In my mind, entrepreneurs are the “grittiest” types of people around – I’ve been one and I’ve taught entrepreneurship to hundreds of students through the entrepreneurship programs at MIT, including my five years as the director of MIT’s delta v student venture accelerator program, which launches student start-ups into the real world.
“The harder the challenge, the more it builds you up,” explains Leslie Feinzaig, founder and managing director of the Graham & Walker Venture Fund, when discussing the recent Silicon Valley Bank collapse. “The best entrepreneurs I know will face a hundred insurmountable obstacles – and come back for the 101st because they actively believe that with enough time and opportunity, they will come out victorious.”
If this is your mindset, my new ebook was written for you. It is a resource for entrepreneurs as they face challenges unique to start-up founders.
As more people become entrepreneurs, they claim ownership of their future and help to drive the economy of their own country – and potentially global economies as well. Start-up companies fuel world economies and have created a $6.4 trillion start-up economy.
Exploring Start-Up Accelerator Programs Worldwide
During the time I spent at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, I was fully immersed in a wide variety of innovative technologies and start-ups – including working with students who had come to MIT from all over the world. I also traveled to various countries to present and share our insights on entrepreneurship and to gain knowledge from programs abroad. And while there are many programs to support entrepreneurs in the United States, I realized that start-up founders from other countries have fewer resources available to guide them.
That planted a seed in my mind to create a guide for entrepreneurs who may be exploring ways to start their own businesses, especially in countries outside the U.S. In my current role as an entrepreneurship consultant and coach, I’ve taken on a project to develop this resource. I also hope this ebook serves as a resource for global accelerators, governments, and other stakeholders as well.
Global Venture Funding Activity
According to data compiled by Crunchbase, global venture funding in 2022 totaled $445 billion — 35% lower as compared to 2021, but $100 billion more than invested in 2020. Regionally, the U.S. secures most of this investment at nearly 50%, followed by China (10%), the U.K. (6%), and India (5%) based on Dealroom data.
Some entrepreneurs may think that they need to be in the United States because of the amount of investment money here, but we’re seeing more money flow to other regions as well. Today, there are lots of options for entrepreneurs globally. Often, students I worked with at MIT realized they needed more time to get the required product fit and build the company with customer feedback. The growth of accelerators worldwide provides options if they decide to leave the U.S. and grow their companies in another part of the world – whether it is their home country or a region that is a good launching pad for their product or service. This growth of accelerators, government support, and growing entrepreneurial communities worldwide can provide entrepreneurs with this needed support.
Diversity, thought leadership, and collaboration all work together to make the global ecosystem of entrepreneurs a much richer place. I hope that the information I’ve collected about entrepreneurship around the world and how different countries support their entrepreneurs is helpful in your pursuits.
As a note, this ebook is NOT meant to be comprehensive – it is more of a directional guide. It does not cover all regions or all countries in any region. I also realize that entrepreneurial ecosystems are continuously evolving, so new information will always be coming to light. To that end, I’ve published this ebook under a Creative Commons license – I am open to other contributors who want to add to this resource from here – please feel free to reach out.
Take the Next Step to Entrepreneurship
If you are a student, an entrepreneur, an entrepreneur-to-be, or you work in an accelerator or government that is working to encourage entrepreneurship, I hope this ebook provides you with insight and resources to explore entrepreneurship further in a global sense!
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.
As a coach and a mentor, I’m often asked for advice from job seekers. We are in a unique job market right now, a recent survey by Bankrate shows that 55% of Americans anticipate looking for a new job over the next year. This phenomenon has been nicknamed the Great Resignation by media outlets.
In response to the pandemic, “there have been a lot of epiphanies and reckonings that have occurred … with respect with how we’re prioritizing ultimately our values, and of course how work fits into that,” says Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate, the company that conducted the research. Americans are prioritizing flexible work arrangements, higher pay, and job security in their search.
Flexibility is now the fastest-rising job priority in the U.S., according to a poll of more than 5,000 LinkedIn members. Working parents want to adjust their hours to suit their parenting schedules, single people want the freedom to change cities, while still keeping the same employer. Freedom and personal control within a job feel like much more vital priorities.
And yet, there hasn’t been much change in the hiring and recruiting process. As companies look to fill roles, there are too few people for open positions. Hiring managers and staff are investing more of their own time and paying recruiters, but jobs remain open. It’s time to shake up the process and hire for aptitude and then invest in training good people.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job openings surged to an all-time high of 10.1 million at the end of June, outnumbering the 8.7 million unemployed individuals. Given these stats, you would think that companies would be trying hard to connect with job seekers and make the right fit to fill these open positions. But companies and hiring managers need to think outside the box and expand their horizons. Are you actively looking to recruit women who have taken a break from the workforce with flexibility and daycare options? Are you proactively reaching out to diverse talent sourcing and recruiting associations? Have you considered making your educational requirements less stringent to open the pool of candidates to those with relevant life experience? Are you considering the value of older candidates who can bring years of knowledge and mentorship to the position?
