The bustling
ecosystem of the MIT
$100K
Entrepreneurship Competition
comprises eager
student entrepreneurs
from across the
Institute, savvy venture
capitalists, and
a voracious media. And
it’s no wonder
they’re voracious. The
$100K has
generated some amazing
success stories
in its 17-year history,
including at
least 85 spinoff companies
with a combined
valuation of more
than $7
billion.
The 2006 event,
which marked the
evolution of the
contest from the $50K
to the $100K,
featured lifesaving medical
innovations,
low-income housing solu-
tions, and a
revolutionary personal air
vehicle (PAV)
designed to drive on any
road surface,
take to the air from local
airports, and
come home to roost in the
family
garage.
But from the
perspective of Jose
Pacheco, program
manager of the MIT
Entrepreneurship
Center and an adviser
to the
competition, the most remark-
able thing about
the $100K is that it’s
run entirely by
students. As such, he
says, it’s an
extraordinarily effective
training ground
for entrepreneurs,
because it is a
demanding entrepreneur-
ial operation in
and of itself.
“Think about
it,” Pacheco says.
“Student
organizers have to track a
$250,000 budget,
recruit sponsors and
judges, manage
several boards, cater to
the expectations
of top-flight venture
capitalists, and
handle enormous
media attention.
On top of that, they
must keep
hundreds of volunteers
motivated and on
track. Then there
are the
contestants. Dozens of teams
must be
shepherded through the
process
skillfully.”
The chief
wunderkind at the eye of
this
entrepreneurial tornado is $100K
lead project
organizer Karina Drees,
MBA ’07. What
makes the contest so
thrilling, she
says, is that it is generat-
ed by the
irrepressible entrepreneurial
spirit of MIT.
Her role is demanding,
she concedes,
but it puts her front and
center at the
proving ground of global
innovation. And,
Drees notes, she is
not the only one
angling for a front
seat. “The
entire venture capital com-
munity keeps one
eye on the MIT
$100K as a
barometer of innovation.
They closely
watch to gauge which
technologies are
heating up and which
trends to
back.”
Because of the
blood, sweat, and tears
she’s invested,
Drees feels a part of all
the innovations
emerging from the
$100K and shares
in the excitement
when Terrafugia,
the team promoting
the PAV, is
featured on CNN and in
other
international media. Terrafugia
was runner-up in
the $100K Business
Venture category
behind the quiet
powerhouse
SteriCoat, led by Sloan
Fellow David
Lucchino, which took
the top prize
for a revolutionary
antibacterial
coating that reduces
the incidence of
infection in patients
using catheters.
After its MIT victory,
the team won
first place in the Oxford
University
business plan competition.
According to
Drees, the MIT $100K’s
ever-widening
sphere of influence is
just as it
should be. After all, she says,
“one of the
principal aims of the MIT
$100K is to
bring MIT technologies to
the world—all
parts of the world.”