Disciplined Entrepreneurship Lab (15.368)

About the Class

Faculty

What is DE Lab? Disciplined Entrepreneurship Lab (DE Lab) offers students the opportunity to enhance and apply their understanding of the fundamentals of entrepreneurship by engaging in a full-time project with a startup over a period of 3-4 weeks. The course builds on the academic framework of Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup and its application in a real-world environment. Potential projects include, but are not limited to: - Identifying new markets - Entering new markets - Launching a product - Developing a sales strategy - Providing general support to the startup over the course of the project. FORMS Student interest form: https://airtable.com/appou1sElBRmegqO9/shrvenHjTemtwilW7 Students signup form: https://airtable.com/appou1sElBRmegqO9/shrmq6vu1iSj3w41A Company form: https://airtable.com/appou1sElBRmegqO9/shrsqy2fXcmEAD1sp SCHEDULE - Kickoff: Early January - Final Presentations: Early February (likely first week of classes post IAP) - Deliverables: 5 Slide Presentation and 2 Page Reflection - Credits: 6 INFORMATION FOR STUDENTS The class provides students with a real-life application of the disciplined entrepreneurship framework by collaborating with a startup of their choice for 3-4 weeks throughout January and early February. Key dates for students include a kick-off call in early January (virtual, via Zoom) and a final presentation (timing tbd, but most likely during the first week of classes post IAP). How many credits is the class? The class is worth 6 credits. Does the experience have to be in person or can it be virtual? The setup of the project will depend on your final agreement with the host company. Can I source my own company to work for? Yes! Students are encouraged to identify their own host companies to maximize their learning from the class. Companies can sign up using the company link at the top of the page. When will the list of host companies be published? We are planning to share the list of host companies by mid-November. Is DE Lab open to non-MBA / non-Sloan students? Yes, DE Lab is open to students outside the MBA and Sloan. Do I have to be in person for the kick-off call? The kick-off call will be hosted on Zoom. What is the expected workload? In general, DE Lab requires you to work with a startup for 40hrs/week over a period of three weeks. What are the deliverables for the class? Students are required to attend the kick-off presentation, submit a midterm reflection memo (2-3 pages), and deliver a final presentation (5 minutes, 5 slides). What is the structure of the final presentation? The final presentation will be a 5-minute, 5 slides presentation. Further instructions will be made available at a later stage. What is the format of the final presentation? The final presentation will be conducted in person. However, in case of class conflicts, students can send a pre-recorded video. Can I work for my own startup? Unfortunately, no. DE Lab does not allow students to work on their own startup as part of the class. What is the matching process? Students will be required to reach out to their startup of choice and agree on the structure of their DE Lab project individually. This also applies to companies that are included on the host company list. At what stages and from what industries are the companies? There is no limitation with regard to the industry, and past projects have covered a wide array of different industries. In terms of stage, DE Lab is primarily focused on projects with startups in pre-seed, seed, and series A stages. Can I get compensated for my project? No, DE Lab requires the project to be strictly academic and does not allow for any kind of compensation. You will receive 6 academic credits upon completion of the lab. Who can I contact with further questions? Please reach out to Tobi Beck (beckt@mit.edu) and Kwang Jun Lee (klee21@mit.edu). INFORMATION FOR HOST COMPANIES DE Lab is hosted by Bill Aulet and Paul Cheek from The Martin Trust Center of MIT Entrepreneurship and offers you the opportunity to work with a student collaborator from MIT on a real-life project and to build connections with entrepreneurial-minded MIT students. The project will take place during January, and students typically work 40hrs/week for 3-4 weeks with their project of choice. Students will receive a list of host projects and reach out to their preferred companies by mid-November. Companies can sign up for the lab using the company link at the top of the page. (Please note that, as students will select independently which project to work on, you are not guaranteed to be matched with a student just by signing up for the lab). When does the project take place? The project will be conducted during the Sloan IAP period, which runs from January until early February. The exact length and timing of the project can be decided individually between host companies and students. What is the format of the project? Students typically work with their host companies 40hrs/week for a period of 3-4 weeks. The details are to be agreed upon between the host company and the student on an individual basis. The project can take place either virtually or in person, which is also up to the discretion of the parties involved. How does the matching process work? Students will be provided with a list of interested companies by mid-November. Afterwards, they will start to reach out to their preferred companies to begin the interview process for the project. Please note that by just signing up for the lab, you are not guaranteed to receive a student collaborator. Do I have to pay my collaborator? No, DE Lab requires the project to be purely academic and does not allow for any kind of compensation for the student. Do I have to have a specific project to participate in DE Lab? No, companies do not have to have a specific project in mind to participate in DE Lab. However, to facilitate the matching process with students, our sign-up form includes a short paragraph about the work the student collaborator will be doing over the course of the lab. What kind of companies is DE Lab looking for? DE Lab is open to companies from all kinds of industries. Given our focus on entrepreneurship, we generally focus on companies in pre-seed, seed, or series A stages. However, if your company is slightly more mature, you are still encouraged to sign up for the lab. Do I have to be MIT-affiliated to participate in DE Lab? No, we encourage all startups to sign up for DE Lab, regardless of MIT affiliation. What happens if I no longer have capacity for a student collaborator? Please contact Tobi Beck (beckt@mit.edu) and Kwang Jun Lee (klee21@mit.edu) to take you off the company list. Who can I contact if I have further questions? Please reach out to Tobi Beck (beckt@mit.edu) and Kwang Jun Lee (klee21@mit.edu).

