A Great Technology is Not Enough: Cultural Dimensions of Change
Mattias Ohlson
| Jan/09 | Thu | 01:00PM-02:00PM | N51-310 |
Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 40 participants
Half of the world’s population use firewood or charcoal for cooking, using old cooking technologies such as open fires or low-efficiency stoves. The negative health effects are staggering: an estimated 4 million people die every year due to indoor air pollution from open fires, more than malaria and HIV/AIDS combined. Families spend a substantial part of their household income on cooking fuel. In addition, making of charcoal is one of the primary causes of deforestation in Africa.
Emerging Cooking Solutions, a social business working in Zambia, has created an innovative system using micro-gasfying cooking stoves and locally produced waste biomass pellets, which reduce emissions drastically, saving money and time for the users and preserving about 6 tons of virgin forest for each stove that use pellets instead of charcoal. Their approach is to work with women’s groups, churches and other local organizations to reduce the initial threshold of entry and create a product that works in the local cultural context.
Hear founder Mattias Ohlson and Marion Peterson speak about their challenges and opportunities launching a social business in Zambia.
Light refreshments
Sponsor(s): D-Lab, Public Service Center
Contact: Sally Chapman, 33-309, 617 253-4926, SALLYC@MIT.EDU
Alumni Talk with BC Krishna SM 94
BC Krishna SM 94, President and CEO, MineralTree, Inc.
| Jan/07 | Tue | 06:00PM-07:30PM | 32-124 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Modernizing our Payments System: why we have a $100 Billion problem with paper checks, and why it's not going away
In this talk BC will dig into core inefficiencies in our payments system, and shine a light on business payments in particular. Contrary to public perception, business to business payments are made primarily by paper check, and have increased 53% — from 3.9 billion annually to 6.5 billion — in the last 10 years.
Alternatives to paper checks for business payments are generally out of the reach of all except the largest corporations. However, most US businesses are small and medium sized businesses — some 25 million in all — and for these businesses, paper checks are often the only option.
Learn more about how the US payments system works, and what you can do to make it better.
Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU
Basics of Obtaining a Patent
Howard Silver, MIT Libraries, Jack Turner, Technology Licensing Office
| Jan/29 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 4-163 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/29
Limited to 60 participants
Come and hear Jack Turner, Associate Director of the MIT Technology Licensing Office and patent attorney Sam Pasternak discuss the ins and outs of obtaining patents. This popular session covers a bit of patent history and a lot about current practices, processes, and issues surrounding obtaining a patent; the focus is on the process used at MIT for ideas/inventions developed by the MIT community. A portion of the session is devoted to questions and answers. If you think you will ever invent something, you need to be here.
Please Register for this session.
Sponsor(s): Libraries, Technology Licensing Office
Contact: Howard Silver, 14S-134, 617 253-9319, HSILVER@MIT.EDU
Business information for engineers and scientists
Howard Silver, MIT Libraries
| Jan/28 | Tue | 04:00PM-05:00PM | 14N-132 (DIRC) |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/28
Limited to 30 participants
This session will introduce engineers and scientists to business information resources that will help you understand the commercial potential for your ideas, how to find partners, and sources for financial support. We will use realistic examples and hands-on exercises with key resources to demonstrate how to match your ideas and discoveries with the opportunities and realities of the marketplace.
Please Register for this class.
If you're specifically interested in biotechnology, a companion session; Biotech business information for engineers and scientists will feature resources and examples that are geared for the life sciences business sector, offered January 15, 2013.
Sponsor(s): Libraries
Contact: Howard Silver, 14S-134, 617 253-9319, HSILVER@MIT.EDU
Career Management with Alumnus Mark Herschberg
Mark Herschberg 95, MNG 97, 05, CTO at Madison Logic
| Jan/29 | Wed | 07:00PM-08:30PM | 32-141 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Career Management: What is it and how to do it?
Upon graduating from MIT you will begin a career. MIT has provided you with countless facts and formulas to help you with your job, but what have you learned to help you with your career? This talk provides an overview of the basic issues needed for career planning and management such as: How do you know which job is right? Where will you be in 20 years? How to plan work-life balance? How to select the right projects? What to ask for in job negotiations? Register today!
