MIT delta v 2022 Videos Now Available… and More

MIT delta v Demo Day 2022 happened on September 9th in from of 1,500 energized MIT students live and thousands more online. What you all are probably most interested in is that the videos are now available for viewing here (there is also a very nice digital version of our Demo Day book summarizing all the teams and the program). Every year, the student teams improve and this year was certainly no exception. We could not be prouder of this year’s cohort and we are absolutely confident they will continue and amplify the strong tradition of delta v entrepreneurs positively changing the world in a big way.

A few headlines of note:

1. Women Rule: While the number of participants and CEOs for those identifying as female has been strong from the beginning 10 years ago and rising since, this year marks a watershed in that 50% of the participants identified as female and 55% of the CEOs. You will see this in the videos for sure. If we want entrepreneurship to be the best it can be and the most impactful, we need the biggest tent possible to be inclusive. Very proud of this.
2. Back in Person Really Matters: Zoom is good for certain things but for teaching entrepreneurship, it can’t replace the high-touch instruction and mentoring that can be provided in person. Have done the program remotely in 2020 and then hybrid last in 2021, you could just see the energy at a different level. More importantly, we saw first-hand that the improvement of the teams was at a much faster rate in person and we got a lot more done this year than last year. So much more rewarding for the educators and mentors running too. There is a role at times for Zoom but for a fully immersive acceleration program teaching entrepreneurship, thank goodness we are back in person.
3. Trust the Process: We have always focused on developing the entrepreneurs much, much more than the companies that they are creating in delta v summarized by the statement “companies << entrepreneurs”. We stand by this statement completely because the entrepreneurs are the ones who create the companies and if we teach them how to do so (“teach them how to fish”), they will create multiple companies (“catch many fish”). This year I realized that there is something even more important than entrepreneurs, wait stay with me, and it is the process of creating entrepreneurs. After 10 years of delta v and seeing us start from raw students who don’t have an idea, a team, and certainly not a company one year earlier, and each year take them from a standstill (“0 miles per hour”) and by the end of delta v (note it is more than delta v in that the full year program includes the t=0 festival, courses, fuse micro-accelerator, co-curricular programs) these same students are legitimate entrepreneurs with exciting teams, plans and customers (“15 miles per hour”) never fails is the real gold here. To put this in simple terms, I love new mission-driven economically sustainable companies but I love even more high-quality innovation-driven entrepreneurs but most of all, I love the process to create these entrepreneurs because that has the biggest force multiplier effect of all. In other words: companies << entrepreneurs << process of creating entrepreneurs.
4. Impact Study: We had the fantastically great fortune of having Professor Daniela Ruiz Massieu, who is the head of entrepreneurship at ITAM in Mexico City, on sabbatical at our center this past year and she did a longitudinal study of the impact of delta v after 10 years. The results were stunning. Even going back to the beginning ten years ago, the companies that were started in delta v are still operational (or were acquired) at a rate of over 60% and if you look at the past five years, that rate is closer to 70%. The amount of money they have raised is over US $1 Billion for these companies. Again, remember they started from scratch. 38% have gone on to other accelerators like Y Combinator, TechStars, and MassChallenge. One of the most interesting statistics in my estimation is that participants have gone on to found another 120 companies that we can identify and they have raised over US $2 Billion. This reemphasizes the educational mission of our accelerator that we are teaching them how to create companies rather than creating one company. You can see a summary of the report here (https://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/delta-v-10-year-study/)  and we hope to have a full report out soon. Deepest appreciation to Daniela for doing this very important research.

There is so much more but I think the best thing you can do now is go and watch the videos of the students presenting. They are so inspirational and we hope they will inspire others as well that “Yes You Can!”