Paul Cheek

Paul Cheek is a serial tech entrepreneur, software engineer, an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, and a Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Paul currently teaches the "New Enterprises" course and previously taught the Advanced Entrepreneurship course, "Building an Entrepreneurial Venture: Advanced Tools and Techniques.” He built MIT's entrepreneurship platform, Orbit, and also coaches entrepreneurs in various programs like the MIT delta v accelerator, MIT fuse, Sandbox Innovation Fund, workshops, and hackathons. Paul is currently building Oceanworks, the global marketplace for recycled ocean plastic materials and products aimed at accelerating the market for recycled ocean plastic to clean up our oceans. Prior, Paul co-founded Work Today, a venture-backed digital staffing and recruiting company. As CTO, he designed and built the company's technology platform and grew the business from 0 to 50,000 workers. Paul has also built technologies for and consulted with LogMeIn, BlackRock, Prudential, Mazda, and more.

Bill Aulet

Bill is changing the way entrepreneurship is understood, taught, and practiced around the world. He is an award-winning educator and author whose current work is built off the foundation of his 25-year successful business career, first at IBM, and then as a three-time serial entrepreneur. During this time, he directly raised over a hundred million dollars and, more importantly, created hundreds of millions of dollars of shareholder value through his companies. Since 2009, Bill has been responsible for leading the development of entrepreneurship education across MIT at the Trust Center. His first book, “Disciplined Entrepreneurship,” was released in August 2013, has been translated into over 20 languages, and has been the content for three online edX courses, which have been taken by hundreds of thousands of people in 200 different countries. The accompanying follow on book, “Disciplined Entrepreneurship Workbook,” was released in April 2017. He has widely published in places such as the Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, theBoston Globe, the Sloan Management Review, the Kauffman Foundation, Entrepreneur Magazine, MIT Sloan Experts, and more. He has been a featured speaker on shows such as CNBC’s Squawk Box, BBC News, Bloomberg News, as well as at events and conferences around the world. He has degrees from Harvard and MIT and is a board member of MITEK Systems (NASDAQ: MITK) and XL Hybrids Inc. (privately held) as well as a visiting professor at University of Strathclyde (Scotland). On July 1, 2017, Bill was named a Professor of the Practice at MIT Sloan, the first at the school in the area of entrepreneurship since Alex d’Arbeloff received the designation in 2003. Bill has earned external recognition as well for his efforts, which include Boston 50 on Fire, 2017 Favorite MBA Professors from Poets and Quants, and 2018 Nannerl Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professorship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University. In 2019, Bill was awarded the Outstanding Contributions to Advancing Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award by the Deshpande Foundation. In 2021, Bill was recognized by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) as the 2021 Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year.