MARK HERSCHBERG Educated at MIT (with degrees in physics, EE/CS, and a masters in cryptography) Mark has spent his career launching and fixing new ventures at startups, Fortune 100s, and academia. Mark has worked at and consulted to number startups typically taking on roles in general management, operations, and technology. He has been involved from inception and fundraising through growth and sale of the company. These startup companies have included a wireless application platform, online advertising, lead generation, OLAP, and new language development. Mark was instrumental in launching ServiceLive.com Sears online home services labor market; he also helped fix NBCs online video marketplace (now Hulu.com). In academia Mark spent a year at HBS working with two finance professors to create the upTick system now used to teach finance at many of the top business schools.
Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU
Compensation and your start-up: How do founders get paid?
John Akula, Charlie Johnson
| Jan/30 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | E51-149 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
Compensation for the founders and early employees of start-up companies raises a variety of complex business and legal issues. Early decisions are often made at a time when the young venture’s future is uncertain and its resources are scarce. Access to legal advice may be limited, and key participants may have expertise that is technology-focused rather than business-focused. Yet there are many questions that must be addressed. How should the equity be allocated amongst the founders, board members and early hires? How much equity should be rewarded for being the “idea” founder vs. the “implementing” founders? How should vesting work? How can early employees be paid with stock? What are the tax consequences? Are compensation issues different for a corporation vs. a limited liability company? This workshop will address these critical compensation issues as well as questions raised by the participants.
Charlie Johnson is a partner at the Boston law firm of Choate Hall & Stewart. He has had broad experience in advising both young companies and their investors, and has been a frequent guest lecturer in the law courses at MIT Sloan. John Akula has primary responsibility for the law curriculum at MIT Sloan.
*All participants should feel free to leave at 4pm, but if you would like more information on any topic, the faculty will be available until 5pm.
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: John Akula, E62-316, (617) 452-3619, jakula@mit.edu
Coolnetworking 3.0: Coolhunting and Coolfarming through Swarm Creativity
Peter Gloor
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/07
Limited to 25 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
This course consists of three parts, part I is the foundation for parts II and III, parts can be taken separately.
Day 1: I. How to Be an Efficient (Online) Networker
Part I is for everybody who would like to learn how they can be more efficient in their online and face-to-face networking.
Day 2: II. Coolhunting
Part II is for the power user who would like to learn how to apply Social Network Analysis to discover and predict emergent trends on the Web by mining Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, Wikipedia and the Web at large. Coolhunting means finding new trends by finding the trendsetters before anybody else, by tapping into the collective intelligence on the Web, and interpreting it through dynamic semantic social network analysis.
Day 3: III. Coolfarming
Part III builds on the basics from part II, it shows you how you can develop new trends through self-organizing teams (Coolfarming) by nurturing COINs (Collaborative Innovation Networks), and how you can better advertise your products on the Web through viral marketing using Twitter, Facebook, and Wikipedia. It will also introduce "virtual mirroring" to improve communication by continuously tracking and mirroring back a communication network.
This is a revised and condensed version of a distributed course, which has been taught for the last 9 years at MIT, Helsinki, Cologne, and Savannah. (http://sites.google.com/site/coincourse2013/)
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: Peter Gloor, NE25-749, x3-7018, pgloor@mit.edu
| Jan/08 | Wed | 03:00PM-06:00PM | NE25-749, Bring your laptop |
How to Be an Efficient (Online) Networker
twenty rules for networking :
You will create a "virtual mirror" of your own communication behavior, telling you how much of a "star" or a "galaxy" you are, analyzing your own Facebook and e-mail networks.
Peter Gloor
| Jan/09 | Thu | 03:00PM-06:00PM | NE25-749, Bring your laptop |
Coolhunting
As part of the course you will get Condor, which allows you to analyze Web sites, Blogs, Twitter, Wikipedia, Facebook and E-Mail.
Peter Gloor
| Jan/10 | Fri | 03:00PM-06:00PM | NE25-749, Bring your laptop |
Coolfarming
In this part we will use Condor to analyze organizational e-mail networks, and study interpersonal networks on the Web, Twitter, and Facebook.
Peter Gloor
Crash Course in Hardware Startups
Jeremy Conrad, MIT Alum
| Jan/06 | Mon | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/08 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/10 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/13 | Mon | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/15 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/17 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/22 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/24 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/27 | Mon | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/29 | Wed | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
| Jan/31 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | 8-205 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 12/14
Limited to 30 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
This class is for anyone who wants to start their own hardware company. It will cover all the areas you need to understand to begin. This includes prototyping, manufacturing, branding, marketing, fundraising and much more!
