A New Resource for Global Entrepreneurs

Posted on March 31, 2023 by Trish Cotter

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 trillio n 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!

Download the PDF ebook:

An Introduction to Start-Up Accelerator Programs around the World

This free ebook was designed to be shared – you don’t even need to fill out any forms to gain access.

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

Posted on March 13, 2020 by Trish Cotter

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.

MIT delta v 2017: Ready to Change the World!

Posted on September 15, 2017 by Trish Cotter

Are 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.

Here’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.

A Discussion on French Entrepreneurship with John Chambers

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Trish Cotter

20170317_ilead_John_Chamber_Cisco_March_2017_RUIZ-38

I recently had the unique opportunity to join selected MIT faculty, students, and staff to discuss the current business climate with John Chambers, the Executive Chairman of the Board and former CEO of Cisco Systems. He was the guest of honor at a recent MIT Leadership Center luncheon and it was pure luck that I ended up sitting next to him as our meal was served.

My question to John was: what he thinks we should be doing to educate entrepreneurs today (that is currently lacking). Although he didn’t answer that question directly, he did talk about the differences in East Coast and West Coast philosophies. The West vs. East innovation discussion is always a good one (see my blog on Massachusetts being ranked the most innovative state in America) and it was clear that John felt that in Silicon Valley, it is more important to be a founder/key engineer than is to be the CEO of a Fortune 100 company.

We then started discussing innovation in other countries, particularly France, in light of my upcoming keynote speech in Paris at the symposium on Entrepreneurial Research: Past, Present and Future. John remarked that the French entrepreneurial ecosystem is actually as large as Boston’s. I was a bit surprised, but also intrigued as I’ve been researching how the French approach entrepreneurship to prepare for my presentation.

Here are some of the highlights of my research I thought I’d share:

The French business environment has undergone radical change in recent years. Investment activity in French startups has been on a steady rise. Moreover, it is coming from all sides of French society – the government, the corporations, and the new wave of entrepreneurs. In addition, France has over 100 venture capitalists who invested more than $2 billion in 2016.
This activity has changed the general attitude among the younger generation towards entrepreneurship. Up until 2012, France’s best talent was driven to big firms. However, now more than 50% of young people between the ages of 18 and 24 want to start a business, and 1 in 3 of France’s 70,000 Ph.D. students also want to create their own business. At this moment, France has more than 50 startup accelerators, and more than 100 co-working spaces have opened their doors recently.
President Hollande’s socialist government has made fostering startups an economic priority with a cohesive policy that has included:
- Tax incentives for new businesses
- Government and public sector funding
- Creation of Special Tech Programs on national and regional levels
- New crowd-funding legislation
The weak point of French VCs is lack of sufficient capital for later-stage funding rounds, forcing many promising French startups to look abroad for their financing needs or get acquired by global multinationals.
According to French government, more than 550,000 startups are created each year. More than $2 billion was invested in French startups in 2016. Three startups raised more than $100M:
- Sigfox (IoT ecosystem)
- Deezer (Music streaming)
- Devialet (Sound technology)
According to European Digital City Index (EDCI), Paris is the 5^th best city for startups in Europe. According to the Compass 2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking, Paris is the 11^th best ecosystem for startups globally.
Brexit creates excellent opportunity for France to lure best tech startups from UK and transform itself into the #1 European and one of the leading global startup hubs.
The presidential elections that will be held in April and May 2017 should be carefully watched. The possible win of Mr. Macron could be a big boost for the French entrepreneurial ecosystem since his tenure as a Minister of Economy was huge boon for the French startup ecosystem.

As Americans we tend to critique French capitalism due to issues such as a high level of government intervention, inflexible labor laws, a fear of failure among entrepreneurs, and the lack of innovation. However, all this is changing.

I look forward to my visit to Paris in the springtime and will share what I learn at the symposium.

