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We See Ourselves as Entrepreneurs, But Others See Our Gender or Race …

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Last November, the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship celebrated Women’s Entrepreneurship Month by featuring a different female entrepreneur each day on Instagram. Accompanying each photo was a short Q&A with questions about their entrepreneurship journey, including, “What are 3 words to describe entrepreneurs who are female?”

One response, in particular, stood out to me.  Sonal Singh, founder of Spatio Metrics, said, “I struggle with this one – I’m proud to represent female and minority founders because we’re tenacious, grounded, and human. But at the end of the day, I’m like every other entrepreneur. No preface, no modifier, no disclaimer.” 

Do you see yourself simply as an entrepreneur? A female entrepreneur? A Black female entrepreneur? Do you use the modifier or not? Do you see yourself differently? Do you feel that others note your gender, race, or ethnicity when describing you? There is no right or wrong answer here. 

Sonal’s quote made me think. Is our goal as underrepresented entrepreneurs to be evaluated on exactly the same playing field? Or, should we be thinking about equality versus equity – that is, distributing resources based on the needs of the recipients? Should women and people of color be afforded a leg up until they can catch up? How can established entrepreneurs (of any gender or race) help others who are trying to succeed in launching their own ventures?

To the entrepreneurs reading this blog, my goal is to present information, ideas, and resources as you undertake your entrepreneurial journey. Learn from those who have taken this path before you and be prepared to blaze your own trail, sharing your lessons with those who follow.

Susanne Althoff, the author of the book Launching While Female: Smashing the System That Holds Women Entrepreneurs Back conducted over four years of research on entrepreneurship and gender, race, ethnicity, LGBTQ status, disability status, and other identities. “The entrepreneurial path is harder than it should be [for these groups],” she states. “We’re all missing out on innovation when we do not see full entrepreneurial participation in this country.” If this topic is of interest, be sure to watch the Trust Center’s Speaker Series event featuring Susanne. She urges taking action by being a mentor or a sponsor to help underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Perhaps our differences are what set us apart and make us unique. In this Business Insider article, Simmone Taitt, founder and CEO of Poppy Seed Health, says, “I’m a Black woman in tech, and for some people that counts as being ‘different,’ but for me, it’s just me moving through the world as the person that I am. That doesn’t mean that it hasn’t come with challenges. Early in my career I would scratch my head trying to figure out if I was given opportunities or not given opportunities because of my gender, race, or both.”

As today’s underrepresented entrepreneurs try to establish themselves, it’s important to understand some of the challenges they may face.

Underrepresented Entrepreneurs by the Numbers

Let’s take a look at some statistics from Fast Company about women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color based on the 2019 State of Women-Owned Business Report:

  • Women started an average of 1,817 new businesses per day in the U.S.
  • This now represents 42% of nearly 13 million businesses overall
  • These businesses employ 9.4 million workers and generate revenue of $1.9 trillion
  • Women-owned businesses are growing 2X faster on average than all businesses nationwide
  • Women of color are starting businesses at 4.5X the rate of all businesses
  • Women of color represent 39% of the total female population in the U.S. but account for 89% of the net new women-owned businesses per day (1,625)
  • The greatest growth in women-owned businesses happened at the two extremes of the spectrum: low-revenue companies and million-dollar-plus businesses.

What does this mean for you? Maybe it means you are not alone in your pursuits. Underrepresented entrepreneurs are making an impact despite the challenges.

Access to Funding

One of the major challenges for underrepresented entrepreneurs is access to capital to grow their business. Although it is probably not a conscious decision, investors tend to give venture money to people that look like them – they see the potential of people who remind them of themselves. This unconscious bias and lens of exclusion keeps funding away from underrepresented groups.

Another interesting point to consider is that raising money in a “friends and family” round is often the first access to capital for entrepreneurs – but, what if your friends and family don’t have anything to spare?

A CNN Business article interviewed Serena Williams on why Black female founders are often counted out right from the start. Williams has started the venture capital firm Serena Ventures, which invests in companies that embrace diverse leadership, individual empowerment, creativity, and opportunity. Statistics from the article show the discrepancies that face some entrepreneurs.

