When it comes to startup ecosystem and resources for entrepreneurs, it’s really hard to beat MIT. And as a MBA student at the MIT Sloan School of Management, I had full access to this extraordinary ecosystem for almost two years.
Entrepreneurial coursework is just the beginning. We can meet with professors, some of which are global experts in their fields, for consultations pretty much anytime. We have a dedicated working space, the MIT Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, where to meet with fellow entrepreneurs from the MIT community and provide each other’s feedback and encouragement. Entrepreneurs-in-residence offer us mentorship, support, and access to a broad network of industry contacts. Business Plan competitions, Mixers, Conferences happen almost every day. The beauty of this environment goes beyond the MIT campus. In the Kendall Square area, a short walk from Sloan, you can find the offices of hundreds of startups and of some of the best VC firms in the country.
MIT had a major role in the development of dueminuti, and we are really proud to be MIT’s first pasta startup. The first pitch ever of the dueminuti concept happened in 2014 in a Sloan class, Prof. Ed Roberts’ Introduction To Technological Entrepreneurship. Our first business plan was built on an Excel template from the Trust Center. I can’t even remember how many of my classmates have provided me feedback and helped me develop our idea further.
This is my last semester at MIT and the support we’re getting from this community doesn’t stop to surprise me. A team of 5 students from a Branding class is helping us to engage with customers and to develop our strategic positioning. A team from another class, Entrepreneurial Strategy, is giving us strategic advice. Trust Center’s EIR Trish Cotter is connecting us with many industry leaders to build a board of advisors.
And, last but not least, we’re semi-finalist in the “MIT 100K Competition“, one of the largest and most famous business plan competitions in the world!
We’re working very hard to bring dueminuti to the market very soon. It’s an exciting time here at MIT!
Davide