Innovation: 2017 Style

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Trish Cotter

fuse_2 Here in Massachusetts, we tend to get somewhat of an inferiority complex. Maybe it’s those Puritan roots. We have it stuck in our heads … “Boston’s not as big as NYC” or “We’re not as innovative as Silicon Valley” …

Wait?! Bloomberg says that Massachusetts is the most innovative state in America … for the second year in a row? That’s pretty cool. Take that inferiority complex!

According to the Bloomberg ranking, Massachusetts scored 95 out of a possible 100 points, followed by California, Washington, New Jersey, and Maryland. The six equally weighted metrics included:

R&D intensity;
Productivity;
High-tech density;
Concentration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) employment
Science and engineering degree holders; and
Patent activity.

Massachusetts earned the ranking by producing more science and engineering jobs and by creating jobs in those industries. Current figures show a 2.9% unemployment rate in Mass, compared to a 4.6% national average. The state’s universities were also noted, included Harvard and MIT.

At MIT’s Martin Trust Center, we have the privilege of seeing that innovation every day. And, it’s the type of innovation gets spread around the world. CES, the annual Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas is known for attracting and showcasing the world’s latest and greatest consumer innovations. This year, at woboo least eight companies with MIT roots showed off their cutting-edge products at the show. One of those, Woobo, is an alumnus of our MIT student venture accelerator program (now known as delta v). The company is using robotics and artificial intelligence to make a smart “imaginary friend” for young children and plans to launch the product this year.

Another MIT accelerator program alumnus, Accion Systems, was honored recently in BostInno’s 17 Startups to Watch in 2017. Definitely not in the consumer accion realm, Accion is developing revolutionary propulsion for satellites which will make space more accessible and affordable across industries. The company itself is seeing quite a bit of propulsion here in Massachusetts, with funding from the Department of Defense and a Series A round last year, along with numerous awards.

And, here’s something pretty cool that’s happening in innovation right now: is MIT fuse program. MIT fuse is the Trust Center’s entrepreneurial program that takes place every January during Independent Activities Period (IAP), which is January 9 to February 1 this year. The MIT fuse teams essentially take over the Martin Trust Center during these three and a half weeks, receive mentor advice from our Entrepreneurs in Residence, and learn from startup founders who have preceded them.

One intriguing company in the current MIT fuse program is Waypoint Labs.
Waypoint is building a platform for creating and extracting spatial data and insights for augmented reality (AR) applications. One possible applica waypoint-labs tion is using the Microsoft Hololens to enable non-pharmacy hospital staff to fill prescriptions quickly and without errors. The company was invited by AT&T to participate in its inaugural AR/VR Challenge at CES 2017, where it won the $20K grand prize after demoing its prototype to over 250 conference attendees.

At MIT, the students we mentor want to make a positive impact in the world, and our programs give these students the opportunity to do so. Here’s to an innovative 2017!

We’re on Fire!

Posted on December 9, 2016 by Trish Cotter

MIT’s Martin Trust Center: Quietly Educating and Empowering Students to Positively Change the World

Our fantastic team at MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship was recently selected for a BostInno “50 on Fire” award recognizing innovative individuals and organizations in and around Boston!

We were excited to join BostInno’s year-end celebration, held at the Moakley Courthouse on the waterfront, which recognized the city’s inventors, disrupters, luminaries, and newsmakers. Over 800 nominations were submitted for the awards, which were culled down to a list of 150 finalists. From those finalists, 50 were selected by a panel of judges to claim the title of “50 on Fire.” Here’s a list of all the winners, and the finalists in the Education category – our kudos to BUILD, Panorama, and Shorelight Education, the other winners in our category.

When MIT’s Martin Trust Center was announced as a winner, a cheer rose up from our staff. It was a powerful reminder that while we celebrate our students all year round, once in a while we need to celebrate the staff for the time and effort they put into creating and executing innovative and thought-leading programming. A quick overview for those of you unfamiliar with the Trust Center …

The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, as the name implies, fosters entrepreneurship at the Institute. It serves all students across all schools and disciplines. At the Trust Center, we provide MIT students proven frameworks, a global network of experts and a dynamic home to develop their skills using our curriculum and programs. Our goal is to be entrepreneurial leaders by advancing the field of entrepreneurship at MIT and around the world.

