Summer Program

Startup teams are assigned a lead instructor and team mentors, with whom they get time each week. There is a combination of interactive class discussions, team time, instructor check-ins, and community feedback to ensure personal growth and startup progress.

Market research and prototyping has its pros and cons when working remotely. You’ll be in the same location during the program as after, and have access to some of the resources that you already know. Roles in your team will be important to consider, and we’ll help with shipping materials you identify for prototyping, providing mentors, and outsourcing where we can.

Startup teams are part of a cohort for classroom sessions, feedback amongst teams, and community building. Plus, students have opportunities to attend community events to get to know their fellow classmates outside of the classroom and startup team environment.

Christa Chambers-Price is the CEO of Entre-SLAM, Inc. a brand story and marketing strategy group. Christa is a U.S. Military Intelligence Army veteran and a former FBI Analyst. She helps brands discover, build, and launch big ideas that move the world. With an emphasis on consumer psychology, behavioral science, and storytelling, Entre-SLAM has crafted a methodology that guides innovators on how to discover what makes their brands unique and identify market opportunities, while learning how to blend them together to tell a compelling story.

Our students had this to say:

• Miss Chambers-Price is quite different from other speakers considering that she has been in the army – this may be common in the US, but definitely NOT where I live in (Hong Kong). We don’t often see (former) army members hosting lectures for high school kids.
  But I enjoyed it quite a lot since she was able to inspire me to think how to discover my purpose at Launch and at my own startup with her unique experiences.
• Your brand isn’t just company it is building your image so that it is compelling and presentable to others because people invest in others, not the company.
• Never ever give up on your mission! Your mission should be so compelling that everyone involved with your brand is subconsciously aware of it.

Bill Aulet 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. His first book, Disciplined Entrepreneurship, released in August 2013, has been translated into 18 languages and has been the content for three online edX courses which have been taken by hundreds of thousands of people in 199 different countries. 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. (Private) 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.

Our student had this to say about their session with Bill:

• Definitely one of the highlights of my LaunchX experience! I loved this session. I learned about different myths that really challenged my mindset and how I view entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs.
• The content is pretty interesting and the slides are really cool, which totally drew my attention to the course
• Entrepreneurship is invention combined with commercialization, and both are very important in ensuring a successful startup! In a team, you should have people specializing in both aspects.
• Being a successful entrepreneur takes skill, passion and drive. Passion for an idea isn’t enough – be passionate about your vision, your values.

Laís de Oliveira is an entrepreneur with 12 years of experience in community building. Laís de Oliveira went from leading 2000 volunteers across 3 countries, to training and developing community leadership across 3 continents (Latam, Africa, APAC) on behalf of Startup Grind. After selling her first business, she joined Startup Genome to facilitate collaborative networks and knowledge sharing between governments across 70+ startup ecosystems.

Our student had this to say about their session with Laís de Oliveira:

• This is definitely the most helpful lesson I had so far here at LaunchX and I am not exaggerating. This course will help my company so much and I can’t wait to get started on community building.
• This was such a wonderful session, with a great presentation and an awesome speaker!
• I thought this was amazing. I loved Laís’s passion and this is something that my team will definitely be implementing.

Jheal has done her BSc (Hons) in Biology from University of Warwick, UK; AAS in Fashion Marketing from Parsons the New School for Design, New York, USA; International Business from Harvard Business School (summer course), Boston, USA and Executive Education from IIM, Ahmedabad, India.
She has also had the opportunity of working with Tommy Hilfiger, Vera Wang, Armani Exchange, Bank of America and Times of India and therefore brings forth tremendous work experience from several sectors, prior to successfully launching The Stylease. She currently also runs a digital marketing and branding agency by the name of Raise the Bar and is working on a mental health start up called Ikaria

Students had this to say about Jheal’s session:

• I really enjoyed the presentation. I found it to be very informative and the guest speaker was so entertaining and interactive and super nice so I really enjoyed the session and would not change it at all, it’s perfect! Thank you!
• Absolutely loved Jheal’s presentation. She is a really engaging speaker!
• I really enjoyed this session, I thought that it would be greatly beneficial to my team, who have trouble selecting specific target customers and industries with our product. The speaker was engaging and informative.

Jim Schuchart is a business unit leader. Jim love’s helping businesses, teams, and individuals grow faster than they were before. Focused on working with amazing people and building top-performing teams. Experience driving growth from single-digit employee at a startup to Fortune 100. Former consultant with background in go-to-market and pricing strategy. 10+ years sales leadership experience in tech / software across markets. Occasional investor and advisor, rare blogger. Currently helping the next generation of sales leaders and entrepreneurs as Adjunct Faculty member of MIT Sloan teaching Entrepreneurial Sales in the MBA program.

Student comments:

• I thought this session was perfect as it was a wonderful and informative session about selling skills and I absolutely loved the role play situations that we had at the end of class as it nicely utilized the time to show us real-time what selling skills would look like.
• I enjoyed this session very much. I feel like it was definitely a topic that is relevant to me, because I am rather inexperienced in sales compared to other areas of business. The things that were talked about in the presentation would definitely help the running and promotion of my start-up.