Please apply in groups of 3-4 people. It is a project based class and each group will pick a company to start. By the end you have a roadmap of how to start a hardware company.
The course will address different types of companies from consumer electronics and connected devices to satellites and robots. If there are moving atoms or electrons then it's hardware.
Jeremy Conrad is a founding partner at Lemnos Labs, a hardware startup incubator based in San Francisco. Lemnos invests in early stage companies ranging from Aerospace and Robotics to Consumer Electronics. Prior to founding Lemnos Jeremy spent five years as an officer in the US Air Force working on weapons grade lasers for missile defense. He has a Mechanical Engineering degree from MIT.
Sponsor(s): Edgerton Center, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Contact: Amy Fitzgerald, 4-405, 617 253-7931, AMYFITZ@MIT.EDU
(CANCELED) Data Center Engineering w/Action Lab
Albert Rabassa, Data Center Engineer
Enrollment: 20 participants + 20 listeners.
Sign-up by 01/03
Limited to 40 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Participants (20): Windows Laptops
A Corporate or Enterprise Class data center is perhaps one of the largest technical and financial investments facing corporate planners today. The stakeholders include: CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, CTOs, systems engineers, computer engineers, electrical engineers, mechanical engineers, fire & safety engineers, LEED engineers, and ultimately- the end users of the data center. Data center designs must meet the system requirements of the organization and its users, drive energy efficiencies, and be ecologically responsible. Cost constraints demand that the design be future-proof. Attendees will be exposed to two-year’s worth of information and lessons learned in two-days. The Action Lab will be limited to 20 participants- as a highly specialized GUI based CFD airflow modeling tool will be loaded on their laptop. An additional 20 Listeners will be permitted. No prior experience is required. Topics will start with high level management and mission decisions. These topics will be displaced by increasing technical details, concepts, and CFD modeling. We will conclude by touring a 10MW data center (MGHPCC).
Contact: Albert Rabassa, arabassa@mit.edu
| Jan/07 | Tue | 09:00AM-03:00PM | tbd |
Day-1. Introduction. Overview. Management Decisions. Engineering Details. Introduction to CFD Action Lab.
Albert Rabassa - Data Center Engineer
| Jan/09 | Thu | 09:00AM-03:00PM | tbd, Participanring laptop. Data Center Tour Optional. |
Day-2. Technical wrap-up, airflow modeling, and Q&A. We will end at 12-noon with an optional trip to the new MGHPCC data center to see a 10MW data center in action.
Albert Rabassa - Data Center Engineer
e4Dev: Introduction to Energy and Human Development
Ignacio Perez-Arriaga, Visiting Professor, CEEPR, MIT
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/06
Attendance: Participants asked to attend all sessions; email to discuss exceptions
Prereq: Some familiarity with energy useful but NOT required
More than 1.5 billion people lack access to basic energy services. This is not inherently problematic, as access to energy is not in and of itself a goal of development – rather, we care about improvements to quality of life more broadly. Energy access has, however, been identified as a potentially important component in enabling many essential quality of life improvements, including for example public health, communication, and local business growth.
In a four-day series of lectures, case studies, interactive activities, and the development of an energy access project evaluation strategy, students participating in this course will be exposed to the challenges and opportunities in energy access for the developing world. Lectures will provide working knowledge of the current state of energy access; what it means to provide energy access; a survey of relevant energy technologies; the connection between energy access and poverty alleviation; and financing mechanisms and business models for energy projects in the developing world.
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division, MIT Energy Initiative
Contact: Zachary Accuardi, N52-373, 503-975-7778, ACCUARDI@MIT.EDU
| Jan/07 | Tue | 09:00AM-12:00PM | E17-128, A laptop may be useful |
| Jan/08 | Wed | 09:00AM-12:00PM | E17-128 |
| Jan/09 | Thu | 09:00AM-12:00PM | E17-128, Laptops will be useful |
| Jan/10 | Fri | 09:00AM-12:30PM | E17-128 |
Energy Startups @ Greentown Labs: From MIT to IPO
Emily L. Reichert, Executive Director, Mark Vasu, Greentown Labs Advisor
| Jan/27 | Mon | 01:00PM-03:00PM | Greentown Labs, Transportation will be provided |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 25 participants
Meet some of the coolest energy entrepreneurs in Cambridge and see how you can take an idea from inspiration to implementation. Join MITEI on a personalized tour of Greentown Labs in Somerville, where you'll get to explore their brand new maker-spaces, get an inside look at cutting edge technologies, and meet MIT alumni who are involved in the field of energy.