In June, the center unveiled its remodeled and expanded co-working digs, which can better accommodate startups on campus, host larger events centered on entrepreneurship and has a new makerspace called Protoworks. The Trust Center is also home to “delta v,” MIT’s student venture accelerator. The accelerator provides a capstone educational opportunity for MIT student entrepreneurs preparing them to hit escape velocity and launch into the real world, culminating in the accelerator’s Demo Day.

Our team at the Trust Center includes: Bill Aulet, Alicia Carelli, Elaine Chen, Eliza Deland, Pat Fuligni, Sorin Grama, Donna Levin, Tommy Long, Leah Lovgren, Erin Martin, Nick Meyer, Laurie Stach, Marvin Wilma, Greg Wymer, and all those that have gone before us…. The center is a rotation of folks who bring fresh perspectives and raise the bar on our thinking.

We believe it is important to view entrepreneurship as a craft, and we provide apprentice-like experiences for our students. These students want to make a positive impact in the world, and we enable that through our innovative, well-executed programming, along with the community support that makes the Trust Center so special. We don’t shed a spotlight on it too much, but once in a while it is nice to shine a light on a creative team that executes in a world-class manner…that is the Martin Trust Center, and I’m proud to be a part of it! Entrepreneurship is a craft that can be taught. Want to see more? This video captures all the winners clowning around during the photo shoot. Thanks to BostInno for showcasing the innovative talent we have here in Boston!

P.S. I’d also like to give a shout out to friends of the Trust Center who were at the awards including Drift, Pill Pack, Melissa James, Coach Up, Paul English, and Katie Rae, just to name a few …

It’s a Wrap: MIT’s Educational Accelerator Demo Day 2016!

Posted on September 13, 2016 by Trish Cotter

mit-gfsa-demo-16

Congratulations to all of the teams that presented at our Educational Accelerator Demo Day! We kicked off MIT’s campus-wide t=0 celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation, which will continue through September 18.

If you couldn’t join us, this post gives a quick recap; and you can catch all of the presentations on video as well. For an overview of the companies presented, check out this BostonInno article – “These are the 17 Startups MIT Kept Hush-Hush this Summer.”

First of all, in my last post I had let you know that our Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator (GFSA) would be changing its name. We are now MIT’s delta v accelerator. Why the name change? The derivative of velocity is acceleration! Hence, the MIT Acceleration Program delta v.

delta v literally means a change in velocity, and we believe this truly captures what happens to these students when they join us for MIT’s accelerator program.

The delta v Demo Day is focused on MIT students, and students filled the auditorium and were even sitting in the aisles. Our Managing Director Bill Aulet kicked of the program and explained how these startups have reached “escape velocity” and have been “kicked out of the house” so to speak.

Bill was followed by keynote speaker Dharmesh Shah, the CTO of HubSpot and an MIT grad. He talked about increasing the success for these student startups – how to get started, why you should avoid stealth mode, why speed matters, how to find a co-founder, attract amazing people, and give yourself crazy ambitious goals. He tells students to take advantage of all your classes to hone your skills… and he says he has never heard of a single entrepreneur who regrets taking a shot at a startup (even if it failed).

Governor Charlie Baker also joined us at Demo Day, and spoke about the amount of wizardry that comes out of MIT and the staggering contribution that MIT has made to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the country and the world.

It was then on to the student presentations. Fourteen startups made it through to Demo Day, and their company ideas covered topics from mental health to virtual reality. We saw compelling videos from farmers whose lives have been changed because of MIT students, transportation in Rwanda and Mexico that will reduce costs for carriers, a way to make freight transportation more efficient and increase the income of truck drivers, and several ways to improve the environment. We learned about innovations could change the lives of families dealing with cancer treatment and students in Africa.