Rather than stick to the way your company has always done things, focus on aptitude, empathy, and coachability. Here are some insightful questions that should prompt real conversations about success that can be accomplished if the company and candidate end up working together.
Tell me about an achievement that you are proud of – either personal or professional – and what you did to make that happen. This is very open ended and lets the candidate demonstrate goals and success.
In your research on our company, what is something you found that we could change or do differently to be more successful? This will let the candidate know you are open to their input and will may uncover some new ideas from a fresh perspective.
How do you think you can make a difference in our organization? Again, it gives the candidate a chance to show big picture thinking and define what success could look like.
What skills are you working on improving, and how do you plan to get there? The opposite of the “weakness” question, this is a positive spin on skill development and opportunities, and shows if someone is a lifelong learner.
Do you feel that you would be a good cultural fit here? If not, what could we do differently? This can start discussions on diversity and supporting all employees. Although some candidates may not feel comfortable opening up, if the interviewer lets the candidate know they are striving to be inclusive, it may go a long way.
An interview shouldn’t be an interrogation or include tricks or puzzles to solve to make it to the next level. Adam Grant, organizational psychologist at Wharton, recently wrote an article for The Wall Street Journal, titled, The Real Meaning of Freedom at Work, in which he states, “For several generations, we’ve organized our lives around our work. Our jobs have determined where we make our homes, when we see our families and what we can squeeze in during our downtime. It might be time to start planning our work around our lives.”
As you are recruiting to fill open roles in your organization, do so with the goal of truly assessing the fit of this person for this role and your organization – and do so with an open mind toward hiring for aptitude.
Wisdom from the Women Who Support MIT’s Entrepreneurs
Today, November 19, is Women’s Entrepreneurship Day, a day celebrating and encouraging female entrepreneurship. Our student venture accelerator program, delta v, has launched some amazing female entrepreneurs – and our historical data show us that the women-led delta v companies surpass our very impressive overall stat that 3 of every 4 delta v startups are still operating. At MIT, our goal is to support all our entrepreneurs and make them as successful as possible. That is why we are thrilled when we hear feedback like the quote below – it shows us that we are succeeding in our support of diverse entrepreneurs, and neutralizing any implicit biases.
“In the Trust Center, gender, age, race, culture, even hierarchy, are invisible. It’s the only space I’ve ever walked into where all that baggage was truly left at the door. This almost disorienting sense of equality allows for a re-imagining of identity.” Joan Kelly, delta v entrepreneur and CEO of Abound
For the entire month of November, we’re profiling some of our women entrepreneurs, faculty, and Trust Center staff on our Instagram feed (@eshipMIT) with the tag #WEMatMIT (which stands for Women’s Entrepreneur Month at MIT). Follow the feed and be inspired!
Today, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship celebrates Women’s Entrepreneurship Day by focusing on the women at MIT who support all of our entrepreneurs, and sharing their wisdom.
Here is our lineup of stellar women supporting MIT’s entrepreneurship community and their responses to our questions on entrepreneurship. As I reflect on the contributions of these women, it is evident that the strong entrepreneurial ecosystems at MIT did not just materialize – they are nurtured, fostered, and improved upon by these individuals. They all bring a focused passion to their roles – with a lack of ego, they meet students where they are on their journeys to become entrepreneurs and help them flourish.
What advice can you share with aspiring entrepreneurs?
“Just start! Usually that first step is the hardest one. If you just start you will see that anyone can get started. Figure out what that first step is and do it. And if your first step was to make a PowerPoint, nice job doing that first step, but now get out of PowerPoint and talk to humans!!” – Kit Hickey
“Admit what you don’t know. Share your idea and take every opportunity to learn from those around you. This isn’t always a comfortable way for talented, high performers to operate. But it is critical. Rather than always looking for validation of your ideas, look for evidence that reveals weaknesses in your hypotheses.” – Megan Mitchell
“Seek a broad range of advisors, mentors, colleagues – diversity in terms of age, gender, experience, outlook on life and don’t limit it to people you think you align with – so that you are challenged to move beyond your comfort zone.” – Lesley Millar-Nicholson
“Follow your intuition and do what you feel is right. Women have stronger emotional intelligence, use this to make appropriate decisions and follow through with persistence.” – Karen Golmer
“Remain open-minded to what you learn through research. Approach research with curiosity, rather than an opportunity to reinforce and validate your current assumptions. Embrace surprising results and be ready to go back to the drawing board and adapt your solutions to a deeper understanding of the problem you’re looking to solve.” – Jinane Abounadi
“The outcome of any entrepreneurial endeavor is extremely uncertain, so you should be really excited about the journey. And surround yourself with people you like and respect, because you’ll be spending a lot of time together!” – Carly Chase
What do you believe female entrepreneurs need to do more of/better/differently to be successful?