Transportation will be provided
Sponsor(s): MIT Energy Initiative
Contact: Ethan Feuer, E19-370, 617 452-3199, EFEUER@MIT.EDU
From Innovation To Commercially Viable Products
Afarin Bellisario, Technology Licensing Officer
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Limited to 40 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
The course consists of 4 independent 2 hour sessions, and will focus on the journey from an innovative concept (or proof of concept) to a commercially viable product. Each session covers an independent part of the processs.
Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering
Contact: Afarin Bellisario, 617-258-8329, aobell@mit.edu
| Jan/08 | Wed | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 4-159 |
| Jan/15 | Wed | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 4-159 |
| Jan/22 | Wed | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 4-159 |
| Jan/28 | Tue | 10:00AM-12:00PM | 4-159 |
Afarin Bellisario - Technology Licensing Officer
From Lab Bench to Innovation - Creating Ventures from University Research
Roman Lubynsky, MIT Venture Mentoring Service
| Jan/16 | Thu | 03:00PM-05:00PM | Classroom 4-163 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/13
Limited to 80 participants
Prereq: none
Starting a new venture based on university research is not the same as launching a traditional high tech startup. This session will discuss a number of unique challenges that you will face and provide suggestions on how to navigate through them. Topics covered will include: how to get from idea to action, how to structure your organization, the best sources of funding at different points, how to increase your chances of getting SBIRs, potential conflicts and problems you may encounter, and resources you can tap into for help for with all of the above. Recent MIT alums who have successfully launched ventures based on their research will be on hand. Open to members of the MIT community, particularly recommended for graduate students from any school or department who are considering starting new ventures based on their discoveries and inventions.
Sponsor(s): MIT Venture Mentoring Service
Contact: Roberta McCarthy, W31-306, 617 258-0720, VMS@MIT.EDU
Hacking Management - Why joy holds the secret to team performance
Richard Sheridan, CEO, Menlo Innovations
| Jan/15 | Wed | 06:00PM-08:00PM | 50 Morss Hall |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/15
Limited to 200 participants
Learn what focusing on Joy can do for your company. Richard Sheridan, CEO and
Sponsor(s): Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program -UPOP
Contact: Kate Moynihan, 35-316, 617-253-0041, KATEJM@MIT.EDU
Hacking Management-In Pursuit of the Business Value of Joy
Rich Sheridan, CEO and Chief Storyteller, Menlo Innovations
| Jan/15 | Wed | 06:00PM-08:00PM | 50-Morss Hall, 142 Memorial Dr, Cambridge, MA |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/15
Limited to 200 participants
Learn what focusing on Joy can do for a company!
Polly LaBarre of The MIX will interview author Rich Sheridan about his newly released book Joy, Inc. - How We Built a Workplace People Love.
Inc. magazine recently named Sheridan’s Menlo Innovations the "Most Joyful Company in America" and 800-CEO-READ named Joy, Inc. "Management Book of the Year".
Menlo Innovations has flipped the most slavishly followed tenets of “modern” organization and turned itself into a laboratory for churning out clever alternatives. There is no chain of command at Menlo. There are no bosses, no managers, no secrets, no rules, no walls, and no fear. What they have instead are a series of clever mechanisms and radically practical approaches to cultivating collaboration, collective decision-making, focus, and performance. This is why we’re delighted to be hosting a live, in-person Maverick Hangout with Menlo Innovations co-founder and CEO, Richard Sheridan on Wednesday, January 15th at 6pm-8pm on MIT's Campus. We’ll dive into the principles behind building a joy-based culture, talk about what it means to unleash so much freedom, experimentation, openness and amp up productivity, ingenuity, and alignment at the same time. And we’ll get into the details of Menlo’s redesign of so many core management practices.
Copies of the book will be available for sale at the event. Attendance is open to the public at no charge. There will be light refreshments.
