Students learn Morse code for success

When Ken Morse, Managing Director of the MIT Entrepreneurship Centre and serial entrepreneur takes the stage, the one thing you can be sure of is active audience participation. Last week, while addressing an audience in Cambridge made up of seventy-five students, faculty, start-up founders and venture investors, Ken kick started proceedings by asking a direct question: “How many of you think that sales are beneath you?” He got a pretty direct answer back from the audience – no hands were raised in response.

“Boy, Cambridge has changed over the last ten years,” said Ken, “And I guess CMI can take some credit for that important culture shift.”

Ken was sharing his insights into critical success factors in Hi-Tech entrepreneurship in a workshop funded by CMI.

“It’s a fantastic time to be starting a company,” extolled Ken. “Never before have we understood so well the gap between the university ivory tower and the cruel crucible of the market.”

Essential to filling that gap, according to Ken, is an understanding of the importance of sales. History is littered with examples of companies with the best technology that were defeated by companies with better sales: Apple v Microsoft, Betamax v VHS – the list goes on. These days, it seems most businesses have learnt the lesson: 850 out of 1,000 CEOs in the global Fortune 1000 have a background in sales, and almost all successful entrepreneurs did at least one summer sales job while at college.

The prominent role of sales in the story of successful hi-tech companies is no coincidence, said Ken. It should come as no surprise then that the genius professor/inventor may not in fact be the best person to commercialise their own invention.

“Inventors want to build the “perfect” product, but is that what the market wants?” Ken asked the audience. “Often, it’s not. So make a plan to satisfy the customer,” he advised, “And get as close to that intake valve as possible.”

Another key to success, according to Ken, is a catalogue of previous failures from which to learn from. “How many of you have failed?” he asked the audience, requesting a show of hands.

“This is not a Billy Graham rally,” promised Ken, “but I want you to join with me and pledge to take those failed entrepreneurs out to lunch. You might learn something.”

After the presentation, Ken went on to coach participants in CMI’s i-Teams initiative on the vital importance of understanding the Customer. The new i-Teams course is led by Amy Mokady, CMI Entrepreneur-in-Residence. It gives entrepreneurial post-graduate students the chance to work on go-to-market strategies for real CMI research projects. Each i-Team consists of 4-6 students and is guided by the research project’s Principal Investigators, experienced mentors from the local business community, and CMI’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Amy Mokady. This term, there are three i-Teams, working on microfluidic applications of nanotube devices, potential applications of monitoring crowd movements, and a viable business model for a potential cure for TB.

“The students get a real buzz from helping to turn promising research in the lab into real-world applications,” said Amy. “It’s an experience that benefits the research project, the students and - if these products go to market - could also benefit wider society.”

Jason Pinto - an MIT alumnus currently studying a PhD at Cambridge - is former President of the Cambridge University Technology and Enterprise Club, CUTEC, and an i-Teams participant.

“We’re not just sitting at our desks,” says Jason. “We’re out there engaging with customers, listening to the market, and making sure that any future spin-out of these technologies actually satisfies real customer needs.”

The i-Teams will be presenting their final results and recommending next steps towards commercialisation at the CUTEC conference on 13th June. If you are interested in participating in the next i-Teams, or attending the CUTEC conference, please contact Amy Mokady at a.mokady@cmi.cam.ac.uk