“Unfortunately, we still need to have incredibly thick skin because the industry is not yet as equitable as it should be. Given the inequities, we’ve got to support and stick up for one another, in both small and big ways.” – Carly Chase
“Recognize that there are fewer female-backed startup companies, fewer women on Boards of companies, fewer patent holding female scientists – but don’t let that be a hurdle. In fact, find those who have or are those things – and learn from them, what inspires them, what tricks and tools have they created to achieve what they have achieved.” – Lesley Millar-Nicholson
“Really examine what YOU want out of your entrepreneurial journey. We spend so much of our lives being told what we should be, it is a challenge to break away from that and define what success is for you. Success for you may be completely different than what success means for your classmate, and that’s OK. By actually defining success for yourself, you can have a much more meaningful, impactful and enjoyable career.” – Kit Hickey
“Female entrepreneurs need to own their space, their knowledge, and their brilliance. Women have to be deliberate in the words they use when they speak about their experience and their ventures. Please don’t say, ‘If the pilot is successful, we will…” Come from an affirmative position. Trade that language for something more like: “Following our successful pilot, we will…” – Megan Mitchell
“Speak up more often (males don’t wait for their turn to speak ) – so don’t wait to be asked, offer up your opinions, experience, insight and do it in a thoughtful and measured way – so people are keen to listen.” – Lesley Millar-Nicholson
Female entrepreneurs need to work together and hold one another accountable when they see another not owning her own power. Women working together will elevate all.” – Megan Mitchell
“Own your ‘imposter syndrome’ and don’t let it come an excuse to demonstrate your knowledge, passion and capabilities – in fact, challenge that feeling by speaking up.” – Lesley Millar-Nicholson
“Don’t back down, instead listen with respect and learn about other perspectives. When feeling blocked or ignored, don’t speak louder to be heard – try a different approach.” – Karen Golmer
“Try not to take it personally when you hit a roadblock, or your initial ideas get rejected. Be confident in your talent and your ability to overcome hurdles and challenges. Use a network of caring mentors to get honest feedback and be open to listening and growing in the process.” – Jinane Abounadi
How do you, personally, keep inspired and moving forward?
“I look for and accept the challenges that appear – one at a time. When I end up in a conflict or uncomfortable situation, I use humor to diffuse the tension and redirect to move forward.” – Karen Golmer
“For me, the inspiration at his phase of my career comes from stepping back and hearing about stories of other amazing women that have worked hard and persevered to make a difference. I felt so inspired when I heard that there was a woman scientist (Ozlem Tureci) behind the [COVID-19] Pfizer vaccine. In my role, I see the potential of so many of our brilliant female students (undergrad or graduate) to make significant impact in the future and I will feel proud to have been part of their journey.” – Jinane Abounadi
“I love engaging with people – the passion, diversity and new ideas at MIT keep me inspired every day. Every day I learn from a student, and I love it! Being at a place where you continue to learn, can engage with amazing people, and have the autonomy to solve hard problems you are interested in, is what I love about being an EIR at MIT.” – Kit Hickey
“It is the entrepreneurs, their individual stories and passion that inspire me and keep me moving forward. Each entrepreneur has a story that connects them to the problem they are trying to solve. Often that story is deeply personal and offers me insights not only into who they are as individuals, but also the worlds in which they come from.” – Megan Mitchell
“Recognizing that I am part of a community and my contribution (or lack of it) has impact on others and what they can or cannot achieve because of my actions.” – Lesley Millar-Nicholson
“Building businesses from scratch is an incredibly difficult, gritty, and uncomfortable experience that forces you to grow in ways you didn’t even know you needed to! I’m addicted to not only the constant growth I personally get from being an entrepreneur, but also to the people who it attracts – they are the most exciting people in the world to be working alongside.” – Carly Chase
Conclusion
At MIT, our definition of entrepreneurship has evolved from a focus on startups to an entrepreneurial mindset – we see entrepreneurship as a skillset and a way of operating. We need entrepreneurial attributes in all our organizations – whether it is within a big company, a small company, or a university environment. These women bring that entrepreneurial mindset to their roles in helping curious entrepreneurs in corporate environments, ready-to-go entrepreneurs, and amplifiers in their communities. They cover the developing world, emerging markets, and corporate innovation. We live in a changing world with changing needs, and students need to test and adapt their entrepreneurial skills. Thank you to Jinane, Carly, Karen, Kit, Lesley, and Megan for your invaluable guidance to MIT’s student entrepreneurs! As we all work together at MIT, we see all boats rise which is what makes the MIT community an amazing ecosystem.
