How we structure and run the Global Founders' Skills Accelerator for top student startups at MIT

1. Kyle Judah
Program Director & Entrepreneur in
Residence at

2. What is the Global Founders’
Skills Accelerator?
• 3 month summer accelerator program for the
top student startups from across MIT
• We don’t compete with Techstars, we help
our students hit escape velocity
• Funded by private donations

3. Hierarchy of Startup Needs

4. Benefits of GFSA
Monthly Stipend of $2,000/founder
Up to $20,000 EQUITY FREE
Personalized mentors
Finishing School & Launchpad
Pathway into Techstars,YC, Lemnos Labs
$16M raised by past 19 teams
1 acquisition (by Dropbox)

5. Who is GFSA for?
• Capstone entrepreneurial experience at MIT
• Personalized
• Ensures learning and value
• Serves primarily current MIT students
• 65% Engineering, 25% Management, 10% Other
• 30% UG, 40% Masters, 30% PhD
• 80% enrolled, 10% alum, 10% other

6. Accelerator Structure
Bill Aulet’s Disciplined Entrepreneurship
• June – Customer/Market Dev & Team
• July – Build it, Biz Model & Financials
• August – Iterate, Pilot, Sell it
• September – Pitch it
2 Speaker Sessions a week
1 hr ‘Partner Meeting’ every 2 weeks
Temporary Board Meeting 1/month
Mentoring as needed throughout week
(I work ~16 hr days in program & on call)

7. What Makes GFSA Unique?
• The G stands for Global
• Teams from Canada, Mexico, Spain and Morocco
• Milestone based funding
• Behavior modification
• Focused on discrete objectives
• Temporary Board of Directors
• Hold teams accountable
• Personalized mentoring
• Honest brokers

8. The Jack Goss Fellows
• Pre-GFSA Bootcamp
• Cover the basics & get up to sprint speed
• GFSA
• Real, tangible progress on student ventures
• A community of peer entrepreneurs for the
rest of their lives
• Post-GFSA
• Pathway out of the Accelerator insanity
• Ongoing support & guidance
• Reduce friction in studies vs. startup decision

9. Optimize for founder
success (learning),
not startup success
Measured through beginning & end surveys
Weekly surveys
Video pitches from 1st month & Demo Day
Board decks produce portfolios of learning outcomes

10. Good:
Structure Matters
Clear Pathways Into GFSA
Commitment to Quality
Easy way to rally support
Bad:
Unserved demand
Non-committed Board Members

11. Kyle Judah
Program Director & EIR
KJudah@mit.edu
Slideshare.net/KyleJudah
KyleJudah EshipMIT