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TABLE OF CONTENTS The MIT Inventor’s Guide to Startups is intended as a quick r

TABLE OF CONTENTS The MIT Inventor’s Guide to Startups is intended as a quick reference tool for MIT faculty, students and staff inventors interested in starting a company based on their inventions. Where can you go for help? This guide summarizes the many resources available to MIT inventors and the institutional policies that are most relevant to startups. We also answer questions that MIT entrepreneurs frequently ask our Technology Licensing Ofﬁ cers. For more information, visit web.mit.edu/tlo/www or call the MIT Technology Licensing Ofﬁ ce at 617-253-6966. Ofﬁ cial MIT policies are contained in MIT’s Policies and Procedures, available at http://web.mit.edu/policies/ and in the “Guide to the Ownership, Distribution and Commercial Development of MIT Technology” accessible via the TLO website. The contents of this brochure are not intended to replace or supercede these policies. Overview ......................................................................2 Startup Launch ..............................................................4 The MIT Entrepreneurial Ecosystem .............................6 T echnology Licensing Ofﬁ ce ......................................7 Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation ........8 Venture Mentoring Service ........................................9 Entrepreneurship Center ..........................................10 $100K Entrepreneurship Competition .....................11 Enterprise Forum ....................................................11 Student Clubs ..........................................................12 Lemelson-MIT Program ..........................................13 T echnology Showcases/Events .................................14 Getting Started With the TLO .....................................15 Startup Licensing ........................................................17 MIT Intellectual Property Policy .................................19 Conﬂ icts of Interest or Commitment: Faculty ..............21 Resources for the Entrepreneur ..................................24 PAGE 2 A startup is a new business venture in its earliest stage of development. This guide to startups is focused speciﬁ cally on technology-based companies formed to commercialize one or more related inventions made at MIT and protected via intellectual property rights (i.e. patent or copyright) owned by MIT. MIT entrepreneurs have started about twenty companies a year over the last ten years based on licenses to MIT technology. While not every startup succeeds, the track record has been impressive and includes companies like A123, Akamai, Alnylam, Brontes, E Ink, Ember, Luminus Devices, Momenta Pharmaceuticals, OmniGuide, QD Vision, Xtalic and Z Corporation. If you’re contemplating your own startup, you probably already know that entrepreneurship knowledge is a rich lode that runs throughout the Institute. Tapping it is a matter of knowing where to look. Within the MIT community, you can ﬁ nd many of the answers to your questions about how to launch a business based on MIT intellectual property and connections to the many people who can help you do so. ■ NUMBER OF COMPANIES STARTED 2001 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 26 2 17 20 20 23 24 20 21 19 Fiscal Year Companies OVERVIEW 3 PAGE 3 “Ideas and innovations ﬂ ow steadily from MIT into the marketplace. With the startup companies they launch and nurture, our faculty, students and alumni transform great innovations into a vital force for economic growth. Through the drive and ingenuity of MIT entrepreneurs—and the ecosystem the Institute offers to help them thrive—startups constitute a powerful way that MIT serves the region, the nation and the world.” SUSAN HOCKFIELD PRESIDENT, MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY PAGE 4 STARTUP LAUNCH While every MIT startup follows its own unique path, the major steps to get the business off the ground are summarized on the facing page. How long does it take? The time it takes to complete the steps in the startup process varies greatly among inventors and often depends on many aspects of the busi- ness coming together simultaneously, such as the participants’ ability to engage in the business, the ripening of the technology and the momen- tum that may be achieved from entering a business plan competition or forging a strategic connection. Nonetheless, we can provide a few ballpark ﬁ gures. T ypically a pat- ent application takes a few weeks to prepare and ﬁ le, including the time it takes inventors to review and revise a preliminary draft of the application. Negotiation of a license agreement with the TLO can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months. Many inventors spend months, and sometimes years, tapping into the MIT Entrepreneurial Ecosystem while taking care of the other steps in the startup process—and pursuing their academic research and education responsibilities. Time spent immersed in