The 4 H’s

Guiding Principles:

the integrated philosophy behind our programs, courses, and offerings

We believe in a holistic approach to educating our students that connects academic work with co-curricular and extra-curricular activities in turn creating great entrepreneurs. To succeed, they need to acquire the following:

Heart

To become an entrepreneur you must first want to be one and then believe that you can. This is the spirit or mind set that starts the process. We instill an active interest in striving to constantly improve things and embrace the hacking mentality of MIT. It’s not just the willingness, but also the pride in being different and embracing what we call “the spirit of a pirate.”

Head

Once a student wants to become an entrepreneur, they must know what are the proper steps to follow. This is where the frameworks, courses, and theory come into play. And while entrepreneurship is a craft and not a science, the Trust Center aims to ensure our students know what the most intelligent first principles are for moving forward.

Hands

Knowledge is not enough and won’t have impact until turned into action and real-world capability. We always link theory and practice using the MIT motto “mens et manus” (mind and hand) as guidance. There is a continual back-and-forth between the head and the hands in all our programs.

Home

The most overlooked and likely the most important for creating sustained leverage and robust entrepreneurial growth is to become part of a community. We teach our students how to be good members of vibrant populations and help achieve this by making the Trust Center an example of somewhere they can benefit in the short, medium, and long terms.

Trust Center Entrepreneurship Ramp

An Integrated but Customizable Ramp

The Trust Center logo is the visualization of an integrated ramp to escape velocity. The same is true of the ramp above.

We seek to create a continuous path for our students to start with low friction, easy-to-handle courses and programs, proceeding to offerings that become more rigorous, demanding, and rewarding, as each is built off what has come before.

We work to ensure all offerings are integrated to make the progression more logical for the students. The ramp is also customizable for those who have different interests, but even these specialized courses have a common base and set of processes. This allows the Trust Center to grow and innovate, and, more importantly, it promotes valuable lateral learning for the students.

Our Initiatives

MIT delta v

MIT delta v is MIT’s capstone educational accelerator that prepares MIT student entrepreneurs to hit escape velocity and launch into the real world.

We select the best teams from across MIT’s schools with an interesting idea or proof of concept focused on creating impactful, innovation-driven startups, and have them spend three months working full-time concluding with a Demo Day in September.

The program is run out of two locations: the Trust Center on the MIT campus and the NYC Startup Studio in Manhattan.

MIT Fuse

MIT Fuse is a three-week intensive program open to any MIT student interested in immersing themselves in the startup experience. It runs during the Independent Activities Period in January.

Students and teams work full-time on a startup venture in our co-working space at the Martin Trust Center and will learn key concepts, get one-on-one coaching, and experience what it is like to “get up to entrepreneurial speed.”

MIT Fuse is all about workshops not lectures, and hard work not homework, guiding students down the path to building a company.

StartMIT

Our other Independent Activities Program offering in January is StartMIT, held for students who are interested in entrepreneurship in general and are looking for an introduction to MIT’s entrepreneurial ecosystem as well as the spirit and skill set that is required of founders.

Each day has a specific theme and features inspiration from speakers, workshops that focus on the front-end of the entrepreneurial process such as mindset, ideation, and team formation, and much more. StartMIT is an immersive experience to help students decide if they wish to follow the path of entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurs in Residence

Vision. Leadership. Collaboration. The Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program is a centerpiece of the Trust Center. Here, accomplished business leaders advise students on the challenges—and benefits—of startup life, stoking passions and propelling a culture of innovation. Each EIR brings a vast body of knowledge and singular work experiences to their role.

No matter which EIR they speak to, our students are guaranteed to receive something only the Trust Center can provide at MIT: personalized, professional advice focused solely on what is in the best interest of their venture in its current stage.

t=0

t=0 is a week of celebration for MIT Innovation and Entrepreneurship taking place at the start of every school year in September because “the time is now.”

MIT is known worldwide for world-changing companies and technologies. t=0 is a series of events and exhibitions that bring together MIT student clubs, startups, and organizations to showcase the myriad of ways students can get involved across campus. t=0 allows for the discovery of the compelling work being done across industries, and to learn from other students how they can get involved in the MIT innovation scene.

Entrepreneurship Internship

The Entrepreneurship Internship is a paid summer internship program open to undergraduates at MIT that provides students with an immersive work experience at a startup founded by MIT-founded companies.

Students work side-by-side with the founding team and have an opportunity to gain valuable experience on meaningful projects, and determine if startup life is right for them. Startups gain a valuable and talented team member to help grow their businesses at a time when funding for such a resource would be otherwise unavailable.

Awards

MIT recognizes and rewards student excellence in entrepreneurship through several awards overseen by the Martin Trust Center.

The McGovern Award is given annually to an individual or team that, in working closely with the Trust Center, has made a significant impact on the quality and overall spirit of entrepreneurship at the Institute. The objective of the award is to motivate future student leaders, raise the profile of student-led organizations, and reward individuals for outstanding achievement in building entrepreneurial excellence.

Created to honor the memory of Adolf F. Monosson ’48, the Adolf F. Monosson Prize for Entrepreneurship Mentoring recognizes entrepreneurship mentors who have committed their time, energy, and/or capital toward future generations of entrepreneurs. Established at the Sloan School of Management and made possible by Mr. & Mrs. William S. Grinker ’56, the prize continues Monosson’s mission of providing mentoring to potential entrepreneurs.