To register: http://upop.mit.edu/events/view/?id=618
Sponsor(s): Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program -UPOP
Contact: Kate Moynihan, 30-316, 617-253-0041, KATEJM@MIT.EDU
Having more Time per Minute - An Introduction to Time Management
David Engel
| Jan/21 | Tue | 02:00PM-03:00PM | E51-145 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/20
Time is one of the most precious assets we have and we should make sure that we are spending it wisely. Time management is a broad term that includes a wide variety of techniques and systems to improve the way you approach your tasks and goals. This course will give an introduction to some of the main ideas and some suggestions where you might be able to improve your own time management system. We’ll discuss topics such as “What time management can do for you”, “Why your inbox should not be your to do list”, “What should I do next” and “How 15 minutes could save you a lot of stress”.
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: David Engel, dengel@MIT.EDU
How to Figure Out What You Want to Do With Your Life
Elliott Hedman
| Jan/23 | Thu | 05:00PM-07:00PM | Pratchett, Walker, Pratchett is on 2nd Floor, North Side |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/21
Limited to 100 participants
You have amazing potential. You could change the world. But you don't exactly know how. You still haven't found your passion.
This two hour workshop will help you start figuring out how to find that passion and drive. There will be pizza too*
Elliott Hedman has been coaching students for 8 years on figuring out a career path they love as a GRT and student. He approaches finding passion as a prototype: go out there, explore, try new things, and do not commit til your ready. Over the years he has created 10 steps to find your passion and wants to share them with you. Half of the workshop will be presentation, half will be discussion - so come prepared to tell your story and get feedback.
Depending on how things work out, we might have followup sessions to further discuss progress. I want to see you follow your passion!
*There will be pizza if less tha 15 people show up. I don't have a lot of money :)
Contact: Elliott Hedman, (970) 389-3047, HEDMAN@MIT.EDU
IP Fundamentals and Perspectives on the Patent Marketplace
Everardo Ruiz SM '00, Intellectual Ventures
| Jan/29 | Wed | 10:00AM-11:45AM | E62-250 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Rockstar. Spherix. Apple. Samsung. Intel. Microsoft. AOL. Kodak. Google/Motorola. Public and private patent monetization companies. Litigation seemingly everywhere. Inventions are now bought and sold worldwide as businesses, institutes, agencies, and inventors seek to monetize their intellectual property,frequently through the sale or litigation of patents. This seminar will provide a brief overview of technology intellectual property - the concepts of copyright, trade secret, and patents - and then review the patent marketplace from several perspectives, discussing high-tech / IT patent strategy along with several patent valuation approaches including key economic and legal factors.
Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU
It's your technology -- Can you still patent it?
John Akula, James Lampert
| Jan/23 | Thu | 02:00PM-04:00PM | E62-250 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: No advance sign-up
A key question for many businesses, and especially start-ups, is: Can we patent our key technology? For several decades, what life-science and computer technologies could be patented generally expanded. That expansion strengthened patent-based business models, and was critical to many software and biotech developments, including, for example, proprietary financial and business methods, genetics and personalized medicine. In the last few years, the US Supreme Court has reversed that trend. Where this will take us is not yet entirely clear. But what may or may not still be patentable is critical to engineers, scientists and managers in both new and old ventures.
All participants should feel free to leave at 4, but if you would like more information on any topic, the faculty will be available until 5.
Jim Lampert was, until his recent retirement, a partner at WilmerHale, one of the top law firms in the nation, and head of their IP practice. John Akula has primary responsibility for the law curriculum at MIT Sloan.
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: John Akula, E62-316, (617) 452-3619, jakula@mit.edu
Patents & Pizza: Careers in Intellectual Property Law (panel)
Lily Zhang, Career Development Specialist
| Jan/16 | Thu | 05:00PM-07:00PM | 4-145 |
Enrollment: Advanced registration requested via CareerBridge
Learn from MIT alums working in patent law about careers that let you stay abreast of the newest technologies. By working in the field of intellectual property, you can make a career of patenting, protecting, licensing, and valuing the most recent technological discoveries! Topics discussed will include an overview of intellectual property rights available to inventors, a day-in-the-life of patent attorneys, and a discussion of how intellectual property rights are protected in the realms of academia and industry.
Panelists:
Lita Nelsen, MIT Technology Licensing Office
Kristin Smith, Beyer Law Group
Misha Hill, Bose
Clay Satow, Bose
Pizza for this event is sponsored by Beyer Law Group, LLP. This workshop is open to undergraduates, graduate students, postdocs and alumni. Advanced registration requested via CareerBridge: https://www.myinterfase.com/mit/student
Sponsor(s): Global Education and Career Development
Contact: Lily Zhang, 12-170, (617) 253-4733, lilyz@mit.edu
Protect your Invention & Turn it Into a Startup!