this ecosystem may shorten the time it takes to attract funding, by streamlining connections and focus- ing your efforts. But a fair estimate for the time it takes to attract and close a ﬁ rst round of funding would be several months at a minimum. How much can I tell people about my technology? Once your invention is protected by a patent application, it’s safe to discuss it both inside and outside the MIT community. If you want to discuss your invention with others (outside of MIT) before a patent application has been ﬁ led you should have the person (or company) sign a conﬁ dentiality agreement (or “Non- Disclosure Agreement”), agreeing to keep your invention in conﬁ dence, before you have the discussion. The TLO can help you with the NDA if the conﬁ dential information is related to your research at MIT. ■ STEPS TO STARTUP LAUNCH SEEK INPUT AND NETWORK: MIT provides a wealth of resources for inventors looking for help starting a company. The MIT Entrepreneurial Ecosystem, as summarized in the pages that follow, can shepherd MIT inventors through all facets of the startup process—from writing a business plan, to meeting like-minded entrepreneurs and investors, to attracting board members, to securing funding to demonstrate an invention’s commercial viability. PURSUE FUNDING: Commercializing technology is typically a capital-intensive process. You’ll need to present your opportunity to people with the funds to help you make it happen: venture capitalists, angel investors and perhaps in the initial stages, friends and family. Participation in the MIT Entrepreneurial Ecosystem is one way to start the personal introduction process that can help you get the attention of angel and venture capital investors. TALK TO THE TLO: We encourage you to contact the Technology Licensing Ofﬁ ce early in the process to discuss your invention, how to protect the intellectual property, and your thoughts about a startup company. 1 PROTECT INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY: In a startup, a major source of value, and thus a major tool for attracting investment, is intellectual property (usually one or more patents or substantial software code). Engage with the patent attorney contracted by the TLO to get a patent application ﬁ led on your invention before you make any public disclosure or communication of it, since early disclosure may limit your ability to get a patent, particularly outside the U.S. 2 3 PLAN THE BUSINESS: A formal business plan may or may not be part of this phase, but you’ll need to develop an understanding of market potential, competition, funding needs, and how you plan to develop the product and attain the revenues sufﬁ cient to sustain and grow the company. 4 6 NEGOTIATE THE LICENSE OR OPTION AGREEMENT: The TLO will negotiate with a representative of the company to grant a license to the startup. In some cases, a short-term option agreement may precede a license so your company can demonstrate to potential funders that it has secured the rights to negotiate for a license to the technology. 5 PAGE 5 PAGE 6 Over the years, MIT has seen the growth of dozens of organizations, programs, centers, courses and awards that foster the entrepreneurial spirit on campus. These help turn what is inherently a disorderly process into a manageable pathway for inventors. As you move through the overlapping parts of the ecosystem, taking steps to guide your invention toward market readiness, you will interact with an entire community interested in sup- porting, learning about, and investing in technology entrepreneurship. That community can not only enrich and inform your startup, raising ques- tions that you may not have even considered, but boost your enthusi- asm for the endeavor by introducing you to fellow entrepreneurs. On the pages that follow are brief descriptions of some of the major components of this entrepreneurial ecosystem. Additional information on each of them can be found on their websites or by contacting them directly. “Starting a company is about creating something new that will in some way, large or small, change the world by opening new markets and addressing unmet human needs. That’s the joy and satisfaction of it. And you couldn’t ask for a better springboard than MIT, where the rich entrepreneurial ecosystem will help at every step of the journey.” RAY STATA ’57 CHAIRMAN AND CO-FOUNDER, ANALOG DEVICES INC. THE MIT ENTREPRENEURIAL ECOSYSTEM PAGE 7 The longstanding mission of the T echnology Licensing Ofﬁ ce is to enable the inventions and discoveries made at MIT to ﬁ nd further development in the commercial world so that the public will ultimately beneﬁ t from the break- throughs that arise from research at the Institute. The TLO achieves this goal by patenting MIT inventions, copyrighting software and then licensing that intellectual property to companies both large and nascent. TLO Licensing Ofﬁ cers, who cover particular technology areas, are available as a resource to all MIT faculty and student inventors who would like to uploads/Science et Technologie/ startup-guide 2 .pdf