MIT Sloan Blog

A river runs through ... um ... MIT

Patches of murky ice have given way to inklings of activity on the Charles. A scull here, a sailboat there, tourist-filled duckboats afloat, seagulls doing their best Greg Louganis into the rippling early spring waters. Hopeful signs of spring. Change in the air ... and as ever on campus.

Spring has sprung, and so has a lot on which we have been working here at MIT Sloan.

- We launched a redesigned MIT Sloan home page last week. Should be a lot faster, more content rich, a better representation of the breadth of activities here. The previous home page was launched in 2004, so this is very much a breath of fresh air, both in its look and feel and its use of technology. The redesigned home page is the first in a number of changes we plan to make to the website over the next year. Our goal: a website that is clear, compelling, informative, fast, optimized for any device, worthy of this great institution. Love to hear feedback (srolph -at- mit.edu). And look for more change on the horizon.

http://mitsloan.mit.edu

- We populated the MBA website with a bunch of new content. Props to my colleagues Michelle Choate and Tina McCarthy and our friends in the MBA Admissions Office (Julie, Rod, et al.). We hope the site is better organized, provides greater depth, and is more fun than its predecessor. Hey, nobody said innovation had to be boring.

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/mba

- We brought on board a new digital media specialist to take our podcast and video efforts to the next level. A big hearty welcome to Anthony Placet, who in a few short months has shown the value of having a professional multimedia editor. He has greatly enhanced our audio podcasts and is ready to begin producing videos. Look for an MIT Sloan Video Short -- Coming soon to a computer near you.

- On the podcast front, we've launched some interviews with fascinating folks of late. Student Samantha Joseph jumps out of planes and has jumped ably into business school despite her non-traditional background. Sheila Chandrasekhara is an author, b-school student, and arguably MIT Sloan's top chef. Professor Arnie Barnett makes numbers palatable and applicable to problems of the day. Check out interviews with these folks and more in iTunes or our new collection on MIT TechTV.

http://mitsloan.techtv.mit.edu

- Posted by Scott Rolph

Perfect pitch?

So, you've hooked up with some genius across campus and together you've developed a jaw-dropping product and innovative business model that will save humanity and make you zillions in the process. All you need is venture capital. Well, it goes that a friend of a friend gets you invited to a party for this illustrious vc — big-time investor, hailed the most powerful woman in the city a few years back, rich beyond belief but a sucker for a business plan that marries social good and profitability.

So, you put on your Sunday best and plant yourself amid the gaggle of other would-be entrepreneurs around the bejeweled vc at this lavish affair. Suddenly, the vc spills her drink. The others rush off for paper towels and to refill her drink. They'll be back in 60 seconds. So, you speak. Intelligently? Persuasively?

It's a shame the success of a brilliant business idea could hinge on a 60-second pitch, but there's a reason entrepreneurial gurus like MIT Sloan's Ken Morse stress the importance of the so-called elevator pitch. Your opening could arise in any place, at any moment. You have to capitalize.

Morse has taught students the art of the elevator pitch for years, and refining one's pitch has always been part of the events leading up to the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition, which is in its 18th year and has facilitated the birth of over 85 companies. This year, the elevator pitch emerges from the, um, elevator, with its own competition as part of the Entrepreneurship Competition.

MIT's first-ever Elevator Pitch Contest will take place Oct. 13 at the MIT Stata Center. A panel of venture capitalists, angel investors, and entrepreneurs will judge the contest. There is no fee to participate or attend, and the competition is open to both students and the public. More than $10,000 in prize money will be awarded.

“The Elevator Pitch Contest is a brand new addition to the $100K Entrepreneurship Competition series that allows up-and-coming entrepreneurs to test their ideas with passion,” according to Jeff Sabados, lead organizer of the $100K. “Conceivably, a participant could win $2,500 in 60 seconds, which isn't bad for an afternoon.”