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.
At MIT, entrepreneurship programs run wide and deep – but across the board, student entrepreneurs know they can count on the university’s Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs) for their wisdom, experience, and advice.
We caught up with some former EIRs who have represented the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. They have been part of a rotational program spearheaded by Bill Aulet, the Center’s Managing Director. The concept of rotating experienced entrepreneurs through the Trust Center has been extremely successful – it gives students a sounding board for their questions and benefits the EIRs as well, enabling them to recharge and rejuvenate before their next venture.
Aulet likes to call the network of EIRs part of MIT’s Entrepreneurial Talent Tree. Many of these individuals have roots at MIT – they went into the world to become entrepreneurs, then touched back down at MIT as EIRs prior to moving on to do big things as entrepreneurs again, or in the entrepreneurial education community. Through this talent tree, the lessons and skills of MIT’s entrepreneurship program are widely shared, and a strong network is formed.
Elaine Chen, a former EIR who has recently been appointed as the Director of the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center (TEC) and the Cummings Family Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship, sums up the MIT EIR experience as an opportunity to give back to the entrepreneurial community by helping them learn. “We draw on our own experiences to help students acquire an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset, which will help them succeed wherever they go in their careers.”
“We try to give entrepreneurs a safe, unbiased set of feedback,” comments Dip Patel, now CTO of Soluna. “In the entrepreneurship game, it’s very hard to get unbiased feedback. And it’s doubly hard to get unbiased feedback from people who have been operators or founders.”
“It’s better to give than to receive,” adds Will Sanchez, now at Gradient, his fourth startup. “But as MIT EIRs, we certainly receive a lot from the students as well. And we are doing this in a serving way.”
Donna Levin adds, “The EIR role enabled me to help provide students with actionable skills, proven frameworks, and a sense of urgency – what we called moving at founder speed.” Levin has moved on to head up Babson’s entrepreneurship program.
Nick Meyer, now a co-founder of Relativity6, remarks on the bond between the EIR group at the Trust Center. “Everyone’s always trying to help each other out and make introductions, and we still talk all the time.”
Introducing MIT EIRs: What they’re doing Now
As a brief introduction, here’s a quick snapshot of the former EIRs interviewed for this article and what they are doing now. Each EIR explains what they felt they were able to share with the student entrepreneurs, and what they received in return.
Elaine Chen continues to expand entrepreneurial education in the Boston area as the Director of the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center and the Cummings Family Professor of the Practice in Entrepreneurship, following her nine years at MIT as an EIR and Senior Lecturer. Chen will work with students in all majors – including liberal arts, medical, dental, etc. Building on her MIT experience, this was a fantastic career opportunity and Chen looks forward to the year ahead.
Nick Meyer is now a co-founder and Chief Product Officer of Relativity6, a company that uses AI to increase customer retention and lifetime value, currently focusing on the insurance broker industry. Key to Relativity6’s success is how to be predictive, without using personal information. The company looks at patterns developing over the course of people’s lives.
Will Sanchez is now The VP of Business and Customer Development and a founding advisor at Gradient, a cybersecurity company that is working to reimagine digital trust from the very beginning. The 14-person, Boston-based startup is still very much in the jungle stage – no paved roads – and he’s learning tons of new things to satisfy his infinite curiosity.
Dip Patel, is now the CTO at Soluna, a company launched in 2018 that is building a new type of data center that combines with renewable power plants – grid operators can plug into and turn on and off whenever they want. The company’s mission is to make renewable energy the primary power source, using computing as a catalyst.
Giving to, and Gaining from, MIT’s Student Entrepreneurs
It’s evident that this is a smart and talented group. We are fortunate each of them shared their time and talents with the student entrepreneurs at MIT. Here’s how they felt they gave back to the entrepreneurship community, and what they gained in return.
Elaine Chen comments she was known as a “hardware person” at the Trust Center and was able to leverage her background at Rethink Robotics, Zeemote, SensAble Technologies, and other hardware-related startups, to help guide students with startups in that sector. She feels that she was able to share her experience having seen a lot of different scenarios and give students a dose of reality.
Working with the students, she learned a lot about different businesses – from bitcoin to chip design – because they researched it and learned it together. She also worked with current EIR Paul Cheek as product manager for MIT Orbit, and helped build up the knowledge base with over 600 unique articles for entrepreneurs.
