Tag Archives: Innovation

We’re on Fire!

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mittrustcenter2-bwMIT’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 …

Celebrating Sisterhood at “The Stevies”

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31136830665_7f234bfc57_o-2There is something empowering about being in a room with 650 women celebrating accomplishments …  I was recently nominated for a Stevie® Award, and attended the awards ceremony in New York City with my sister.  This got me to thinking about sisterhood in the broader sense, and how much we all have to be thankful for.

I was honored to receive a Gold Stevie award for the “Mentor of the Year” category at a non-profit organization. At MIT’s Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, I work with an amazing team that makes going to work every day a pleasure. As a mentor and lecturer it is a privilege to work with students at MIT from around the world on projects and companies that are making a positive impact in the world.  Given the state of the world today, working with such a bright and talented group of entrepreneurs makes me hopeful for the future, and is something I wish everyone could experience.

Although I have been previously honored in my career as a corporate executive, my role at MIT is still relatively new, so recognition that I am on the right track was significant to me.  One of the comments in the judges’ feedback was especially meaningful, because it seemed to capture why I chose this role:

“Trish Cotter is a testament to the spirit of ‘paying it forward.’ Instead of continuing an impressive career as an entrepreneur, she decided to change course and share her knowledge, passion and drive for entrepreneurship with the blossoming business women and men of today. She takes a hands-on approach to help these young entrepreneurs succeed, and is with them every step of the way. We all got our start by someone giving us a chance, Trish is an exemplary pillar of that message.”

The Stevie Awards are the world’s premier business awards. They were created in 2002 to honor and generate public recognition of the achievements and positive contributions of organizations and working professionals worldwide. More than 1,400 nominations were submitted for this year’s awards from 31 nations and territories. This celebration was streamed across the world, and was also shared in person with family and friends.

At our table, my fellow honorees included Jenny Feing (Coach Training School), Shannon Beurk (Founder Engage2Learn), and Melinda Durkee (Proforma Durkee), and each brought family and friends to share their evening.  I’d also like to send a shout out to Steph Speirs from Solstice (a company from the MIT delta v accelerator), who was a finalist as Female Executive of the Year for her community solar company.

In this season of gratefulness and giving, I’d like to thank all of those who have helped me along the way. As a mentor and coach, I hope I am doing my best to pay it forward and give others a chance.

P.S. What could be better to experience the Stevies, and then see the unveiling of the Christmas windows at Macy’s?!  A true evening of sisterhood, accomplishment, empowerment, and hope for the future!

 

Shining a Light on Female Entrepreneurs in Tech

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Last night, MIT’s Martin Trust Center hosted a screening of the award-winning documentary “She Started It” which follows five women in their journeys to launch businesses in the technology industry. We were honored to have the director and co-producer of the film, Nora Poggi , with us to introduce the film and join in our discussion along with our own panel of budding tech entrepreneurs.

The event was inspiring and featured accomplished women who beat the odds. If one message came through “loud and clear” it was that the entrepreneurial journey is all about persistence and networking. Our discussion reinforced that entrepreneurship can be taught, and that practicing entrepreneurial skills will pay off in the end.

The “She Started It” film focuses on five female entrepreneurs and their experiences, along with empowering the next generation of women tech founders. (You can check out the trailer here.) The film cited statistics about being a female entrepreneur in the technology industry that were bleaker than a cross-industry perspective. For example:

  • Women create only 3% of tech startups
  • In Silicon Valley, women earn only 49 cents to a man’s dollar
  • Women receive less than 10% of venture capital funding
  • Only 12% of undergrad computer science degrees are earned by women
  • 96% of venture capitalists are men

Yet, the five women profiled in the film are out to break the mold.

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Following the screening, I moderated a discussion with Poggi and a panel of female founders sharing their own experiences. They included:

  • Elsa Sze of Agora which uses technology to bring more people to the civic conversation
  • Melissa James of The Tech Connection, a premier marketplace for purpose driven, diverse technical talent
  • Alex Wright-Gladstein of Ayar Labs which brings high bandwidths and energy efficiency of fiber optics to silicon chips
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L to R: Alex Wright Goldstein, Nora Poggi, Elsa Sze and Melissa James

 

The panelists discussed challenges and what is most intimidating about starting a tech business. The audience – which included many women in the process of exploring entrepreneurship for themselves was extremely engaged and had many questions. We also talked about how today’s female entrepreneurs can be role models to help other women and girls embrace the entrepreneurial path. Essentially, “you can’t be what you don’t see.”

One of the insightful quotes in the film is from Meghan Smith, Chief Technology Officer for the United States. She says, “There have always been women and minorities in all of the areas of technology for all history. It’s just the stories are less known. And so, we need to embrace our history and tell it to each other.”

