mit_impact_full_report

An Evolving MIT Internal Entrepreneurial Ecosystem
56
Impact of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center
and Network
Our 2003 MIT alumni survey sought measures of
MIT-related factors that influenced the founding of
the new companies. In Table 14, we show several
dimensions that directly link to E-Center efforts.
Clearly, MIT’s entrepreneurial network was seen as a
critical influencing force even fifty years ago, but its
strength has grown dramatically to the point that half
of the most recent entrepreneurs see the network as
a key factor in the founding of their companies.
Appropriately, the MIT E-Center itself and the $10K-
$50K-$100K Business Plan Competition have had
essentially no perceived influence on alumni
entrepreneurs until the past decade or so, when
alumni have had the opportunity to engage with
them. Prior to the founding of these two entities,
only a few graduates of MIT classes had become
connected with the E-Center, perhaps as E-Lab
company CEOs or as $100K judges. But, during their
relatively short lives, both the E-Center and the
$100K have jumped into prominence as influences on
those students who later became company founders.
Other survey results indicate that the more recent
alumni entrepreneurs, in particular, see extracurricular
and social activities as accounting for the team
formation of about 60 percent of the new firms, with
an increase in the percentage of the startup ideas
also coming from networking. The growth of classes,
clubs, conferences, and their informal spinoffs has
altered the internal environment of MIT relating to
these entrepreneurial movements.
Bob Metcalfe ’68, Ethernet inventor, founder of
3Com, and now a partner in Polaris Ventures, is a
constant observer of MIT. “It’s not just that MIT’s
entrepreneurial environment flourishes under its
institutional commitment to technology transfer,” he
said. “It’s also that MIT includes both ‘nerds’ and
‘suits.’ Divergent life forms, yes, but necessary to and
working together at MIT on entrepreneurial
innovation. And what keeps MIT’s entrepreneurial
ecosystem accelerating is that nobody is in charge.
There are at least twenty groups at MIT competing to
be the group on entrepreneurship. All of them are
winning.” Testimony supporting this effect also is
presented by the 2003 results shown in Table 15.
There we see that, over five decades, the importance
of faculty and research to new enterprise creation has
been vital, but more or less constant, whereas the
perceived influence of other students on venture
founding has grown enormously, to the point that it
is the dominant single perceived influencing factor
found in our studies. The internal network of
relationships, especially student-to-student, has
become king!
Technology Licensing Office
The history of the MIT Technology Licensing
Office traces the evolution of the MIT entrepreneurial
culture and ecosystem. In 1932, the MIT Committee
Table 14
Entrepreneurship Center Factors Important to Venture Founding (from limited sample only)
Proportion Rating University Factors as Important in Venture Founding* (percentage)
Graduation Decade 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
(N=73) (N=111) (N=147) (N=144) (N=145)
MIT Business Plan Competition 0% 1% 0% 3% 30%
MIT Entrepreneurship Center 3% 1% 2% 1% 12%
MIT’s Entrepreneurial Network 26% 25% 32% 40% 50%
*Respondents could check all relevant categories
ENTREPRENEURIAL IMPACT: THE ROLE OF MIT