Donna Levin explains, “We were able to create a safe environment and meet students wherever they were on their entrepreneurial journey. From ideation, market selection, to product market fit – early stage entrepreneurs craved the ability to have a conversation about the problem they were trying to tackle today or this week.”
She was constantly inspired by the societal problems the students are tackling in the world and learning about new technology and scientific discoveries. Levin says serving as an EIR was one of the most rewarding experiences of her career.
Nick Meyer believes he helped students navigate the MIT culture and break out of the mental blocks that can come from overthinking things. Many students at MIT have such confidence in their ability to build things, and build things quickly, that they default to building instead of first figuring out what should be built. Meyer was able to aid students by sharing a lot of stories of what’s practical and what has worked at his startups.
In turn, he reports that telling his stories to the students helped him created a narrative of what happened in his career, as opposed to how the startup made him feel. “You can build up this narrative that’s not the healthiest because there aren’t that many levels of success in startups. There is kind of ‘billionaire or bust’ mentality, so, most of your time is spent dealing in failure and not reflecting on everything you’ve learned, what you’re good at, and being helpful. I’ve learned from the students how valuable all my startup experiences really were, and just who I am and what I’ve learned, and how to approach things.”
Will Sanchez sayson the first day of the delta v kickoff, he introduced himself to the cohort as, “I’m Will, New York City kid. I don’t know how I can help you, but I will ask you the tough questions – the more awkward, the better.” He reports that seemed to have resonated well not only with the delta v team but with the cohort and students in general.
What he learned from the students was that there’s so much he had to offer. “Going into it, I didn’t know what I could possibly offer these brilliant students and faculty, I just ran a small start-up that was somewhat successful. It was surprising to me how much I could add as a generalist.”
Dip Patel explains he was always extremely candid about his past and showing his vulnerability to the students – from sharing what it was like to fire his best friend to landing a million-dollar deal. “I think that what I brought as an EIR is candid vulnerability, plus realism as to what they are signing up for. And the energy, I think I brought energy.”
In terms of learning from the students, he comments, “It is extremely motivating that I get to meet students who share their dreams with me. The fact that I’m able to help them achieve their dreams, and they are grateful for that, motivates me as an entrepreneur.”
Keeping it Fresh
In other businesses, employee churn is generally seen as a negative. However, at MIT, the EIR position is designed to be part of a rotational model that keeps things fresh for both the students and the experienced entrepreneurs. EIRs find that the role of being an advisor to students lets them recharge their entrepreneurial batteries and unwind after the stress of starting a new company – and, the Trust Center gets the benefit of new and different experiences with each EIR.
Patel comments, “When you sell a company, even if you make millions of dollars, you’re losing a big piece of who you are. A lot of people say you shouldn’t connect your professional life with who you are, but it’s really hard for an entrepreneur to do that – damn near impossible. So, when that company ends, for whatever reason, it really takes a toll.” The beauty of the EIR role is that it lets entrepreneurs decompress and figure out what’s next. However, he continues, “After we started Soluna, I missed the Trust Center and wanted to get back involved, so now I’ve come back as a lecturer, co-teaching one entrepreneurship class each semester.”
Meyer says that when he was first approached for the EIR position, he was in the middle of a starting a new company, so he declined. “About three months later, I realized that I was in no mental space to be doing another start-up, because it was like my seventh or something, starting from when I was in high school,” comments Meyer. “I knew I did not have the grit or energy built up to last for another three, four, or five years working at another startup. I just needed a break.” After a short stint as a ski instructor in Switzerland, he joined MIT as an EIR for about two years. Along with helping students, it let him reflect on the best way to move forward. “I’d say MIT encourages people to move on after spending some time as an EIR. Very few people camp out for a long time.”
Conclusion
“MIT is a special place. It’s a place where people truly believe the impossible can work,” explains Patel, and this belief resonates in the discussions with all of the EIRs. Chen adds, “Being an EIR in MIT’s strong entrepreneurial ecosystem was an amazing opportunity.”
Sanchez reflects, “As EIRs, we’re all sorts of shapes and sizes and colors, but we all want to add the human dynamic to entrepreneurship – the stuff you can’t just Google or read about in a class.” Patel continues, “The EIRs are truly there to help, but the entrepreneurs have to ask. And you have to get comfortable asking for help – that’s another piece of advice. It’s a sign of strength, not weakness, to ask for help.”
As this group of EIRs blazes new trails, they are each still inextricably tied to their EIR cohort and the student entrepreneurs they advised while at MIT’s Trust Center. This network runs deep, and the talent tree continues to grow.
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!
At MIT, the delta v accelerator is our capstone entrepreneurial experience for students. As educators, we always want to know what students gained from our programs and how it helped them in their post-MIT life. We recently interviewed delta v alumni to understand how their entrepreneurship education has had an impact on their life, and we wanted to share the findings.