  • Black women rarely have a wealthy network they can call upon for early investment. The average Black household had a net worth of $17,150 in 2016, nearly 10 times less than their white counterparts.
  • Only 4% of the people who work in venture capital are Black, and only 3% of the people actually leading investments are Black, according to data from the National Venture Capital Association.
  • In 2018 and 2019, Black women founders raised only 0.27% of venture capital according to a data report by digitalundivided.

The Tech Inclusion blog explores similar stats in the technology industry and states, “there’s a reason why the Silicon Valley investor community has been called a ‘good old boys network.’ This is also borne out in the numbers.” One of the sticking points today is that female-founder companies don’t scale to the same level as those started by men. Also, there is a rather large drop off of female founders past the Series B level. They tend to get pushed out one way or another, and this is a very real problem that nobody talks about.

  • Data shows that women-led companies receive less than 5 percent of all venture capital funding, that African-American and Latino founders receive only 1 percent of funding, and that just 0.2 percent of it goes to Black women founders.
  • Compare this to the fact that tech companies led mostly by white, male founders receive over 97 percent of all venture capital funding and the landscape becomes particularly bleak.
  • There are also limitations due to geography. Data shows that almost 45 percent of total global venture-capital investment resides between San Francisco, San Jose, Boston, New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego.

The Tech Inclusion blog post is a call to the technology industry “that lives off of and trumpets disruption” and suggests “it’s time for it to disrupt its own patterns of entrenched bias and elitism.” If you are part of the VC industry, think about how you can recognize and strip away your own unconscious biases. If you are an underrepresented entrepreneur seeking funds, look at a VC firm’s record of investments to see if they support diversity. Or investigate funds and organizations run by women or people of color – such as these VC firms that are bridging the gap – who make it part of their mission to support other underrepresented entrepreneurs. 

Access to Networks

In a recent Fast Company article, Shelly Bell, founder of Black Girl Ventures, says, “I experienced firsthand how relationships and introductions are essential to open doors to new opportunities as a serial entrepreneur. I can not emphasize this enough: Black and Brown entrepreneurs, especially women, need access to new networks.” She continues, “I believe in the power of building community to bring about systemic change…Everyone can play a part. Donate your time, expertise, or money to ecosystem builders. Bring diverse voices to the table and listen to what they have to say.”

A related area where women are advancing is representation on corporate boards, enabling access to the networking opportunities they provide. California was the first state to sign a Women on Boards bill into law in 2018 to advance equitable gender representation on California corporate boards. At least 11 other states have enacted or are considering board diversity legislation, according to the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance. The Forum reports, “The statutes are grounded on a large body of empirical evidence that board diversity contributes significantly to ‘good governance’ and improved financial performance. Businesses must focus on enhancing the diversity of their boards to both comply with the new statutory requirements and secure the underlying benefits to their performance.”

Despite Lack of Access, Women Entrepreneurs Deliver a Better Return

Yet, despite a lack of access to funding and networks, there is data that women-run businesses are more successful than those run by men. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) wrote an in-depth, research-based article on “Why Women-Owned Startups Are a Better Bet.” According to their research, the investment gap is real. When women business owners pitch their ideas to investors for early-stage capital, they receive on average $1 million less than men. Yet businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue – more than twice as much per dollar invested – than those founded by men, making women-owned companies better investments for financial backers.

Why? The article postulates several reasons, including that women founders and their presentations are subject to more challenges and pushback – this may ultimately mean they are more rigorously screened. Secondly, male founders are more likely to make bold projections and assumptions in their pitches – and this may backfire in the long run.

How can you use this information to your advantage? BCG’s advice is that women entrepreneurs (and by extension all underrepresented entrepreneurs) should ask for bigger investments during pitches, and also ask more frequently. They should avoid underselling their companies and focus on the positives. They should arm themselves with objective data and be prepared to deflect and defend against unwarranted criticisms.

The Issue of Scale. What Are Your Goals?

Of course, as an entrepreneur, it’s important to assess your personal goals. We hear about Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk jockeying to be the richest entrepreneur in the world with wealth measured in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But not all entrepreneurs have the same aspirations.

Almost 90% of businesses owned by women generate no more than $100,000 yearly, according to the What to Become blog. Is this because women focus more on B2C rather than B2B businesses – and often in the health and beauty industries? Half of all women-owned businesses are in the categories of personal services, healthcare and social assistance, or professional and technical services, according to the American Express State of Women-Owned Businesses Report. We also need to remember that not all entrepreneurs work full time – this may be their goal for purposes of work/life balance, or the entrepreneurship gig may be a side hustle to supplement income.