Christopher Noble
| Jan/15 | Wed | 12:00PM-01:30PM | 3-133 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/15
You've invented something really cool. Now can you protect it and create a company around it? Come and hear Christopher Noble, Technology Licensing Officer of the MIT Technology Licensing Office. Learn How and When to file a patent (and if you need to); how your startup can spin the invention out from MIT and get that coveted “exclusive license”; how MIT’s Technology Licensing Office can help you (and what they want from you); and what your investors are looking for when they ask the question: “Tell me about your IP”. Please register at: http://tlo.mit.edu/iapevents
Sponsor(s): Technology Licensing Office
Contact: Kikuyu Daniels, NE18-501, 617 253-6966, KDANIELS@MIT.EDU
Sales Boot Camp
Kent Summers, MIT VMS Volunteer Mentor, Jim Noschese, MIT VMS Volunteer Mentor
| Jan/09 | Thu | 01:00PM-05:00PM | Classroom 4-163 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/06
Limited to 80 participants
Prereq: none
The lifeblood of any new business venture is revenue – the result of successfully selling an innovative new product or service. One of the biggest challenges facing any start-up is landing the first paying customers, and a tremendous amount of thought and energy goes into this all-important mission. Technical MIT entrepreneurs often hack into the sales black box with much trial-and-error, or spend precious time and resources on a "sales professional" with marginal results. During this session, sales experts will cover basic sales concepts, mechanics, vocabulary, and sales Do's and Don'ts at the block-and-tackle "how-to get a sale" level. Our goals are to help entrepreneurs with a technical background increase the likelihood and pace of early customer acquisition, decrease time-to-revenue, and provide a solid foundation from which founders can establish and grow a new business. The Sales Boot Camp is targeted at researchers and engineers who are the founders of early stage ventures and intended to equip you to be both sales conversant and knowledgeable, so you can make better decisions and incorporate sales-thinking into your day-to-day operations and organizational culture.
Sponsor(s): MIT Venture Mentoring Service
Contact: Roberta McCarthy, W31-305, x8-0720, vms@mit.edu
Small Business Toolkit: Financial Strategies & Online Marketing Strategies
Mark Porter '05, Certified Financial Planner, Andrew Percey '95, MNG '96, Founder, Prometheus Internet Marketing
| Jan/15 | Wed | 06:00PM-07:00PM | 32-144 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Starting and growing your own business can be tremendously rewarding. But it involves much more than just offering a product or service. How do you manage your personal finances if you haven't received significant funding? What do you need to know about employees and taxes? How do you create an online presence that will drive revenue and growth? Come learn the essentials regarding:
• Taking advantage of changing tax brackets during start-up
• Efficient use of your personal funds
• Managing payroll and taxes
• Building the optimal website for your business
• Attracting your target customers to your website
• Finding the best resources for your web design and marketing
The first half of this seminar will focus on small business finances and is taught by Mark Porter '05, certified financial planner. The second half will focus on promoting your business online and is taught by Andrew Percey of Prometheus Internet Marketing. The seminar will last 60 minutes with Mark and Andrew available afterwards for additional questions.
Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU
Small Business Toolkit: Financial Strategies & Online Marketing Strategies
Mark Porter '05, Certified Financial Planner, Andrew Percey '95, MNG '96, Founder, Prometheus Internet Marketing
| Jan/09 | Thu | 04:30PM-05:30PM | 32-124 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Starting and growing your own business can be tremendously rewarding. But it involves much more than just offering a product or service. How do you manage your personal finances if you haven't received significant funding? What do you need to know about employees and taxes? How do you create an online presence that will drive revenue and growth? Come learn the essentials regarding:
• Taking advantage of changing tax brackets during start-up
• Efficient use of your personal funds
• Managing payroll and taxes
• Building the optimal website for your business
• Attracting your target customers to your website
• Finding the best resources for your web design and marketing
The first half of this seminar will focus on small business finances and is taught by Mark Porter '05, certified financial planner. The second half will focus on promoting your business online and is taught by Andrew Percey of Prometheus Internet Marketing. The seminar will last 60 minutes with Mark and Andrew available afterwards for additional questions.
