2016 program; this was well received.
  • The teams closed more business during delta v than ever before, reaching more than $100K in revenue over the summer months.
  • Based on a survey of the students, the average net promoter score for the 2017 cohort was 93.6.
  • 100% of students surveyed are willing to be a reference for the program going forward.

We also reached out to our delta v board members for their feedback. Here’s what two of our board members had to say:

“Serving on a delta v board reminds me of the interdependency of the roles of ‘change agents’ and ‘game changers,’ irrespective of age or accomplishment. Board and delta v members, alike, seamlessly assume these roles while educating and constructively guiding each other to the launch milestone.”

  • Kristine Van Amsterdam, delta v board member

“As board members, we have the thrill and privilege of helping young entrepreneurs take those critical first steps to turn their ideas into real-life and life changing entities. Many of the ideas born here will become companies that impact the world.”

  • Janet Wu, delta v board member

 We’re thrilled that 100% of the 2017 board members are interested in participating in the program again next year.

Of course, there is always room for improvement. Here’s what we’re working on:

  • Our (new!) physical space is getting cramped with 21 teams.
  • Next year, we want to work more with the students to prepare them for meetings with the investment community.
  • The students gave us specific requests for new programming in areas from budgeting to negotiation to team development.
  • There was also a request for even more structure with the board, in terms of setting the agenda to focus on upcoming milestones.

We take feedback from our students and board members seriously and will be evolving the program for 2018. We wish our 2017 cohort much success! If you are interested in more detail on delta v, including seeing what some of our past alumni are doing, check out this year’s Martin Trust Center Annual Report.

MIT delta v 2017: Ready to Change the World!

Posted on by
Reply

demo day pic 2017Are you ready to be inspired? MIT’s student venture accelerator, delta v, revealed itself to the world at our 2017 Demo Day on September 9. It was a fantastic culmination to this year’s program and our students are ready change the world with their startup companies.

I want to thank the students, our speaker Shireen Yates from Nima, the staff at the Martin Trust Center, and our live and online audiences at Demo Day. I invite you to watch the video and view the entire program to see our entrepreneurs pitch their startups.

This year, delta v hosted the largest cohort to date with 21 teams.  In addition to bringing a wide range of skill sets to the program, our 2017 cohort was the most diverse in gender and ethnic background, and had a worldwide perspective with representation from many different countries. This had a tremendous benefit in terms of networking and the teams helping each other solve challenges, supporting the philosophy that diversity fuels innovation. The teams took their skills in science, technology, design, management, and entrepreneurship to tackle everything from fresh water scarcity, climate change, and different ways of producing energy to the opioid crisis, soaring healthcare costs and gender inequality in healthcare to global financial transparency – all big problems in need of innovative solutions.

At delta v, our goal isn’t to tell the students how to do things, our goal is to lead them to their own conclusions. We are looking for students with the “heart of an entrepreneur” who are looking to solve the world’s really hard problems. We give them the opportunity to fail and get feedback in a safe environment. Plus, they learn from each other. Our value add is to help guide students who are ready to positively impact the world.

demo day 2Here’s a brief overview of each startup that presented at Demo Day (in alphabetical order). Remember them. It’s likely you’ll be able to point back and say, “I saw them when they were just a startup at MIT…”

 

 

Alba

Focused on empowering women to achieve their goals, Alba is a care giving marketplace for parents in Latin America.

Biobot Analytics

Biobot’s mission is to equip cities with data to build healthier and safer communities. Biobot Analytics’ first application is generating a new type of data on the opioid epidemic. (See recent coverage of the team in Boston Magazine.)

Blockparty

Blockparty tackles food insecurity through fun, engaging cooking classes where young professionals can learn a new recipe while also providing meals to our neighbors in need.

Bloomer Health Tech

Bloomer Health Tech is transforming heart health and quality of life for women suffering from, or at risk of, heart disease. Bloomer delivers effortless and comfortable medical-grade sensors embedded in a woman’s bra to monitor multiple biomarkers using patent-pending advanced fabrics and algorithms.

Divaqua

Divaqua is committed to making water scarcity yesterday’s problem. They are developing and commercializing higher performing, safer, and more cost-effective technology to treat wastewater.

InfiniteCooling

Power plants, the US’ largest water consumer, use 139 billion gallons of fresh water every day, which amounts to 50% of total US freshwater withdrawals. Infinite Cooling captures water in evaporative cooling tanks and reintroduces it into a powerplant’s cooling cycle.

Klarity

Klarity’s vision is to provide widespread access to concise and trustworthy legal advice through intelligent technology using machine learning to reduce the time spent on contract review.

Mayflower Venues

Mayflower Venues enables customers to create one-of-a-kind weddings and events while helping preserve unique open spaces across New England.

Mesodyne

Mesodyne is bringing portable power to those who need it most. Its breakthrough technology enables ultra-portable, reliable, and affordable energy generation for the military and beyond.

Octant

Octant’s data curation platform uses deep learning to accelerate autonomous vehicle (AV) development. Equipped with Octant’s solution, innovators can spend less time collecting and managing data, and more time improving the future of mobility.

Pine Health

Pine Health helps patients follow through on doctor’s orders by using patient data to trigger conversations with an AI-augmented health coach.

ReviveMed

ReviveMed is a precision medicine platform that aims to improve people’s health by unlocking the value of metabolomics data, allowing the right therapeutics to be delivered to the right patients.

Roots Studio

Roots Studio is a for-profit social enterprise that curates, digitizes, and markets culturally iconic artwork from indigenous and isolated artists to a global marketplace.

Sigma Ratings

Sigma Ratings is the world’s first non-credit risk rating agency and helps companies more effectively and efficiently navigate increasing regulatory challenges.

Sophia

Sophia connects patients with the right therapists for them using a data-driven matching process, creating stronger therapeutic relationships.

TradeTrack

TradeTrack aims to improve personalized customer services in the fashion industry. Their solution increases brand loyalty and helps to improve customer retention.

W8X

W8X helps athletes to become their best and strongest selves with strength training equipment that adapts to their specific needs. Inspired by robotics, W8X has developed a weight lifting system that creates resistance electrically.
Waypoint

Waypoint uses augmented reality (AR) to help frontline workers rapidly capture, access, and scale expert knowledge.

The delta v teams also present to alumni and investors in New York City and San Francisco – quite the exciting month!

See more coverage of Demo Day in the MIT News and MIT Sloan Management newsroom.

demo day 1