We reached out to over 400 delta v alums from 2012-2019 with 60 responses.
87% Consider Entrepreneurial Skills a Core Competency
Slightly more than four out of five survey respondents currently consider themselves entrepreneurs. However, the vast majority of alumni (87%) view entrepreneurial skills as a core competency by 87% of respondents – rather than just a means to start their own business. These people may be creating their own ventures now, but they may transition throughout their careers between entrepreneurship and other roles. It’s important that these entrepreneurial skills will support them in either situation.
Respondents consider who consider entrepreneurship a core competency credit both the MIT program as well as the importance of hands-on experience to develop their entrepreneurial skillset. Many also noted they view entrepreneurship as a set of skills that must be honed through practice.
Entrepreneurship is Seen as an Important Part of People’s Identity
Many alumni view entrepreneurship as a way to solve important problems and pursue their visions. Entrepreneurship is the lens through which they approach these challenges and visions, with 62% of respondents reporting that an entrepreneurial outlook is an important part of their identity.
However, a select few respondents see entrepreneurship as a strict occupation, and not a core part of their identity. Others described themselves as entrepreneurs within their specific field or company, for example, an “entrepreneurial scientist.”
92% Say MIT Entrepreneurship Classes Support their Current Role
The classwork that delta v alumni participated in has proven to be on target. A full 92% of respondents either strongly agreed or agreed that what they learned in MIT entrepreneurship classes supports their current role, even if they are not an entrepreneur today.
Specifically, delta v alumni said the skills learned in the classroom help them in the following situations:
It gave me a playbook when I have to do things I have not done before.
I use what I learned at MIT every single day, in working with my team, financial planning/strategy, product development and management, and making sure I am looking at the right problems, in various different ways.
I focus a lot on management – and classes in particular help understand people and teams.
I need to assess new technologies according to their business promise and their technical risks.
I can more effectively voice my concerns and disagreements.
I can think about problems from a variety of different angles – rather than just technically.
The classwork provided a structured approach to innovation.
The presentation skills and network taught in delta v are still used to this day.
Entrepreneurial Skills are Marketable
Respondents feel that the entrepreneurial skills they learned while at MIT are marketable with 79% strongly agreeing or agreeing with that statement. They feel that:
The skills are an asset in their current role (86%)
The skills will be an asset in their future roles (68%)
The skills will help them in landing a future job (37%)
Some of the general entrepreneurial skills respondents bring to the table include customer identification/market research, Identifying competitive positioning and use cases, product design, business modeling, and scaling a business.
MIT’s entrepreneurship courses benefit participants by providing frameworks, structure, and discipline to their ideas. It also gave them opportunities to test out ideas and take risks, iterating those ideas in a supportive and knowledge-based environment. Many respondents mentioned the supportive delta v ecosystem and cohort, providing mentors in the entrepreneurship community and a network that gave the entrepreneurs confidence.
One of the delta v alumni sums it up nicely, saying:
“delta v gives people the opportunity to create transformational value in society. It gives young people the tools and skills they need to make that happen. The future rests on the next wave of entrepreneurs to bring about that change and growth.”
This slightly scary piece of encouragement might leave you with a bit of trepidation. But, an alum of MIT’s week-long Entrepreneurship Development Program (EDP) vows this program changed her business completely.
So, what is MIT’s Entrepreneurship Development Program? Let me offer a peek inside the program from the view of a faculty member and coach. I personally find it fascinating part to witness professionals experience their “Aha!” moment during the program – that sudden moment of realization, inspiration, and insight in their entrepreneurial journey.
Bill Aulet kicks off a session on Disciplined Entrepreneurship
For the third year in a row I recently assisted in teaching and facilitating this MIT Executive Education program with Bill Aulet. The group of people who attend EDP are highly motivated, driven, and want to make a positive impact in the world. These individuals are seasoned professionals who are used to delivering results, so we needed to provide the material in a way so that it can be applied to their real world. The MIT style of learning “mens et manus” (which translates from Latin to mind and hand) is a good match for the EDP cohorts. MIT provides the theory and reinforces it with the practical.
The global life experiences in the class make for such a vibrant community. They ask questions to deepen their understanding, and by doing so, we become better educators. The 2020 week-long program had 104 participants from 27 countries and six continents. The participants listen to a MIT fire hose of information during the day and apply the lessons in teams during the evening by going through simulations with coaching from experienced entrepreneurs.
Participants come together on their first day, and we put them through an introduction, then they jump right into entrepreneurial speed dating, pitching ideas, and form teams before they leave that evening. The balance of the rest of the week consists of the Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE) framework, coaching, and ecosystem tours. The program is not for the faint of heart. It truly is a constant fire hose of content. EDP is more than an entrepreneurial mindset as these folks are building out ecosystems, starting companies, and came to the Entrepreneurship Development Program specifically to learn Disciplined Entrepreneurship.