Sponsor(s): Alumni Association
Contact: Elena Byrne, W98-206C, 617 252-1143, EBYRNE@MIT.EDU
StartIAP
Christina Chase, Bill Aulet, Seve Esparrago
Enrollment: By Application Only - 10 Team Limit
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: By Application Only
During this IAP-long accelerator, teams will have the opportunity to participate in hands-on workshops on topics such as agile product management, legal responsibilities, and fundraising taught by industry experts like Paul English and Bill Aulet alongside other Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurs-in-Residence. Teams will also have dedicated space in the Trust Center and will be given access to labs around campus to further develop their products and companies. During StartIAP, teams will have every chance to go all the way from concept to company.
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
Contact: Christina Chase, E40-160, 617-324-4048, cchase@mit.edu
Startups 3.0: Seeing the System
Fady Saad
Enrollment: Limited: First come, first served (no advance sign-up)
Limited to 50 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: none
Majority of startups fail because of managerial issues, and mainly because managers fail to see the large startup "system". This practical and concise course will explore the different lifecycle phases an organization goes through, and the changing needs in each phase. At the end of this course, students will be able to see the complete startup system and the interdependency between its elements
Sponsor(s): Engineering Systems Division
Contact: Fady Saad, 617 386 9861, fady.saad@sloan.mit.edu
| Jan/28 | Tue | 06:00PM-08:00PM | 3-333 |
| Jan/29 | Wed | 06:00PM-08:00PM | 3-333 |
| Jan/30 | Thu | 06:00PM-08:00PM | 3-333 |
Fady Saad
Stellar Startups: Building a Business around the New Space Economy
Erika Wagner, Business Development Manager, Blue Origin, Jeremy Conrad, Founding Partner, Lemnos Labs
| Jan/28 | Tue | 10:00AM-01:00PM | TBD, lunch provided |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/26
Limited to 20 participants
In 2013 alone, more than $150M was invested in young companies with ideas for leveraging the massive changes taking place in space launch pricing and system architectures. Just as smartphones have enabled a wealth of businesses to spring up around software applications, we will discuss the opportunities for hardware, software, and service "apps" enabled by the emerging platform of low-cost, frequent space launch.
Join us for a half-day interactive workshop on aerospace industry trends that are ripe for entrepreneurship. Brainstorm ideas for the "killer app", and use rapid prototyping techniques to bring your ideas to life for an elevator pitch round. Backgrounds in technology, science, and business all welcomed.
Facilitators include MIT alums from:
Contact: Erika Wagner, erika@alum.mit.edu
Tax Issues for Employees and Entrepreneurs
Howard Mandelcorn, Joseph Weber
| Jan/22 | Wed | 01:00PM-04:00PM | E51-335 |
| Jan/23 | Thu | 01:00PM-04:00PM | E51-335 |
Enrollment: Unlimited: Advance sign-up required
Attendance: Repeating event, particpants welcome at any session
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: Arianna Vahsen-Crosby, E62-655, (617) 253-9744, avahsenc@mit.edu
The Five Questions to Ask Before Building a Startup.
Colin Kennedy, Elliot Cohen
| Jan/13 | Mon | 10:00AM-02:00PM | 32-144 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/10
Limited to 60 participants
You’re at MIT; you're smart, driven, and creative: all the ingredients to build a startup and change the world. A year after you take the plunge, you’ll look back at the story and see things you wish you’d known. What questions should you have asked?
We’ll discuss the five most important questions every Founder, core team member, or early employee should ask before signing on for the wild ride.
Hint: you’ll learn about Team, Market, Product, Technology, and Money.
Sign up here: http://validateiap2014.eventbrite.com/
Sponsor(s): Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
Contact: R. Colin Kennedy, E40-160, rck@mit.edu
Three-tiered Conflict Management Training by Conflict Resolution @ MIT
Enrollment: See description
Sign-up by 12/12
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: See description
For the first time during IAP 2014, Conflict Resolution@MIT, in conjunction with the Sloan Student Life Office and the MIT Leadership Center, will pilot a three-tier conflict management training. With skills modules in negotiation, active listening, dealing with emotions in difficult conversations, and inter-cultural communication - among others - you'll come away with plenty of tools to help you manage the conflicts in your life and work!