Mr. Poisel is responsible for managing PCI Ventures, including transitioning technologies into start-up companies, assisting the principal investigators with funding strategies including grant applications, as well as mentoring the developing companies.

Prior to UPenn, Michael made investments in enterprise software and business services for NewSpring Capital, Apax Partners and GE Capital spanning more than ten years in private equity. He began his career in manufacturing operations for General Electric/Lockheed Martin and participated in the successful completion of several commercial and government satellite programs.

• Start building relationship before you ask for money. “If you ask for advice, they’ll give you money. If you ask for money, they’ll give you advice.”
• I thought the session was very informative and interactive, with important steps for our startups. The most valuable thing I learned in this session was the long process, with specific anecdotes, from an idea, to company formation, team recruitment, business development, capital acquisition, to business operations.

Gerry recently served as an Executive-in-Residence (EIR) for a medical device program jointly run by Spectrum Health Innovation and others. Recently, he was the CEO of Civionics, a University of Michigan Industrial Internet-of-Things (IIoT) startup that was acquired; and an EIR at TechTown Detroit, where he helped entrepreneurs transition their ideas into sustainable businesses. Gerry earned his PhD from Carnegie Mellon, where he worked on ground-breaking mobile robotics projects; and recently passed the USPTO patent bar exam.

Students had this to say about the session:

• I learned about different ways to start prototyping a design. I learned about different types of models, how to develop them, and significance of MVP. Moreover, I learned about how to actually start prototyping because there are different types and ways to prototype.
• The most valuable thing I learned in this session was how were the steps needed to be taken to build a minimum viable product, with all sorts of modeling tools that might help us do that, from physical objects to digital software.
• Working with a tech startup, this session provided valuable advice when it came to how to work through iterations and operations of a tech prototype.
• I thought the session had a lot of informative content and I enjoyed the class exercise in designing an app idea with example card screens.

Philip Greenwald is the associate director of technology at Harvard Innovation Labs. Before founding the Lab’s Technology Development department, he lead technology programming and advised student and alumni entrepreneurs on software development and building new technologies.

In addition to teaching, Phil has worked with aspiring CEOs and young professionals from Boston to Korea to bring minimum viable products (MVPs) to realization, secure business funding, and get accepted into accelerators such as Y Combinator and MassChallenge. He has officially advised approximately 60 startups that have in aggregate raised over $100 Million. Prior to teaching, Phil was the chief software architect on several large-scale web and mobile applications and the Founder of the Code Undercover coding school. Phil continues to take on a small number of clients for whom he oversees large-scale and tough tech development tasks, primarily in the fields of AI, AR/VR, and mobile app development.

Students had this to say about Philip’s session:

• He’s seriously the best teacher I’ve ever had in my entire life I never imagined that a virtual class would be the best thing I’ve experienced so far I’m so thankful for having this opportunity and for sure I’ve learned far more than just coding and nerdy stuff. He was so patient with 35 students, each had their own problems and difficulties but he was committed and he helped every single one, he put in his time and patience and just went through it all. Instead of 8 hours per day we worked for 12 and more per day which is something not much people would sacrifice for others, he inspired me to change for the better. I’m so grateful, I don’t think I made him know how much I enjoyed this weekend, but he deserves tons of credit for it and I hope one day I could meet him which is pretty close to impossible, but I really hope thank you for giving me this opportunity.
• BEST CLASS I HAVE EVER TAKEN! I learned so much about Ruby on Rails, the different syntax, and a lot about the back end of programming!
• Phil is an incredible instructor! What a treat to learn from him this weekend. I gained lots of valuable insight into how coding works because I came into this workshop with little experience with coding.
• This was an amazing experience. Mr. Greenwald as a fantastic teacher. He was patient with all questions and happily shared his knowledge about deeper concepts that weren’t part of the course. He spent hours and hours making sure that everyone was on the same page and that everyone’s code would work. I learned a ton from this session and every second was worth it!

Before starting her own business as a speaker, consultant, and career coach, Diane’s career spanned the globe. She was a tour leader on all seven continents and in over 60 countries, a non-profit fund-raiser, and a business guru helping top companies maximize their talent, time, and money.

Drawing from these experiences, Diane’s talks and one-on-one coaching services teach people how to find common ground with others in order to form beneficial relationships for mutual benefit.

As an internationally published author, educator, and consultant, every year Diane teaches thousands how to find their voice and use it to advance their careers and find success in their lives. McGraw-Hill published her books in 9 languages – which is amazing since she only speaks English.

Student comments:

• I’ve watched quite a number of pitches before Launch, but I didn’t think closely to how it is crafted in a systematic but unique way. I learned about great ways to put oneself out there, and effectively deliver the core message behind one’s startup. The lessons taught in this elective also will help me when pitching during LaunchX, and after.
• It was especially helpful as we are crafting our pitches now and I learned a lot about the importance of storytelling which we could include in our pitch.