This report states that “as work trends shift towards side hustles and the gig economy, so does female entrepreneurship…part-time entrepreneurship, often referred to as ‘sidepreneurship,’ is providing additional options to traditional employment and entrepreneurship for women.” This points to the conclusion that more underrepresented entrepreneurs may be considered need-based versus innovation-based entrepreneurs. Need-based entrepreneurs may start their own business after losing a job, to supplement their income, or to gain the flexibility they need in their lives. The What to Become blog states that “flexibility related to family care is the main reason why women start their businesses…women choose to be self-employed five times more often than men because of their families.”

At the Trust Center, our focus is innovation-based entrepreneurs, and these are typically the entrepreneurs vying for venture capital. However, that doesn’t discount the efforts of need-based entrepreneurs who are seeking the benefits of being your own boss, flexibility with childcare or elder care, and providing opportunities for yourself that a company can’t. All entrepreneurs deserve a shot at the funding and networks needed to help their businesses thrive.

Conclusion

“Women-owned businesses are driving economic growth in the United States…Yet there is a significant size disparity between these businesses and others,” states the State of Women-Owned Business Report. “Closing the gap benefits everyone, not just women…[this] requires changes in policies, business practices and attitudes. Some changes, such as family leave and affordable childcare, impact all working women while others, such as training and access to capital and markets, are specific to particular segments of business owners.”

The economic realities of the current pandemic may serve to jump start entrepreneurial activity according to The Boston Globe. “One team of researchers estimated that if U.S. women launched high-growth firms at the same rate as men, we’d add 15 million jobs in only two years. If we hope to turn around our pandemic-ravaged economy, we’re going to need lots more entrepreneurs.”

In summary, as a community we need to recognize how much underrepresented entrepreneurs bring to the table – and how much more they could bring with the right support.

How can you find support?

Listed below are some resources, studies, and reports as a starting point.

MIT Resources:

Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship

MIT Orbit – A resource for exploring entrepreneurship (most info is available to everyone)

Resources Beyond MIT

ICIC: 12 Organizations Driving Inclusive Entrepreneurial Ecosystems

BostInno: Guide – Resources for underrepresented entrepreneurs in Boston

The Root: In 2020, Who is Helping Black Women Start Their Own Businesses?

Ladies Who Launch: Founder Resources for Black Women Entrepreneurs

Studies / Reports:

Guidant Financial: Women in Business – 2020 Trends

Cornerstone Capital Group: Women Entrepreneurs: Foundational to Economic Recovery

NVCA-Deloitte Human Capital Survey: Diversity & Inclusion in the VC Industry

Boston Consulting Group: Why Women-Owned Startups are a Better Bet

American Express: State of Women-Owned Businesses, 2019

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Pivots, a Pandemic, and Startup Founders’ Mental Health

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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.

How did we adapt MIT’s Venture Accelerator as a Virtual Experience?

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2020 is a year we’ll remember for many things, but 2020 graduates will certainly remember how typically crowd-filled graduation ceremonies were transformed into unique and socially distanced celebration amid COVID-19 restrictions. At MIT’s delta v, we can relate. We are just starting our summer-long student venture accelerator program, and, our entire program – start-to-finish will be virtual this year.

What does that mean? Although our fantastic space at the Martin Trust Center – usually buzzing with activity – will be dark, we’ve created a virtual model to provide a unique experience and lots of new and different opportunities for our student-entrepreneurs. At the end of the summer, these students will kick-start their ventures and reach escape velocity with a final presentation of their startup companies at Demo Day. We anticipate seeing some of the best and brightest new startups ever to come out of MIT, because – as said by Benjamin Franklin – “Out of adversity comes opportunity.”

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Prepping to Go Virtual

The delta v program has become known as a “transformative experience that only MIT could provide,” and the entrepreneurs that go through this program are truly helping to make the world a better place (Check out this video for 2-minute synopsis.) Many MIT programs were cancelled this summer, but thanks to Managing Director Bill Aulet’s advocacy across MIT and with the Trust Center donors, this summer’s virtual delta v program has become a reality. 