The training is tiered at 16-hour, 32-hours, and 40-hour levels, and will take place over the course of two weeks. This workshop is not for credit. The dates and times are as follows:
Tier 1: Conflict Management for Self-Reflection: Monday, January 6th through Thursday, January 9th, 8:30am to 12:30pm
Tier 2: Conflict Management for Leadership: Monday, January 13th through Thursday, January 16th, 8:30am - 12:30pm
Tier 3: Conflict Management for Advanced Practice: Friday, January 10th and Friday, January 17th, 8:30am to 12:30pm
Meets in E51-372
To apply, please click on the link here.
Sponsor(s): Sloan School of Management
Contact: Libby Mahaffy, W31-310A, (617) 253-0242, lamaha@MIT.EDU
Unleash Your Inner Company
John Chisholm
| Jan/29 | Wed | 05:15PM-06:45PM | E25-111 |
Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/29
Limited to 50 participants
You want to start your own business, but where do you start? What can you do that hasn't already been done? How can you build the self-confidence to take the plunge? Do you need a co-founder? When is the right time to raise money? How can you scale your business? Is starting a for-profit business the most ethical thing you can do?
This fast-paced, one-hour workshop will answer these questions and more. You'll learn how to:
- See dozens of customer needs in areas you are passionate about
- Recognize your many advantages for starting your business
- Assess the fits between each need and your advantages
- Overcome doubts and insecurities that hold you back.
This workshop will help you spend the rest of your life doing what you love, creating security for yourself, and making the world a better place.
"Before [John's workshop], startups always seemed so distant. Now I realize I have all the resources I need." - Ben, MIT class of '14
John Chisholm '75, CEO - John Chisholm Ventures (www.johnchisholmventures.com) has started two software companies in the last two decades. Decisive Technology (now part of Google) was the first company to automate surveys online; CustomerSat (now part of Confirmit) was a leader in enterprise feedback management. He is President Select of the MIT Worldwide Alumni Association, serves on the MIT Corporation Development Committee, and chairs the MIT Club of Northern California.
To register http://upop.mit.edu/events/view/?id=612
Sponsor(s): Undergraduate Practice Opportunities Program -UPOP, Alumni Association
Contact: Kate Moynihan, 35-316, 617 253-0041, KATEJM@MIT.EDU
Volunteer Consulting Group IAP 2014
William Herbert, Consulting Club at MIT - President, Dong Guan, Consulting Club at MIT - VCG Manager
Enrollment: Selection process based on statement of purpose
Sign-up by 12/15
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Non-MBA Graduate Students only
Gain experience volunteering with a start-up company on a business project during IAP 2014.
WHAT?: the VOLUNTEER CONSULTING GROUP (VCG) is organized by the Consulting Club at MIT (CCM) to give graduate students valuable experience and introduce them to consulting work. You will do a project in a small team with one of two local companies on a real business problem they have. Details of projects will become available by December 2013.
WHEN?: the IAP program will run for 4 weeks starting January 9th 2014. You will need to commit 10-20 hours per week for this period of time, including one weekly team meeting, one weekly meeting with the host company and a weekly workshop session to learn business consulting skills.
FOR WHO?: any graduate student at MIT who is interested in consulting as a potential career, working with start-up companies or simply looking for a different, interesting experience during IAP.
HOW TO APPLY:
1. Send an email to ccmvcg@gmail.com to state your interest. We will add you to a preliminary list and send you details of the individual projects as they emerge.
2. Once you decide on a project, we will expect you to send us a short (200 word) statement of purpose about why you think this program will benefit you.
Sponsor(s): Consulting Club of MIT
Contact: CCM VCG, ccmvcg@gmail.com
| Jan/09 | Thu | 11:30AM-01:30PM | TBA |
In the kickoff meeting we will introduce the VCG program and individual projects in more detail. An invited speaker from a top management consulting firm will give an overview of their work and the consulting industry. Finally, we will hold a 40-min session on structuring and frameworking business problems that will be performed in groups. Non-pizza lunch will be served!
William Herbert - Consulting Club at MIT - President, Dong Guan - Consulting Club at MIT - VCG Manager
| Jan/17 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | TBA |
| Jan/24 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | TBA |
| Jan/31 | Fri | 02:00PM-03:30PM | TBA |
Weekly group workshops will allow you to gain valuable skills to help you on your projects, based on invited speakers and a mini syllabus developed by the Consulting Club at MIT. We will focus on (1) client interaction and interviewing, (2) business analytical techniques, (3) synthesis and making recommendations. You will work in groups and apply the concepts to your VCG project.
William Herbert - Consulting Club at MIT - President
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