Radhika Dutt (CEO Likelii), Venktesh Shukla (Chair, TiE Silicon Valley), 

Siva Narendra (CEO, Tyfone), Kush Gulati (Co-Founder, CAT) were among a host of successful entrepreneurs who ran workshops for MIT students as part of the Startup6. The MIT EECS department under the leadership of the Chair, Anantha Chandrakasan, hosted Startup6. 

MIT is home to some of the greatest innovations in the world that have led to very successful companies.  However the curriculum itself did not have a focus on entrepreneurship.  President Reif decided to focus on this kind of support and as a result students are now provided entrepreneurship workshops that they can use for credit. 

The institute provided a crash course on all aspects of startups. Each day of the six day program was focused on a particular track. The first day started with a overview of startups.  Value proposition, Marketing and Customer Traction, Human Side/ Team Building and Funding Models/ Equity tracks followed. The entrepreneurs chosen to speak came from both hardware and software backgrounds.  

The 50-plus students participating in the workshop are primarily from, but not limited to, EECS.  It was wonderful to see several women in the audience as well. “I really would like to encourage more women to be electrical engineers and computer scientists and very much would like them to become entrepreneurs and start companies,” said Dr. Chandrakasan. 

The audience though very young already had a few innovative and successful App creators.  Ari Weinstein, a freshman has created DeskConnect, an app that allows users to share files between devices with one button. DeskConnect already has more than 100,000 users. 

TIE-Silicon Valley President Venktesh Shukla spoke about the challenges of hiring qualified people especially in the Bay Area. “It is really hard to find great engineers in the Bay Area since there are so many startups seeking talent.  There are companies who now have their engineering teams in other areas like Boston where it may be easier to find  talent.” Ash Ashutosh shared valuable insights on funding models and equity drawn from his own extensive experience. Speakers also spoke eloquently on the work-life balance and the importance of a supportive family to have a successful startup experience. At the end of the Institute, Chandrakasan spoke about an upcoming trek to the West Coast where budding entrepreneurs would get a chance to meet investors.  

The experience was very energizing for students who are considering starting a company and it surely would lead to more entrepreneurial efforts from MIT.