Students joining this program, and the whole MIT community, have major expectations of delta v. So, we knew we would need to go beyond just transitioning to Zoom meetings and putting our content online. We looked at what worked for MIT’s remote learning classes in the spring, and also reached out to our entrepreneurial education colleagues at other universities to gain their insight.

We held brainstorming sessions and many, many meetings to figure out how we could make this year’s delta v experience engaging and interactive. We honestly looked at the challenges and worked hard to address issues like onboarding, the lack of personal connections, less-than-ideal work from home situations, and “Zoom fatigue.” We knew that engagement, high-touch experiences, and cohort learning would all be essential for making this a success, and we put in extra effort to ensure delta v would not lose its special touch.

The 2020 Cohort

Our 2020 cohort of delta v teams was the smallest we’ve had in six years – 11 teams in Cambridge and six in New York City. We purposely selected fewer teams to allow for more individualized attention from our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIRs), who are spending dedicated online time mentoring each team. (This also means if you didn’t get selected this year, think about applying again for 2021!)

This infographic shows the makeup of our 2020 delta cohort. Each year, we work on trying to get a diverse and balanced group of entrepreneurs tackling problems in a variety of industries.

More Talent!

A big part of delta v is learning from the pros. One of the benefits of our virtual session this summer is the sheer number of experts we’ve been able to line up. In fact, in the month of June alone, the delta v teams will have opportunities to hear from 21 different speakers delivering workshops.

With a virtual program, we have the benefit of being able to approach experts who are located anywhere, rather than focusing only on local resources or those willing to travel to the MIT campus. This summer, our students are fortunate enough to learn from many outstanding experts, including the following people:

Ryan Choi, MIT Alum, now with Y Combinator for a discussion on finding product-market fit and will be back for a discussion on hiring

Eleanor Carey, who spent 62 days at sea, rowing from California to Hawaii, gave an inspiring talk relating to the realities of entrepreneurship

James Baum, technology leader, investor, and advisor, who shared his advice on managing boards and will be back for office hours

George Petrovas, serial entrepreneur, who shared his founder journey and is on a delta v mock board

Brad Feld, Managing Director at Foundry Group will talk about fundraising in a Covid-19 environment

John Belizaire, CEO of Soluna, will speak about leadership

Perry Cohen, Founder Executive Director of The Venture Out Project will speak about his journey

Plus, our amazing faculty including Kirk Arnold, Kit Hickey, Erin Scott, Jason Jay, Bill Aulet, Paul Cheek, and Dip Patel.

More Mindfulness

This year at delta v, we will build on our Entrepreneurial Confidence and Communication (ECC) program to teach tools for self-awareness and mindfulness with the goal of better mental health and “anti-fragility” for entrepreneurs. We recently wrote about this program for the Harvard Business Review, and it has been well-received by students and the community. We believe that if we teach new entrepreneurs how to work through the stresses of entrepreneurship more effectively, it will lead to better decision making and healthier choices for their life and their business.

An interesting dimension to this year’s delta v cohort is that they are particularly receptive to learning about meditation and mindfulness for stress reduction, according to Kathleen Stetson, our ECC coach and creator of the program. She believes this is a direct result of the proliferation of information in the news and on social media about mental health concerns during the pandemic.

Demo Day

This year, Demo Day may be where we see the biggest impact of going virtual. Traditionally, at the end of the summer, all of the delta v teams gather to formally present their startups to the MIT entrepreneurship community. Things will change this year, but we are making some amazing plans for Demo Day and a post-event networking experience.

We will also hold a Virtual Investor Day, which is new this summer.  This will focus specifically on the financial foundation of the startups and will allow the final Demo Day pitches to be a bit shorter. Students will benefit by having two completed pitches when they finish the program.

Conclusion

Conducting the delta v accelerator program virtually is a first for all of us – we are learning too. We strive to bring this year’s delta v cohort an incredible and rewarding experience, and we are open to feedback and suggestions.

The delta v student venture accelerator is the most inspiring environment I can think of for an entrepreneur. There’s an energy here that propels each of our teams forward. For 90 days, our student-entrepreneurs will eat, sleep, and breathe their startups. They will be guided through a process that makes them really think through the realities of starting an actual business, not just chasing a cool idea. Our fervent desire is that some of our student-entrepreneurs will create companies that will help to solve some of the big, global problems we are seeing in our world today – such as preventing the next pandemic or eradicating racism.