Although women are a small minority of tech startup founders, it is also an issue that many women tend to understate their achievements, and not let their own light shine. “She Started It” is a first step to showcase some of these achievements. My thanks to everyone who participated in our event! It was a great success!

P.S. On a personal note, this week I received the exciting news that I’ve been selected as a finalist for the Stevie Awards for Women in Business the category of mentorship. As I worked with the panel for this our film event, I drew parallels to my own submission for the Stevie Awards. Often, as women, we dismiss the things that we do and don’t let our own lights shine (especially when surrounded by all the brilliance here at MIT). For me, this is a reminder to value our successes and share them with other women.

 

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

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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!

Exploring India Accelerators

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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.

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

Learning from the Silicon Valley Entrepreneur Community

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Sloan Fellows photo

The MIT Sloan Fellows recently traveled to Silicon Valley to “live and breathe” the culture of the leading innovation center in the world. It was a fascinating few days focused on innovation in the startup ecosystem that accounts for one-third of all the venture capital investment in the U.S. Coming from another renowned area of innovation, this was a fantastic opportunity to learn from each other and to think about ways in which the culture of innovation can be spread throughout the world.   I joined the trip as a faculty member, and wanted to share my experiences.

The MIT Sloan Fellows Program is a one year full-time MBA or MS program for executives with exceptional promise.  The program focuses on three pillars – Leadership, Innovation and Global perspective. This year we have 121 MIT Sloan Fellows from 38 countries with an average of 14 years of work experience.

Our four days in Silicon Valley were jam-packed with learning experiences – visiting startups and established companies, venture capitalists and research facilities – all playing a role in the innovation ecosystem.

Throughout our trip the theme of innovation was a constant, and we learned from accomplished leaders. Their outstanding leadership skills enable them to embrace innovation while building for the future, taking risks, creating and fostering experimentation, and attracting, retaining and motivating talent. Each and every day they work toward their innovative missions while still tackling the day-to-day.

If our trip could be summed up in an equation, it would be:

Innovation = Invention x Commercialization

Here’s a recap of who we visited, and how their invention and commercialization is driving innovation:

Coupa Software

Coupa is the leader eProcurement which improves visibility and control of indirect costs. The company focuses on Savings as a Service. CEO & President Rob Bernshteyn focused on the importance of people and aligning the core values of the company to employees, suppliers and customers as they all learn from each other.

His take was innovation is not just for the sake of innovation it is focused on results and a differentiated approach creating a unifying platform. Customers only stay if you provide value.

GE

CTO Dave Bartlett discussed Predix which provides the technical foundation to power industrial applications that drive outcomes ranging from the reduction of unplanned down time to improved asset output and operational efficiency. He also discussed Ecomagination which is a focus on developing solutions to enable economic growth while avoiding emissions and reducing water consumption, committing to reduce environmental impact. The essence of his briefing was that GE is an analytics company and is partnering with companies to solve some of the toughest environmental challenges.

Intuitive Surgical

Intuitive Surgical is the global technology leader in minimally invasive robotic-assisted surgery. The company has a surgical system called da Vinci. The system features a magnified 3D HD vision systems and tiny wristed instruments that bend and rotate far greater than the human hand resulting in surgeon enhanced vision, precision and control.

stem, Inc.

stem is a company that creates innovative solutions of energy distribution and consumption through learning software and advanced energy storage. Chief Commercial Officer Karen Butterfield shared her experiences in building an energy company that focuses on software, control, analytics and is technology agnostic.

Karen shared her experiences as it relates to attracting, retaining and motivating talent. Her belief that transparency is key, alignment with mission and inspired R&D is how she was able to manage growth from 40 people to 110 in 8 months.

AnswerLab

We met CEO and Founder Amy Buckner Chowdhry who bootstrapped her company which creates more engaging digital experiences based on user experience research and recommendations for Fortune 1000 clients. She recruits PhDs in cognitive science, cognitive psychology, human-computer interaction, and computer science that have done a lot of work in their academic field.  Amy, co-founder Dan Clifford and their teams were able to provide the right research methodology to bring an objective view so organizations could focus on the voice of the customers.

Beepi

We met Alejandro Resnik a graduate of MIT Sloan (2013) that started a company after purchasing a car that was a lemon.  Resnik and his co-founder, Owen Savir, have raised close to $150M to create a transparent and easy way to buy and sell cars online and via your mobile phone. The car is fully detailed and wrapped in a big bow for delivery with a 10 day money back guarantee. The customer stories are posted as “Love Stories” on the website. Alejandro stated that innovation belongs to the disciplined, tough minded, relentless, optimistic entrepreneur.

