Startups are an integral part of the technology creation pipeline. Even the biggest tech companies began as startups, often germinating out of a research idea or lab product, many of them right here at CSAIL. Akamai, Drobox, iRobot, and Boston Dynamics are just a few of the hundreds of companies that have spun out of CSAIL research. Beyond that, startup companies around the world have leveraged CSAIL knowledge, innovation, and talent to understand the state of the field, enhance their product, and bring their solutions to market.
Recognizing the important role startups play in connecting research and industry, the CSAIL Alliances sub-programs Startup Connect and Startup Connect Plus aim to nurture the startup ecosystem in this space, fostering connections, facilitating collaborations, and providing resources to accelerate the growth and success of innovative ventures within the field of computer science and artificial intelligence.
GETTING STARTED: FILLING A GAP
In 2015, Managing Director of CSAIL Alliances Lori Glover began to notice a trend. CSAIL researchers were approaching her seeking ways for their startup companies to engage not only with the lab but externally as well, with industry members, the rest of MIT, and the greater Cambridge/Boston area. The CSAIL Alliances team recognized an opening for a mutually beneficial program that could connect startups back to the lab and offer an insider view into groundbreaking technology for our members. Crafting a program to meet that need, Startup Connect (SUC), was born in 2017, offering support to CSAIL startups less than 5-years-old and with less than $5 million in annual revenue. Soon after, the program grew to include Startup Connect Plus (SUC+), which offered a way for non-CSAIL startups in the early stages of development to join Alliances as well.
While SUC and SUC+ saw solid early growth, their expansion was put on pause in the pandemic years when companies contracted and the world locked down. However, it was during this period that CSAIL Alliances Client Relations Coordinator Christiana Kalfas joined Alliances. With several years of experience in the MIT startup ecosystem, Kalfas saw how SUC and SUC+ could grow in harmony with other MIT startup resources, offering industry connections as well as access to the CSAIL community. With that vision in mind, Kalfas began to ramp up SUC and SUC+ by engaging with groups across campus and spreading the word of what CSAIL Alliances had to offer. This widespread engagement has allowed SUC and SUC+ to grow into what it is today, with over 50 CSAIL spinoffs and about 20 members of SUC+ from all over the world.
SUC & SUC+: A KEY PART OF THE MIT STARTUP ECOSYSTEM
SUC and SUC+ are unique among MIT resources for startups. Unlike other programs, they don’t offer mentoring or direct funding. Instead, SUC and SUC+ invite startups into the CSAIL community—the biggest working lab on campus—and connect them to CSAIL Alliances industry members, which can be beneficial for a number of reasons. Companies might want early insight into research relating to their products so they can understand and prepare for key challenges in the space. They might seek feedback from students, researchers, or industry members about their application by hosting Tech Talks or attending Alliances events. Looking at how their product might translate across different verticals, SUC and SUC+ startups have engaged with CSAIL Alliances industry members to test their product in real-world, mutually beneficial scenarios which offer invaluable business case studies. Kalfas says that startups in SUC and SUC+ are “not only doing market research but doing research period, in every sense of the world.”
For example, KomplyAi founder Kristen Migliorini says: “the connection to MIT and to researchers through the startup program was really quite pivotal because it either developed or firmed up my research on some really complex and cutting-edge issues.” She was able to connect with CSAIL researchers for early guidance in building out the framework of her application. Dynamo FL co-founder Dr. Vaikkunth Mugunthan says that being a part of Startup Connect allowed them to “tailor our product toward what [customers] needed,” crediting CSAIL Alliances Events for “a good number of client leads.” Professor Brian Williams, whose research spun out into Mobi, says that CSAIL Alliances “gives [Mobi] exposure to a lot of industry problems and really interesting people to talk to which has helped us shape the technology to be generally useful.” And co-founder of LeelaAI Henry Minsky says of staying connected to the MIT campus, “there’s a serendipity in that you just never know who’s breezing through one of the labs, and that can sometimes lead to really interesting connections.”
To further reinforce the resources available to startups through CSAIL Alliances, Kalfas launched the Startup Connect Opportunities (SUCO) newsletter. Twice monthly, she sends out a list of events, courses, socials, and talks that might be helpful to the startups in her portfolio. These opportunities are far-reaching, covering not just MIT campus and the Boston area but the broader global community. Thanks to CSAIL Alliances Partner the Epoch Foundation, startup members can connect with Garage+, a startup program which aims to foster relationships throughout the Taiwanese tech industry. CSAIL Alliances also has connections to groups such as the Japanese External Trade Organization (JETRO), whose J-Bridge program facilitates collaboration between Japanese and overseas companies. Additionally, the SUC/SUC+ program itself extends worldwide, with participating companies in France, Canada, Australia, Belgium, Singapore, the UK, and several states and territories in the US. This international presence offers members ample opportunities to maximize their reach and gain insight from various cultures, markets, and technologists.
Describing the startups in SUC and SUC+, Kalfas says, “they are eager to learn about CSAIL itself (our research, our PIs, our researchers, our students), they're eager to learn about the companies that we interact with at a higher degree, and they're eager to share their own technology with the community.”
GOING FORWARD: GOALS FOR THE PROGRAM
Kalfas believes that the success the program has enjoyed so far is only the beginning. As a hub of AI technology and computer science, the CSAIL community is a natural draw for all players in the startup life cycle: researchers, venture capitalists, large corporations, and company founders. Acting as a bridge between research and industry, CSAIL Alliances is poised to bring those aspects together and help make the connections that benefit all.
In terms of what current member companies should know about SUC and SUC+, Kalfas says, “we are a very enthusiastic, growing program with brilliant minds that have technologies that could be easily used in your own companies.” More importantly, she highlights that, “we're right here. You don't need to look elsewhere.”
Fundamentally, SUC and SUC+ reflect a microcosm of CSAIL’s mission. Designed to foster cutting edge research, challenge and educate students, and solve significant societal problems, these two startup programs offer another avenue for both the CSAIL community and CSAIL Alliances members to support inquiry and make a positive difference in the world. CSAIL is a place of big ideas, and the CSAIL Alliances startup programs offer one way to bring those big ideas to market.
To get involved in SUC and SUC+, contact Client Relations Coordinator Christiana Kalfas at ckalfas@csail.mit.edu.