As the delta v leadership team, our opportunity this summer is to assist our students in their educational journeys as entrepreneurs and to guide them in making entrepreneurship a force for good.

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

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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.

Finding the “Aha!” moment at MIT’s Entrepreneur Development Program

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“Enjoy every moment of being fire-hosed.”

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.”

Want to learn more? Visit these websites:

Entrepreneurship Development Program

Disciplined Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship 2020: A Look Ahead

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Heading into a new decade is a time for both reflection and predictions. What have we learned about entrepreneurship? And what do we see as trends moving forward?

2019 marked the tenth summer that MIT’s Martin Trust Center has hosted an accelerator and the eighth year of our formal MIT delta v program. I’ve had the pleasure of leading delta v for the past five years, and I’ve seen tremendous growth during that time. The summer-long bootcamp works with entrepreneurs who enter with an idea for their business and progress to product creation and new venture launch. The program is based on the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework with the philosophy that entrepreneurship can be taught; you don’t have to be born an entrepreneur.

A Decade of Success at MIT’s delta v Accelerator

We’ve studied the path of the companies coming out of delta v; as of January 2018, 101 teams made up of 316 students had taken part, and a full 75% of these startups were either still in business or had been acquired – far above the average for new ventures. These delta v alumni companies employ more than 500 workers across the globe, and 25% of our teams have ten or more employees. According to figures on Crunchbase, as of November 2019, delta v teams have raised more than $215 million from 375+ investments. One-third of the companies raised at least $1M+, and six teams have exceeded $10M+ in funding rounds.

In the words of one of our board members, Max Faingezicht, “delta v is a driving force of the entrepreneurial ecosystem where you mix talent with motivation to go out and change the world.”

So, what changes do we anticipate in the next decade of entrepreneurship? Some of the broader trends we see are ones reflected in delta v.

A Rise in Women Entrepreneurs is Impacting the Economy

It is a fact that women entrepreneurs are driving economic growth. According to an article in Forbes on 10 Stats that Build the Case for Investing in Women-Led Startups, women were the sole or majority owners of an estimated 12.3 million U.S. businesses at the beginning of 2018, and are starting businesses at a rate of more than 1,800 per day. The number of women-owned companies is growing at a faster rate than all businesses and women of color are driving this. In addition, companies founded by women deliver higher revenue – more than 2 times as much per dollar invested – than those founded by men.  

Four out of every ten businesses in the U.S. are owned by women, according to The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). These businesses tend to be smaller in terms of revenue and employment. In fact, 88% of women-owned businesses generate less than $100,000 in annual revenue, while 1.7% generated more than $1 million in revenue – although both segments are growing.

At MIT’s delta v we see more women taking leadership roles in the startups. With each cohort, we strive for diverse gender and ethnic backgrounds plus a worldwide perspective, and we proactively aim to neutralize gender bias for entrepreneurs. Diverse teams offer a tremendous benefit in terms of networking and help each other solve challenges, supporting our philosophy that diversity fuels innovation. We’ve also seen that the rate of our successful women-led startups is even higher than the delta v average.

Mentorship Lays the Foundation for Entrepreneurial Success

An article in VentureBeat explains that people with access to a mentor are five times more likely to be interested in starting a business than those without a mentor. Mentorship is linked with business success, and business owners who receive three-plus hours of counseling report higher revenues and employment growth rates. The article also states nearly half of women entrepreneurs say one of the top challenges they face is finding a mentor who can direct them to the resources and organizations that can help them launch their businesses. 

At delta v, our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence and board members are built-in mentors for our student teams. Both bring resources and experience to guide the new entrepreneurs on their journey. We also encourage student entrepreneurs to find their voice. This requires mentees to speak up and be active participants in the process. They need to own their narrative, identify what is of value to them, and speak up to find a mentor or sponsor and make that relationship fruitful.

Gen Z’s Vision of Entrepreneurship

Although we work with a lot of Millennials in delta v, it’s interesting to keep an eye on the upcoming generation of entrepreneurs. (Pew Research considers anyone born between 1981 and 1996 a Millennial, and anyone born from 1997 onward is part of Generation Z.)

