Apple co-founder Steve Jobs described the computer as A bicycle for the mindWhat is it? MIT Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship The newly launched model has a little more power.
“It may not be a Ferrari yet, but we have a car,” he says. Bill Auletmanaging director of the center. The vehicle: the MIT Entrepreneurship JetPack, a generative artificial intelligence tool trained in Aulet's 24-step method Disciplined Entrepreneurship Framework for introducing cues into large language models.
Pitch a startup idea to the Eship JetPack, “and it’s like having five, 10, or 12 MIT undergraduates who instantly run off and do all the research you want based on the question you asked, and then bring back the answer,” Aulet says.
The tool is currently being used by entrepreneurship students and is being tested outside of MIT, and there is a waiting list which potential users can join. The tool is accessed through the Trust Center. Orbit digital entrepreneurship platform, which launched for student use in 2019. Orbit arose from the need for an alternative to the static Trust Center website, Aulet says.
“We weren’t following our own entrepreneurship protocols,” he says. “You meet students where they are, and more and more of them are using their phones. I said, ‘Let’s build an app that’s more dynamic than a static website, and that’s going to be the way we can reach students.’”
With the help of Trust Center CEO Paul Cheek and Product Leader Doug WilliamsOrbit has become a one-stop shop for student entrepreneurs. On the back-end of the platform, leaders at the center can see what users are clicking on and what they aren’t.
Aulet and his team have been studying that user feedback since Orbit launched. This has allowed them to learn how students want to access information, not just about course offerings or applications for startup competitions, but also to get guidance on an idea they are working on or connect with a business community of co-founders and advisors. The team also received advice from Ethan Mollick SM '04, PhD '10, associate professor of management at the Wharton School and author of a new book, “Co-intelligence: Living and working with ai.”
Official work on the Eship JetPack began about six months ago. The name was inspired by The acceleration provided by a jet packand the need for a human to harness that momentum and guide its direction.
“As we move from our initial focus on capturing information to providing guidance, the Disciplined Entrepreneurship and Start-up tactics frameworks “They were the perfect place to start,” Williams says.
One of the first beta users, Shari Van CleaveMBA '15, demonstrated how to use the ai tool in a YouTube video.
He presented an experimental idea for mobile EV charging, and within seconds, the ai tool suggested market segments, beachhead marketsa business model, pricing, assumptions, testing, and a product plan – and those are just seven of the 24 steps of the disciplined entrepreneurship framework he explored.
“I was impressed by how quickly the ai, with just a few details, generated recommendations for everything from market size (TAM) to lifetime customer value models,” Van Cleave said in an email. “Having a high-quality draft means that founders, whether new or experienced, can execute and raise funds faster.”
And for those entrepreneurs who already have an idea and are well on their way through the 24-step process, the tool can be useful, too, Aulet says. For example, they might want ideas and quotes on how their company can improve its performance or determine if there is a better market to target.
“Our goal is to boost the field of entrepreneurship, and a tool like this would allow more people to become entrepreneurs and better entrepreneurs,” says Aulet.