Highland Capital

Partner Peter Bell, who was an early employee at EMC, is focused on companies in the information security, e-commerce, cloud infrastructure, mobile, enterprise software, and communication industries. He talked to the students about what they should look for in an investor. The investor needs to be relevant to them, an expert in the sector, have a good network, access to customers in the segment, and someone who can systematically help build your team.  The investors are looking for relevant, hungry and compelling teams.  Innovation is the life blood of growth and change.

eBay

We met eBay’s Chief Product Officer RJ Pittman who is responsible for design, product, and engineering for eBay’s worldwide commerce experience. RJ is working on platform experiences for connecting customers to make the business more competitive and personalized service globally. The growth will be through mobile so the look and feel of the end to end user experience aligned with eBay’s brand. RJ is bringing the customer into the narrative and creating the eBay commerce experience through simple, engaging personalize and multi-screen. He pointed out that fast movers need to have grit. It is your job to swing the bat as many times as you can.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories

We met with Richard Rankin, Director of Industrial Partnerships Office and Economic Development Office. This was a different spin for the Fellows as they saw a broader focus on pure research versus commercialization. The mission of LLNL is to strengthen the United States security by developing and applying world class science, technology and engineering. The labs have history of developing, deploying and delivering innovative technology.

We concluded the week speaking with innovator Una Ryan. Una talked about her experience looking through an electron microscope, and how that set her path for science. She is a British-American biologist who was awarded the Albert Einstein prize for her development of new vaccines to combat global infectious diseases. She has worked on clean water solutions and inexpensive diagnostics test for developing countries.  She has is now an angel investor as well as an artist.  Una takes electron micrographs of living cells, including mitochondria, nuclei and vesicles and composes each image with colors of the earth viewed from space, bodies of water or land masses. This was fascinating to take the micro and match with the macro to create a connection and see the majesty yet fragile fundamentals of life.  Una also spent considerable time taking questions from Sloan Fellows on how she negotiated her career, family, science and investment community.

We thank all of the innovators we visited! We are sure that this year’s MIT Sloan Fellows learned a lot that they will incorporate into their own future as innovators!

 

 

Innovation in Real Estate: An Entrepreneurial Perspective

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Presenting at MIT's Innovation in Real Estate Conference

Presenting at MIT’s Innovation in Real Estate Conference

I recently participated in the Innovation in Real Estate Conference at MIT, held at the MIT Media Lab. (If you don’t know the Media Lab at MIT, it is a magical place from the moment you step foot in the building. Art, Engineering Disciplines and Business are integrated into a place where creativity is encouraged and interdisciplinary work is the norm. I love it there!)

At the conference, a team from our summer GFSA Accelerator Program asked me to participate on a panel about the role real estate plays in innovation. Real Estate is essential in setting the right structure for an organization. For both businesses and institutions, space is often at a premium and you need ensure you use it wisely. This led me to think about the space we have at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship that houses the Accelerator program, and also the role of real estate and the workplace of the future in three of the start-ups recently launched.

MIT’s Martin Trust Center Expands to accommodate more Accelerator Teams

At the Martin Trust Center, we have an open area that also has conference rooms, phone rooms to make calls all over the world, office supplies and equipment … and all the coffee, Ramen Noodles, and oatmeal that students can eat! We are expanding our space, and with that expansion we hope to take in 50% more teams into the Accelerator. This is terrific news to the applicants where turned many teams away.

The Trust Center at MIT is a work space that is supported by mentors and staff who help enhance learning and enthusiasm. Speakers who present at the center are MIT faculty, community leaders, and practitioners. Both the space and the people at the center make it a vibrant place to work.

Why is the space special? It is a place where like-minded people can meet and share ideas, coffee, and work in a collaborative work space. It is also where some of the new ideas about what a workplace will look like in the future.

Workplaces of the Future

Real estate innovation also encompasses how spaces will be transformed to fit future needs. Four of the start-ups who were part of the Accelerator program look at space in a new and innovative ways.

Spyce is a healthy automated restaurant that fits into a 20 square foot area, Tekuma curates art for Airbnb’s unique places to stay (and our space as well!), Morphlab is another real estate related venture that brings robotic furniture to small spaces to increase functionality. And, finally Smarking addresses the real estate of parking spaces with an application that optimizes parking. These are just a few of the new projects that are bringing innovation to real estate.

The message at the conference came through loud and clear that innovation in real estate is here. On a personal note, I can tell you as we reconfigure our space at the Trust Center, optimization and utilization are important, but maintaining the collaborative and entrepreneurial culture is first and foremost.