Gen Z has different priorities and different frames of reference than the entrepreneurs who preceded them. Amazon’s next-day delivery has always been a thing for them. They never went to Blockbuster to rent a movie and social media permeates their lives. As a result, internet-based business models are second nature; “Uberize” is even a verb used to describe a business model. Entrepreneur states that 41% of Gen Z-ers plan to become entrepreneurs.

Interestingly, Millennials are less likely to become entrepreneurs, according to a study from the U.S. Small Business Administration. It revealed that fewer than 4 percent of 30-year-olds are actively engaged in entrepreneurship, compared with 5.4 percent of Generation X-ers and 6.7 percent of Baby Boomers who were entrepreneurs at the same age. Coming of age during a time of recession and burdened with student debt, many Millennials turned to side gigs to make money. I explored the gig economy in my Xconomy article on Necessity vs. Innovation-based Entrepreneurs. Interestingly, necessity entrepreneurship is strongly counter-cyclical – that is, recessions drive necessity-based entrepreneurs to start their businesses.

As each new generation makes its way in the world, it is fascinating to see how they view entrepreneurship and the new types of businesses they create.

What’s Ahead for delta v?

With the data we have gathered on the delta v teams over the past decade, one of our next steps is to develop a more scalable playbook so that we can extend our reach even further. At MIT, we rely on observations, research, and experimentation. Our motto, mens et manus (which translates from Latin to “mind and hand”), is present in everything we do. In entrepreneurship classes and programs, this approach is vital. Our students don’t automatically have a higher success rate; they learn the fundamentals of becoming an entrepreneur hands-on. At the Martin Trust Center, we have integrated the mechanics of new venture creation in curriculum, programming, community support, and we have validated them on a world stage.

As the collective knowledge of entrepreneurship improves, we continue to move forward to meet the needs of the entire entrepreneur. However, like any discovery, it takes several experiments and iterations to fully understand aspects of the problem you are trying to solve. We realize that mental fortitude and self-awareness are crucial to moving forward and are implementing some exciting new programming in this area.

As we prepare to lead entrepreneurs into the next decade, there are some “big rocks” to address. We need to prepare students for financial discussions and mental stamina for the funding process. We need to focus on establishing a culture and nurturing it, supported by our team. A business reflects the character of the founding and growing team, so the journey starts with an individual and builds to a long-term game.

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

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

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

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

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

These teams were focused on:

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

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

delta v startups – 2019 cohort

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

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

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

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

My reflections on five years with delta v

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

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

Over the years, the program name has changed.

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

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

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

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

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

Our board members are incredible.

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

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

We’re constantly improving our storytelling.

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

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

Three Profiles of Cannabis Entrepreneurs

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Over 35 million US citizens use marijuana every month, more than the number of Americans who smoke cigarettes, according to the Dennemeyer Group. Research shows that the number of cannabis users is growing at over 15% a year. Interestingly, since cannabis is still illegal at the federal level, the US Patent and Trademark Office must refuse all cannabis-related trademark applications, but that hasn’t stopped entrepreneurs.

As outlined in my previous blog post, there is a multi-billion dollar market for cannabis and CBD products, which opens up entrepreneurial opportunities in both the plant-touching and ancillary businesses. This post will look at profiles of three entrepreneurs working in cannabis-related start-ups and their views on the market space.

From helping growers, to distribution, to working with individual consumers, the cannabis market provides many opportunities.

AdaViv: Predictive Agriculture for Smarter Growing

Founded by an interdisciplinary team of MIT researchers and alumni, AdaViv emerged from MIT’s delta v accelerator.  Julian Ortiz, co-founder of AdaViv, explains how predictive agriculture can help cannabis growers to develop a competitive advantage: “We help producers grow smarter – from disease prevention to rapid experimentation, improving yields, and quality optimization.” 

The company uses computer vision and AI to uncover hidden plant biometrics, then translates this data into actionable insights for indoor and greenhouse growers. AdaViv aims to transform agriculture and deploy their technology to a variety of crops grown in controlled environments, though the founders initially are focusing on cannabis due to the high value in the crop, the level of quality control needed for the medical market, and the level of differentiation they can offer to growers. AdaViv has recently closed a $1 million funding round and has lined up initial customers. (See this video of AdaViv’s delta v Demo Day presentation.)