These entrepreneurs see the effect they can have in the world through entrepreneurship. After recovery from the week, one participant said, “I am already working on the social enterprise that I have been wanting to build for 10 years, but I didn’t know how to make it into a business.” I appreciate the opportunity to teach and coach in such a results-based program.
During the school year, 90% of my day to day is made up of teaching, leading programs, and supporting current MIT Students. About 10% of my day is working in Executive Education and community building. EDP is such an essential part of our ecosystem as it brings frameworks, application, and experience to people from all over the globe who are experienced executives but are looking to take their entrepreneurial initiatives to the next level.
EDP coaches
However, our MIT educators are not the only ones teaching about the entrepreneurial ecosystem. In EDP, we bring entrepreneurs who have launched after participating in our various entrepreneurship programs. Companies like AirWorks, Floating Point Group, CaroCare, and Ministry of Supply. We also introduce non-MIT related support like Greentown Labs and the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC).
No one program can claim the success of any MIT startup, as it is the collective ecosystem that encourages those at MIT to reach back into the community to help others rise up. Many of the people who come to the Entrepreneurship Development Program are already active in their entrepreneurship ecosystems, bringing the Disciplined Entrepreneurship lessons to others. This is the impact of EDP. We continue to foster the community.
Here is some of the feedback from participants:
MIT Entrepreneur Development Program, class of 2020
Dale Cree, CEO, 3EN Cloud ltd “At the end of the day, it was absolute proof, you need to complete the 24 steps to have any chance at all. Greatest foundation for any business journey. MIT EDP.”
Kasper Juul, Director, External Innovation at LEO Science & Tech Hub “The combination of inspiring lectures and practical exercises, with the support of experienced entrepreneurial mentors is simply invaluable. This makes for a very intense course with a steep learning curve that will push you to your limit while having lots of fun. Most importantly EPD makes you feel part of a community that will continue to support you on the entrepreneurial journey.”
Mariam AlEissa, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Fellow at MIT “I’m so grateful to be part of the Entrepreneurship Development Program where I learned innovative ideas can’t be delivered without entrepreneurial skills. As a Saudi woman, I’m fortunate to live in a time where women empowered as part of 2030 vision and I’m trying my best to be ready to play an active role in my community at all levels.”
Dr. Dani Abu Ghaida, Technology Leader working with Middle East organizations to create, build and launch new ventures “What particularly attracted me [to EDP] is to find answers on what I did wrong in the ventures I have led and that failed prior to EDP. EDP not only answered this question but gave me the motivation to move ahead and pursue multiple programs at MIT leading to the ACE [Advanced Executive Certificate] qualification I have now. This journey has equipped me with the tools that I need to answer all the management, strategy, innovation, operations, and supply chain challenges I can face as a venture leader, business executive, and a person who wants to change the world.”
Mary Rodgers, Innovation Community Manager, PorterShed (past participant) “Since returning to Galway, MIT EDP has become an integral part of our daily working lives. Managing a co-working Tech Hub, I regularly meet with entrepreneurs at different stages of their life cycle. I used the DE [Disciplined Entrepreneurship] roadmap to refocus the companies, and provide an objective, practical, advice and actions to progress.”
Data shows self-awareness practices helped M.I.T. entrepreneurs better manage the stress of entrepreneurship.
Anxiety and depression are rampant among entrepreneurs. The stereotype of a founder — fueled by caffeine and ramen noodles, while forgoing sleep, exercise, fresh air, friends, and family in the quest for success — has been the norm for years. It has been encouraged, and even glorified, by start-up culture.
The Inc. article “The Psychological Price of Entrepreneurship” explores this topic and explains, “the same passionate dispositions that drive founders heedlessly toward success can sometimes consume them. Business owners are ‘vulnerable to the dark side of obsession.’” Yet this is not healthy or helpful for long-term success.
Compounding this problem is the start-up founder’s hesitation to show weakness or self-doubt. They feel the need to project confidence for investors and employees, despite any inner insecurities. They also tend to connect their self-worth and identity to their start-ups, which can lead to feelings of depression if their start-up fails.
We also commonly see “impostor syndrome” — an unjustified, yet pervasive feeling of self-doubt, insecurity, or fraudulence. This can slow down an otherwise well-designed new organization by curtailing its ultimate impact and potentially even its existence. The majority of entrepreneurs have experienced these feelings, but they are pushed away and not discussed.
