filename: "description" (ongoing re-write) contents: a draft generic description of The E-Club, suitable for sending as a first reply to that most frequently asked question, "What is The MIT E-Club?" usually via "e-club-request" or by private e-mail; author01: richard shyduroff 617-253-2000; icreated: thu 12 sep 91; edited01: mon 27 dec 93; -------- * IN DRAFT AS OF THU 30 DEC * Greetings- Thanks for your inquiry about The MIT Entrepreneurs Club, also known around MIT as "The E-Club". The following brief description of The E-Club, it's mission and services, and it's core membership and their backgrounds, should help answer most readers' most frequently asked questions. For more information quickly, if you are on MIT's Athena computer system, or by-way-of any other AFS-based system anywhere, please freely browse the directories of files in The E-Club's publically accessible Athena locker "e-club", reached in the usual manner by typing the following commands at your Athena prompt: attach e-club cd /mit/e-club If you are otherwise Internet-enabled, please freely browse the directories of files in The E-Club's publically accessible ftp site, reached in the usual manner by connecting to: "lcs.mit.edu" Login as "anonymous" and use your internet address as password; then cd (change directory) to "pub" and then to the new E-Club directory "mit-e-club" and get the "README" and "INDEX" files, or whatever else looks interesting and useful. -------- I have added you to the mail_list "e-club" and will send you an e-copy of our last newsletter and something {historical,current} about our annual $10k student competition (currently in it's fifth successive year; to date our premier annual activity). We have a lot of other projects ongoing ... and welcome you to attend any of our regular Tuesday evening meetings at 6pm at MIT in 66-144 (that's the triangular-in-plan Ralph Landau Chemical Engineering Building, across Ames Street from The Media Lab). The weekly 6pm meetings are devoted to providing a friendly forum in which students, faculty and staff give brief presentations of their new business start-up ideas for immediate review and criticism. This activity also affords presenters an opportunity to practice their perhaps un-tested oral presentation of new ideas with immediate relevant feedback and criticism from an audience of their peers; "good" ideas are invited to return after further work for more feedback, and quite often new presenters and members will find they have a lot in common and take further meetings into smaller groups for in-depth discussions and brainstorming sessions. -------- networking; on-line consulting; seminars; iap; legal; 10k; referrals; alum mentorship; cbdc; local university & college bdc's; info-tree networking; passive, hands-off vs. active, hands-on networking; internet resources; mit libraries; tlo; -------- for more, and may become case studies in the E-Club and in a new undergraduate seminar (sem-089, fall-term93) on start-ups at MIT (see elsewhere in the locker under "SEM-089"). The group often includes MIT alum and other area professionals who may be direct, and indirect, sources of venture capital, lawyers originally trained as MIT engineers and scientists, and sometimes "angels" whom we don't recognise who quitely sit through numerous meetings; as likley to be found at E-Club meetings are alum who have made their fortunes and who have returned to MIT to seek out students and new alum to seed-fund. Our advisors include quite a list of MIT people from all-over the campus, and introductions-all-around and networking comprise the environment in which the regular meeting happens. If there is sufficient interest and some critical minimum mass of assembled new-idea debugging know-how that all comes together around something that begins during the 6pm meet, then we take that to an adjacent meeting in 66-148 at 7pm and devote the evening to in-depth brainstorming on behalf of the presenter. Regarding the current 10k competition, we have just begun early planning discussions and you are certainly invited to particpate, and you should be able to determine just when to decide if you want a role in the contest design phase or be an entrant [but for obvious reasons not both]. You may also find E-Club printed matter for copying in my mail folder in the VLW, on the 4th. floor of E15. You may have a look at last year's competition guidelines package [which is a green and white glossy Price-Waterhouse folder that includes a DOS (sorry) [disk-based] business plan template you may be interested in looking at. Just ask Anne Russell, VLW's Administrator or the new secretary, Amy, for a pointer to the mail file ... my folder is on the far right end of the drawer. I guess I'm trusting enough to offer browsing and just ask that original materials be copied and returned. Maybe I should put some packages together to place in the reading room? I'm also putting together a couple of linear feet of reserve aterial that Ed Davy, Dewey Librarian, has kindly given us permission to locate in his library, but I'm a bit behind in that project. THERE's MUCH MORE, but I'll wait to hear back from you or see you at next Tuesday's meet? NB: There's an Athena Discuss meeting called: "10k" that we can use for any sharable, non-proprietary E-Club discussion transactions that would be useful for all to read and eventually participate in. Want to talk? You can reach me or our other co-director, Doug Ling, via v-mail, at x3-2000. We'll return the call usually within the hour. Looking forward then to seeing and hearing from you at the meetings! - richard -------- eof; .