Interested in learning more? Check out the companies that presented. They are listed below, in alphabetical order, along with links to their websites. And, if you have a bit more time, check out the teams presenting in our Demo Day video recording.

Alfie
Armoire
Deepstream
dot Learn
Emerald
Factory Shop
FleteYa
Hive Maritime
kiron
Kumwe Logistics
Lean on Me
Leuko Labs
perch
Rendever
ricult
Solstice Initiative

I think everyone who attended Demo Day was inspired and impressed by the power of entrepreneurship at MIT. Now, we’re onward and upward, with t=0 this week with a full schedule of activities every day. Later this month, the delta v teams will be heading to New York City and San Francisco to meet with alumni and investors.

We hope you are inspired too!

Join us September 9th for MIT’s Educational Accelerator Demo Day!

Posted on September 6, 2016 by Trish Cotter

I’m wrapping up “boot camp” with this year’s MIT Global Founders’ Skills Accelerator (GFSA) cohort this week, and wanted to let you know about our Educational Accelerator Demo Day on September 9th! As Associate Director of the Martin Trust Center and the Director of the GFSA program, it’s been an amazing summer for me, helping to shape our teams of entrepreneurs and guiding them as they prepare to present their companies.

Sign up Now

On Demo Day, each of the groups that have been working in the accelerator will reveal their company to a live audience. This event is free and open to the public – just register here and then join us at MIT Kresge Auditorium; the program runs from 4 – 7 pm, and Dharmesh Shah, founder and CTO of HubSpot will be our keynote speaker.

Demo Day is the culmination of three months of intensive work and focus by our student teams in the educational accelerator. It’s the first chance to present their world-changing products and services to an audience of MIT students, mentors, friends, investors, and potential customers.

Who are this year’s Entrepreneurs?

Our 2016 cohort is bigger than last year with 86 entrepreneurs on 17 teams. We can’t reveal the companies or their concepts until September 9th, but innovative ideas will be presented by the fantastic teams – in vertical industries from healthcare to energy to logistics. To give you an idea of what Demo Day involves, here’s a round-up of inspiring startups from Demo Day in prior years.

As the premier university student accelerator in the world, the MIT GFSA provides a capstone educational opportunity for MIT student entrepreneurs and prepares them to hit “escape velocity” and launch their companies into the real world. We hope you can join us for this amazing event.

We’re Live Streaming too!

Can’t be there live? You can still watch the live stream. (Visit now and mark your calendar.)

After the Boston event, we’re on to New York on September 15 and San Francisco on September 22 to present Demo Day in those cities as well.

P.S. We’ll also be announcing a name change for the GFSA program at Demo Day … stay tuned.

Exploring China Accelerators

Posted on May 6, 2016 by Trish Cotter

In my role as Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT and Program Director for MIT’s Global Founders’ Skill Accelerator (GFSA), I’ve been researching accelerator programs worldwide, and I thought I’d share some of that research in a series of blog posts. This is the fifth post in the series; you can read the other posts starting here.

While startups are emerging in thousands all over China, the local startups should realize that an accelerator program does not guarantee success—it simply provides the means to success. As most accelerator programs end after a few months, the knowledge and business wisdom that participating startups carry from the program are believed to last for a long time. For understanding how an accelerator program works in China, new startups can review the following article: Where are the startup incubators and accelerators in Asia? Here’s 100 of ‘em. This exhaustive list comprises accelerator programs in the entire Asia Pacific region, so readers are advised to selectively review the ones located in China.

The major accelerator activity has developed in the Chinese capital of Beijing—in a localized environment known as the “Silicon Valley in China.” The Zhongguancun Science Park showcases all the elements needed to boost a hungry startup business. This science park offers countless accelerator programs as well as venture capital funds. The startups in China have quickly taken advantage of vertical accelerators that offer highly specialized mentorship and support based on deep domain knowledge.