• More on the Elevator Pitch Contest >>

• Contest organizer Gaëtan Bonhomme delivers his pitch (MP3) >>

- Posted by Scott Rolph

Student stories

Storied careers lie ahead of MIT Sloan students. But the stories leading up to their arrival in Cambridge serve as great prologues. Interesting folks, one and all. In new episodes of the MIT Sloan Podcast, we highlight the stories of three MBA students: Kristen Oldenburger ('08), Susan Rogol ('08), and Oliseyi Boroffice ('07). I don't want to spoil the podcast episodes, but consider these varied backgrounds: One is an airline analyst who traverses ice rinks with the precision of a jet pilot, one a chef and former Martha Stewart colleague, and one a soft-spoken Nigerian intent on alleviating poverty in his native country. Listen to their stories:

• Kristen Oldenburger ('08)
• Susan Rogol('08)
• Oliseyi Boroffice ('07, dual degree with Harvard's Kennedy School)

Oh, and please ignore my bumbling as an interviewer.

- Posted by Scott Rolph

Playing by numbers

Suspect record-breakers. Gambling referees. Interstate dog fighting rings. Lately the sports pages are more concerned with scandal and sensationalism than box scores. While it certainly provides talk radio with endless hours of dialogue, it’s not very good for the games.

As professional sports wades through the legal and public relations consequences of recent events, it’s hard to remember that there is still so much more to sports than a few bad apples — and there’s more afoot than misbehavior. In addition to the athletes giving their all for true love of their game, there are people working hard behind the scenes to put together the best teams possible in the hopes of giving their fans what they most want to talk about: wins.

During the spring semester, the first-ever MIT Sloan Sports Management Conference provided a glimpse into the work of these unsung team players and how they’re changing the face of sports. Featuring leading executives from the major U.S. professional sports leagues, the conference explored the increasing role of analytics in sports. Sponsored by the MIT Sloan Entertainment, Media, & Sports Club, the conference featured alums Daryl Morrey, MBA ’00, general manager of the Houston Rockets, and Jamie McCourt, SF ’94, vice chairman and president of the Los Angeles Dodgers. 

Analytics may not make the headlines, but more and more teams and leagues are finding that it’s making good sense.

Listen to the podcast episode >> (MP3)

- Posted by Michelle Choate

The real deal

So, I've been interviewing a bunch of S-Lab student teams for the MIT Sloan Podcast. By way of background, S-Lab (short for Sustainability Lab) is a new MIT Sloan course modeled on G-Lab and E-Lab. Taught by seven faculty members, the course provides in-class instruction on sustainable business, then unleashes student teams on an array of sustainable business projects. So far I've interviewed representatives from:

- A team that provided guidance to Intel on how to make its construction projects across the globe sustainable.
- A team that developed a model to help a startup whose goal is to invest in private education in India.
- A team that investigated whether a company that manufactures all-natural carpets could actually sell carpets that are not only all natural but in a larger sense are "sustainable."

What struck me, beyond the fact that the projects were fascinating, was the passion of the students. For someone who came of age in the era of "Wall Street" and Tom Wolfe's Bonfire of the Vanities, I was amazed at how genuine the students were about making a difference in the world. Said one student: "At a principled level, at an ethical level, at a moral level, individuals, companies, governments, and other involved entities have to ask themselves, 'What responsibility do we have unto our stakeholders, unto ourselves, unto others, and unto the world in which we inhabit and the world from which we profit?' And the overwhelming answer is: We have a fundamental responsibility to ensure that this world remains sustainable."

Now that -- to hark back to Bonfire of the Vanities -- is a master of the universe. I'll let you know when these Podcast episodes are available.

- Posted by Scott Rolph

New Podcast episodes

Launched two new podcast episodes late last week. One features Graham Sinclair speaking to students this spring about Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). An investment analyst with KLD Research & Analytics in Boston, Sinclair says its folly to underestimate the SRI market. At last count, he says, there were $4 trillion in SRI investments, and the demand for using investments to effect social, governmental, and economic change is only growing. The other episode features Tim Brown of IDEO speaking about design-thinking and human-centered innovation. The presentation was part of the Dean's Innovative Leader Series. Check these out. Love to hear your feedback on these and other podcast episodes.

- Posted by Scott Rolph