At M.I.T., we don’t believe entrepreneurship has to be this way. The health of a start-up doesn’t need to impact founders’ mental health. We believe self-awareness and mental preparedness can enhance an entrepreneur’s abilities. This, in turn, leads to creating a more successful business. The right tools can help entrepreneurs work through stress, rather than work in spite of it. This is a real game changer for the start-up culture.
Through a new exploratory program, 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. In fact, 93% of M.I.T. delta v entrepreneurs believe self-awareness practices can help them create more successful businesses. Here’s more about the program:
Entrepreneurial Confidence and Communication
Last year, we debuted Entrepreneurial Confidence and Communication (E.C.C.) at M.I.T.’s delta v accelerator. This is the first comprehensive program to address mental health challenges in the start-up community and builds on our previous smaller experiments in this area. Our goal was to teach 84 student founders and their team members tools to build greater self-awareness and to provide a confidential environment for venting and peer feedback. Stress is inevitable in start-ups, but by learning how to be less affected by that stress, participants could make better choices for themselves and their start-ups.
In the first six weeks of the program, participants were taught the tools of self-awareness, including meditation and mindfulness, and their benefits. What are the benefits of meditation or mindfulness? Studies abound, but two that may be of particular interest to entrepreneurs are:
A Harvard study on practicing mindfulness meditation for at least 30 minutes a day reports that the practice can increase grey matter in the hippocampus. This is one of the more important meditation facts, since this part of the brain plays an important role in memory and learning.
Another study, published in Heliyon, showed that practicing mindfulness meditation for a short period of time may enhance visuospatial processing, working memory, and executive functioning.
In the second six weeks, they applied their learnings, discussing key choices entrepreneurs face — taking breaks vs. spending all your time on your start-up, working through limiting beliefs, considering others’ perspectives, and approaching challenges with fear or curiosity. Participants learned through readings, optional group meditation, and small group sessions where they could talk confidentially about challenges they were facing with people who could relate to what they were going through.
The results were significant. Participants didn’t just learn that a self-awareness practice can benefit them — they decided to implement it on a regular basis in their own lives. The overall experience had a measurable effect on their well-being.
The student entrepreneurs started becoming what we call “antifragile.” The term antifragile is used by professor and author Nassim Nicholas Taleb in his book titled Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder. When applying his systems analysis to humans, antifragile people are those who “grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty.”
A comparison of surveys conducted before and after the program, with 60 participants responding, revealed the following results:
Learning new skills
Before the program, 65% of participants had never meditated and only 21% were regularly practicing meditation or mindfulness.
By the end of the summer, 88% of had independently established their own regular, weekly meditation or mindfulness practice, despite heavy workloads and continual critical deadlines. And, their practices were measurably impacting how they worked through stress. After the program, 53% of participants were using a deliberate technique to calm themselves when in the midst of a stressful situation.
Sharing challenges
Most founders rarely have the opportunity to talk about the challenges of entrepreneurship with someone who is knowledgeable, and whom they don’t feel the need to impress. Participants in E.C.C. reported significant value from both small group discussions and optional one-on-one sessions, which were both 100% utilized by the students. The fact that very busy students took full advantage of E.C.C.’s optional one-on-one coaching, in particular, indicates the strong value the participants realized from the program.
Credit: The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
Making better choices
We hypothesized that self-awareness tools could help founders make better moment-to-moment choices in their daily entrepreneurial lives. We found that after the program, 34% of participants who had established a meditation or mindfulness practice were more confident in their communications with others. And 40% were more aware of the emotions they were feeling, choosing to go ahead and feel those emotions rather than push them away.
The data affirms that self-awareness tools are useful in managing stress — and they can be taught. These tools help you understand your automatic responses to difficult situations and to perspectives different from your own. You start to notice problems earlier and feel more personal confidence, making it is easier to treat yourself and others with respect and to be resilient in the face of entrepreneurship’s challenges.
As demonstrated in this Boston Consulting Group article “Unleashing the Power of Mindfulness in Corporations,” meditation and mindfulness have proven positive effects in other industries — and now we have data that shows they can be significantly beneficial in entrepreneurship. Integrating self-awareness into the entrepreneurial experience will help prevent burnout, encourage better mental and physical health, and create better team dynamics. It’s great for entrepreneurs, and it could be great for their start-ups’ bottom line too.
Self-awareness education can guide entrepreneurs to not only take care of themselves, but to spread these skills across the entrepreneurial ecosystem, building company cultures that are supportive of both individual and start-up success. As M.I.T.’s delta v program works to redefine the start-up culture by incorporating positive mental health practices, we want to help entrepreneurs practice the self-awareness skills necessary to nurture their own mental health and create more successful businesses.
This piece originally appeared in Thrive Global and was co-written by Kathleen Stetson.
Trish Cotter 