I Heart Jane: ECommerce Marketplace for More Efficient Distribution

Another cannabis company started out of MIT is Jane Technologies, Inc., a retail tech company that can be found online at IHeartJane.com. I Heart Jane is the cannabis industry’s only complete online marketplace where consumers can discover and order cannabis online. Founder Socrates Rosenfeld is a West Point grad and an Iraq War veteran. Suffering from PTSD after his return from combat, he realized the benefits of cannabis for symptoms such as sleeplessness and anxiety. After receiving his MBA from MIT, he founded the company with his brother using a business model similar to the Grubhub food delivery service. 

The company website states, “We believe in the cannabis industry’s ability to bring well-being, health, and love into this world, and it is our mission to bring confidence to the online cannabis shopping experience.”  Their online marketplace lets consumers shop for cannabis with the same ease and sophistication that they shop for everything else.

JBS Holistic Nutrition: Healing Alternatives for Consumers

The passage of the 2018 Farm Bill removes hemp (with less than 0.3% THC) from the Controlled Substances Act and propels hemp-derived CBD to be a potentially $22 billion market by 2022. While cannabis is still illegal in many states, CBD products are being embraced nationwide by both entrepreneurs and major retailers.

Joanne Burke-Sherman, owner of JBS Holistic Nutrition, works one-on-one with clients for health coaching and healing alternatives and offers CBD products. CBD, or cannabidiol, offers therapeutic benefits without the high. Clinical research on CBD includes preliminary studies of anxiety, cognition, movement disorders, and pain. Although CBD products are only one aspect of her business, she initially saw a lot of interest in CBD because everyone was curious. “I have seen many people supported in pain and anxiety,” said Burke-Sherman. “One client with addiction issues felt it truly helped and ‘saved his life.’  Others feel their joint pain is reduced and others say their anxiety is reduced.”

As the market gets more crowded and large chains start to carry CBD products, small entrepreneurs may be squeezed out. Burke-Sherman is concerned that most consumers will not know what to use. It is very similar to the existing nutritional supplement market – there is high-quality and low-quality. She would highly recommend going through a qualified person who has knowledge about the product in order to buy it.  Otherwise, a person should spend time doing research.  Some basic information is whether a product is organic (no pesticides and herbicides) and non-GMO.  Is there third-party testing?  What is tested? Consumers should check for solvents, heavy metals, or other harmful materials to make sure anything they use is safe.

Conclusion 

As the market opportunities continue to spark up, everyone from Gwyneth Paltrow to Jim Belushi to Jay-Z are getting involved in the blazing hot cannabis industry. But the hope is that there is plenty of green available for the less-famous entrepreneurs profiled here as well.

For more on the cannabis market, please read my last post, A Growing Market Sparks Up: Cannabis Opportunities for Entrepreneurs.

An abbreviated version of these posts was published in Xconomy, under the title, The Entrepreneurial Potential of Cannabis.

Necessity vs. Innovation-Based Entrepreneurs

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This article originally appeared in Xconomy.

What makes someone an entrepreneur? Most simply defined, an entrepreneur is a person who identifies a need and starts a business to fill that void. But others will argue that a “true” entrepreneur must come up with an innovative new product or service and then operates their business to sell and profit from that innovation.

Under the broader definition are those people who become entrepreneurs out of necessity – starting their own business after losing a job, to supplement their income, or to gain the flexibility to attend to other demands in their lives.

Take Joanne, for example. Joanne started her holistic health business about eight years ago. Although she doesn’t necessarily consider herself an entrepreneur, the necessity of a family member’s health situation created both a challenge and an opportunity that shifted her path of employment. As a graduate of Boston University with a degree in math, and Syracuse with an MBA, Joanne had been working as a technical engagement director managing large-scale database development projects.

However, she was also managing the special needs of a son at home with learning differences. She was hit with a layoff from her job about the same time that her son required more services. She was doing tons of research to help him in any way possible, including alternatives to mainstream treatment, and she started an unpaid e-mail service to friends and family sharing what she learned. The response was tremendous – several people told her that she had changed their lives and she should make a career out of it. She decided to take the plunge, pursued further education, and then started JBS Holistic Nutrition where she offers health coaching and healing alternatives. The nature of her business allows her to be flexible. She is currently working part-time, which enables her to manage the needs of her family and help take care of an ailing parent. She sees her business as an opportunity to help people change their lives for the better.

