Trust the Process @ MIT

Trust Center executive director Paul Cheek and managing director Bill Aulet discuss the robust frameworks laid out in their new books, Start Up Tactics and Disciplined Entrepreneurship (expanded edition), which have become essential reading for entrepreneurs aiming to navigate the complex startup ecosystem. These frameworks are not just theoretical; they've been battle-tested by a wave of MIT startups that, by following these methods, have collectively raised over $1 billion in funding. Tune in to uncover the secrets behind their success and learn how these strategies can be applied to empower new ventures worldwide.

We sit down with Stack.Ai, a company that previously went through our Delta V Accelerator program. Stack.AI helps enterprise clients create custom AI models without prior AI experience. As they explain it, Stack Ai allows those closest to business pain points, solve problems with low code AI models. Stack is also the platform currently used by the Martin Trust Center team for its own internal AI models. This episode features co-founder Bernardo Aceituno and Pablo Omenaca.

Today’s episode features Doug Williams and Amu Killada Doug and Amu are the minds behind a groundbreaking AI-powered system that allows teams to test their ideas against the Trust lCenter’s entrepreneurial frameworks. This project has taken the principles of Disciplined Entrepreneurship and Start-Up Tactics to a whole new level. Leveraging tech designed by Delta V alumni Stack.AI, Amu and Doug have crafted a program that’s all about speed, efficiency, and sharp strategic thinking. Imagine having the ability to rapidly test your entrepreneurial concepts, swiftly moving through the Trust Center model, and spending more time on what really matters: critical thinking and refining your ideas. That’s exactly what Doug and Amu’s program will offer to teams across the globe. Right now, the program is in a beta test here at MIT. But we hope to bring it out into the world soon.

Macauley Kenney is an Entrepreneur in Residence and a lecturer at MIT Sloan and MIT D-Lab. Macauley is an executive leader at SurgiBox, a medical device venture creating novel surgical technologies. At SurgiBox, she oversaw the launch of the first ultraportable operating room, taking the product through the design for manufacturing process and into use on the battlefield in Ukraine. Macauley also served as the PI on a $2.5M SBIR P2 with US Air Force Special Operations Command, and as company liaison for DOD engagements. - Jenny Larios Berlin is an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust and a Lecturer at MIT Sloan. Jenny was the co-founder and Chief Operations Officer for Optimus Ride, an MIT spinout, whose mission was to deploy inside of geofenced communities safe, sustainable, and equitable autonomous mobility solutions through shared and electric vehicle fleets. Before getting acquired by Magna, a global innovator in mobility technology, Optimus Ride deployed operations in California, Massachusetts, Washington, DC, Virginia, and New York, growing business operations to over 200 employees and fundraising over $75M in venture capital. It was featured in multiple news outlets, including the New York Times.

Check out Ethan’s video on leveraging AI for writing here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbRURgCVsgY

Today’s episode features Devon Sherman Daley, an entrepreneur in residence here at the Trust Center. Daley was formerly a Senior Managing Director at the Mass Challenge Accelerator’s FinTech Program. She loves white boarding, her twin sister, and helping students who are brand new to the entrepreneurship world.

We sit down with the co-founders of Nurtur — Kristen Ellefson and Bindu Chanagala. We discuss their experience at the Trust Center’s Delta V accelerator, which is open to any start up with at least one MIT affiliated cofounder. Nurtur is a digital health platform aiming to predict and address postpartum depression with large language models and machine learning.

Ryan Lee is best known as the man who’s company produced the Baby Shark song (and thousands of other K-Pop influenced children’s songs.) This company, Pink Fong, now brings in over $100 million in revenue per year. Bill Aulet is the Managing Director of our very own Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship and the author of Disciplined Entrepreneurship, a book Mr. Lee read when he was in the midst of launching his own start up. They first met in 2015 at a bootcamp workshop run by Bill, which focused on the major topics covered in Disciplined Entrepreneurship. Ryan credits that workshop for helping him understand how to navigate bringing his company’s work to overseas markets. In this episode, they catch up and discuss a disciplined approach to starting a business.

This episode features Trust Center Entrepreneur in Residence George Whitfield, Trust Center Undergraduate Advisory Board member Eileen Zhang, and Trust the Process host Chris Burns. The conversation runs from Eileen’s childhood experiences in her parents’ Chinese restaurant in New Jersey, to battling imposter syndrome, to the entrepreneurship opportunities for MIT undergrads.

A conversation between Trust Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence Ben Soltoff and four students from Houston who are participants in our new TEX-E Program. TEX-E stands for Texas Entrepreneurship Exchange for Energy. It’s a first-of-a-kind collaboration between Greentown Labs, MIT’s Martin Trust Center, and four Texas universities: Texas A&M, UT-Austin, University of Houston, and Rice University. The objective is to create a powerful, student-driven entrepreneurship ecosystem in Houston, focused on energy innovation and implementing lessons learned from building a successful ecosystem in Boston. This effort will aim to train and empower the next generation of entrepreneurs to lead the energy transition and to share in the massive economic opportunity it entails, while also addressing the existential threat of climate change.

In this episode, we feature an interview with Christine Hsieh, an MIT PhD alum who was the co-founder and chief strategy officer at Day2Day, a health tech start up. Hsieh is now an entrepreneur in residence at the Trust Center. Conducting the interview is Paul Cheek, the executive director of the Trust Center. They talk about transparent leadership, the dynamics of the entrepreneurial journey, and resources available at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. Hsieh also talks about her early-career research into music and mental health.

START MIT alum Mar Velasco sits down with Trust Center Entrepreneur-in-Residence Susan Neal to discuss her time in the StartMIT program, and her experiences at the Trust Center. Velasco is an MBA Candidate at the Sloan School, and a former investment relations manager at the Bimbo Bakery, the largest bakery in Mexico. She tells us about her entry into the business world, her admiration for her mother, and the MIT resources she's used in her entrepreneurship journey.

In this episode, we feature an interview with Jesus Lares, an alumni of the Trust Center's delta v and MIT Fuse programs. Lares is a recent MIT undergrad who passed on a job at Google to found Eraverse, a company designing custom locations in the metaverse where far-flung participants can collaborate on projects. He says he never imagined he would work in the entrepreneurship space when he entered MIT as an aerospace engineering major. But, his intensive engagement with the Trust Center's delta v and Fuse programs helped him decide to pursue building a company full-time after graduating. Conducting the interview is Paul Cheek, the executive director of the Trust Center and one of Lares's advisors during undergrad.

Welcome to the promo episode for "Trust the Process," the first podcast from the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship. This show brings you right into the conference rooms of MIT's center for entrepreneurship. You'll hear experts on business growth talk about time management, leadership, team building, and more. Our first episodes will be released November 1.