Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), situated in the small town of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was an experiment in learning through experience. This is why it is no surprise that the school has developed a culture of entrepreneurship on and off the campus.
MIT delta v is part of this system that supports entrepreneurship in the student body. The program is an accelerator that places students in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, a startup studio, during the summer months. Students work on individual ventures until delta v Demo Day in the fall when they showcase their work. As one student describes it, the entrepreneurs-in-training work constantly toward perfecting their innovation. Besides raising funding and attending events to promote the venture, students work 24 hours a day on their idea, collaborating and iterating to find the best solutions for their problems. The students are surrounded by mentors, a board of directors, entrepreneurs-in-residence, and customers. In this ecosystem, students learn business fundamentals, draft a business plan, and work with a board of directors on navigating various aspects of business, including financing, marketing, and distribution. Students also perform market research to learn about their customers, allowing them to test the products and services in their initial stages of development. As a part of the experimentation process, students work together and eventually build a team of founders for their venture. Students also participate in simulated board meetings by meeting once a month with a board of directors with practical experience across industries. These meetings give students unbiased feedback on their ventures. Ventures across various industries participate in the event with past delta v summers and Demo Days featuring cryptocurrency, financial services, construction, and agriculture ventures. In the course of the work, themes such as inclusion, human connection, artificial intelligence, and machine learning technologies set the tone for the summer. In addition, the delta v accelerator draws on the alumni community to assist students. The 2018 delta v accelerator cohort asked Spyce, a 2015 alumni venture which closed on a $21 million series round A, to participate in that year's competition. The program also uses resources in the surrounding community to help students become entrepreneurs. For example, participating students receive one-on-one counseling, and outside advisors and speakers offered their own perspectives to students. In addition, working on campus and in Manhattan’s Kendall Square, students are surrounded by many high-tech companies, other startups, and venture capital firms, making it a hub of innovation. Finally, participation in delta v gives students a dose of personal development in leadership. Students are taught various ways to develop the skills. One of the reasons that honing leadership skills is a part of the program is that, while knowing how to raise money is important, the entrepreneur also has to learn how to manage to fund. By the end of the summer, students have improved their ventures and are ready to present on Demo Day. Students pitch their ideas to the attendees during the event, and afterward, students get to talk to visitors who visit their booths about their ideas.
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