Joanne is someone I’d consider a necessity-based entrepreneur. Often, necessity is financially based, but pursuing a passion and work-life balance issues also play into necessity.

One of the first references to “necessity entrepreneurship” was in the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report in 2001. This third annual GEM assessment researched entrepreneurship in 29 countries. Respondents were asked to indicate whether they were starting and growing their business to take advantage of a unique market opportunity (opportunity entrepreneurship) or because it was the best option available (necessity entrepreneurship). At the time, the average opportunity entrepreneurship prevalence rate across the 29 GEM countries was about 6.5 percent, while the average for necessity entrepreneurship was 2.5 percent.

Interestingly, GEM’s most recent report for 2017-2018 looks at entrepreneurship through a few more complex lenses, but it states that most entrepreneurs around the world are opportunity-motivated. On average, three-quarters of global respondents stated that they had chosen to pursue an opportunity as a basis for their entrepreneurial motivations, with 83 percent of entrepreneurs in North America falling into this category. Women were more likely to start businesses out of necessity, compared to men, in all regions except in North America.

My guess is that necessity-based entrepreneurs may be somewhat under-represented in these numbers as they may not self-identify as entrepreneurs. Necessity-based entrepreneurs also may be less likely to respond to this type of survey.

Some of the early research on the topic discusses a push-pull analogy. “Push” (or necessity-based) entrepreneurs are those who may be faced with a job loss, dissatisfaction with their current positions, or lack of career opportunities. For these reasons – unrelated to their entrepreneurial characteristics – they are pushed to start a venture. “Pull” (or opportunity-based) entrepreneurs are those who initiate venture activity because of the attractiveness of the business idea and its personal implications. They may seek independence, increased earnings, and opportunities to carry out their own ideas.

A study out of Stanford on Opportunity versus Necessity Entrepreneurship explores the common and seemingly paradoxical finding that business creation increases in recessions. It looks at two distinct motivations, “opportunity” entrepreneurship and “necessity” entrepreneurship (with the simple definition of a necessity entrepreneur as initially unemployed before starting their business). The research found that opportunity entrepreneurship is generally pro-cyclical and necessity entrepreneurship is strongly counter-cyclical – that is, recessions drive necessity-based entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. Opportunity entrepreneurship was also found to be associated with more growth-oriented businesses.

I believe there are many profiles of the necessity-based entrepreneur, and it’s a segment of entrepreneurship that deserves more attention. Not every entrepreneur is the genius superstar with a new technology. Some forms of entrepreneurship are a bit humbler.

An example of this are gig economy entrepreneurs. These “gigs” are often short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to (or in addition to) permanent jobs – think Uber and TaskRabbit. Although this is an emerging form of entrepreneurship, is it a positive experience for the entrepreneur (and the economy)? Or, is it a necessary side hustle some people need to survive?

Women and minority entrepreneurs are often necessity-based entrepreneurs. The startup rate for businesses created by both women and minorities exceeds the overall rate for new startups. The Minority 2018 Small Business Trends survey by Guidant Financial surveyed 2,600 business owners and aspiring entrepreneurs, and found that 45 percent of small business in the country were owned by minority ethnic groups and 26 percent were owned by women in 2018. What is driving these business owners, and are we measuring their contributions effectively?

While economic gain is certainly one component of necessity-based entrepreneurship, a broader definition includes entrepreneurs who are motivated by their belief that the traditional labor options available are insufficient to meet their non-economic needs and goals as well.

At MIT, we foster entrepreneurship through programs like our delta v student venture accelerator where our students are out to change the world with their innovations. But, entrepreneurship has many forms and there is no one right model or best way to measure success. Necessity-based entrepreneurs are shaping their own success in a way that works and should be included in the broader study of entrepreneurs.

This article was published in Xconomy on November 26, 2018.

A Discussion on French Entrepreneurship with John Chambers

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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.

Paris conferenceWe 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 5th best city for startups in Europe. According to the Compass 2015 Global Startup Ecosystem Ranking, Paris is the 11th 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.

french flag