American Giants Offering Accelerators for the Asian Region

US accelerators are also seeing the global potential for their services. The basic elements of innovation, like as capital, information, technology and talent, are increasingly integrated across national territories. The Microsoft Ventures Accelerator in Beijing serves as a strategic partner for Chinese startups to broaden their global reach and develop these startups into world-class enterprises. In spite of having only been established recently, the Microsoft Ventures Accelerator has already been recognized by local governments, enterprises, and the investor community.

This unique program partners with visionary entrepreneurs to help startups flourish in China and Asia-Pacific at large. Since its inception in China in July 2012, this accelerator has provided participating startups with modern workspace, free cloud services, and direct market contact. The core elements of this accelerator program are leading technology, teambuilding, development of business skills. Through its access to the capital market, marketing and HR compliance services, the program develops the entrepreneurial capabilities of all participating startups. To date, the participants of this program have each received an average of RMB1-1.5 million worth of resources (approximately $230,000 USD) Visit Microsoft Ventures for more information.

Accelerators for Specialized Markets

According to Edtech Accelerators in Asia Gain Popularity, the growing popularity of entrepreneurship has propelled the rise of specialized accelerators for industry verticals such as health, finance, energy, or education. The greater diversity of verticals in accelerator programs has also motivated accelerator facilitators to include enterprises that use specialized accelerators services like outsourced R&D.

If you want to read my next post in this series check back here on my blog or follow me on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Exploring India Accelerators

Posted on April 21, 2016 by Trish Cotter

India

In my role as Entrepreneur in Residence at MIT and Program Director for MIT’s Global Founders’ Skill Accelerator (GFSA), I’ve been researching accelerator programs worldwide, and I thought I’d share some of that research in a series of blog posts. This is the fourth post in the series; read the other posts starting here.

Most startups in India, irrespective of the apparent strength of their products, realized that they needed external support in the form of incubators and accelerators to grow and mature. At the early stages of incubation, most of these ambitious startups simply received funding, but as business complications began to surface, the need for mentorship, expert guidance, training, even technology-enabled office space became necessary components of accelerator programs. Though differing in operational models, the accelerators and incubators share one common goal—to provide an impetus to a brilliant business idea so that the idea succeeds and sustains as a commercial venture in this competitive world.

The accelerators provide mentors, guides, and a platform to raise issues ranging from venture capitals, legal problems, to technology enablement. Most accelerators in India expect equity in a startup in return for the valuable support system they provide. The accelerator program in some cases can charge a fixed fee and no equity for all the rendered services, and considers the startup success to be their biggest reward.

Here are some future predictions for the Indian accelerator program market as outlined in the Indian media platform YourStory:

To expand their global reach, accelerators will launch both online and offline programs.
The funding will shift from early-stage companies to late-stage companies. In 2014, and 300+ Indian startups have received over $5 billion.
As more corporate like Microsoft, Coca Cola, or PayPal continue to set up their own accelerator programs, the corporate giants will increasingly focus on funding startups.
Some accelerators will experiment with venture building models.
More vertical accelerators will surface in the advertising, medical, and food industries.
Investor networks and non-profit networks will collaborate to provide support and resources to startups.
Under-funded or direction-less accelerators will shut down.

A recent byproduct of this growing trend of “boosted entrepreneurship” is the growth of specialized accelerators for vertical markets, such as education, finance, or health. More and more, industry-specific accelerators are filling up the Indian accelerators landscape.

There has been a sharp rise in the number of Indian accelerator programs in the last few years. The best part is that this growth has come pretty much equally in all spheres. The rising wave has left its undercurrents in all spheres of Indian business, beginning with colleges with their own incubator cells, and global accelerators like Kyron Global Accelerators have turned to the Indian market for expansions. This particular accelerator aims to fund 300 Indian startups by 2020.

This article on the Top 50 Incubators & Accelerators in India, by Truelancer, lists the top India-based incubator and accelerator programs by region, and is a great resource.