BW Online | December 6, 1999 | MIT's Entrepreneurial MBA Students Create Another Way to Network

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DECEMBER 6, 1999

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MIT's Entrepreneurial MBA Students Create Another Way to Network
A new Web site for startups goes live

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An entrepreneur can never have too many connections. That's the thinking behind e-MIT, http://e-mit.mit.edu, a new Web site intended to give the entrepreneurial ventures of Massachusetts Institute of Technology students an extra assist. Three MBA students at the Sloan School of Management, Rami Habal, David Lam, and Julian Ting, created e-MIT, officially launched on Saturday, Dec. 4, at the second annual student-run MIT Sloan Venture Capital Conference.

The idea was to provide another way for MIT students to publicize their ideas, swap entrepreneurial lore, and market their skills. Resources include a calendar of events (business-plan competitions and startup workshops, for example), a job board for new ventures, and a discussion forum. Outsiders are welcome to register too.

Grads of Sloan — a hotbed of entrepreneurialism — are thrice-blessed with much-sought-after skills, prestigious degrees, and a gold-plated network. That wasn't enough for William Porter, a board member of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center and founder of E*Trade, who suggested the idea for e-MIT to Habal, Lam, and Ting. "You've got all the pieces right here — the best technologists in the world, ample venture-capital relationships, close partnerships with large corporations, excellent management talent, and an active entrepreneurial community... What is missing is a mechanism for the easy introduction of the various elements to each other."

Sloan officials have high expectations for their baby. When a test site of e-MIT went up a month ago, more than 700 users signed up, and 250 jobs were posted. With that kind of demand, B-schools across the nation will be plowing into that "space" in a flash.