MassChallenge: An MIT Hit for Global Entrepreneurs

MassChallenge is a pretty ambitious nonprofit. The group wants to “catalyze a startup renaissance” so they started the world's largest startup competition…in Massachusetts.

That makes sense since founder and CEO John Harthorne MBA ’07, a Mass. native and ardent Red Sox fan, earned some entrepreneurial cred at Sloan. He won the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition with Robopsy, a medical devices company, and, the same year, he co-led the 10th annual MIT Global Startup Workshop held in Norway. He also served a stint as a senior consultant at Bain & Company, Boston, before becoming head of MassChallenge.

The nonprofit aspect is important to the $1 million competition, which is open to anyone on the planet. With substantial state funding, MassChallenge can offer support to entrepreneurs without asking for a piece of the ownership or other compensation.

In 2011, the second annual event, the process began in March with 733 applicants from 24 countries and 34 states. The most impressive 125 groups were invited to participate in the accelerator stage, a 3-month experience offering mentoring and free office space, legal support, and introductions to potential customers and funders.

On Oct. 24, the winners were announced and one of the top $100K Diamond Prizes went to an MIT team for—Tinfoil Security, an automated web security firm founded by Ainsley Braun ’10 and Michael Borohovski ’09.

“We both graduated from MIT, and we were both working in [Washington], D.C.,” said Ainsley Braun in a Boston Globe article, CEO of Tinfoil Security, when asked how she and her co-founder landed in the competition. “Government was moving a little too slowly for us, so we decided to come back to Boston to join MassChallenge.

Apparently there are no bad times to be an entrepreneur. According to Harthorne’s TED video, the recent financial crises are opportunities: “Crisis clarifies weakness, it clarifies problems, and that becomes an opportunity for innovators.”

MassChallenge seems to be meeting its goal of accelerating the success of startups. The 2010 winners have  already raised $90 million and created more than 500 jobs—and the class of 2011 is off and running.

Learn more about MassChallenge: the organization itself, including what Karl Büttner '87 does as chief mentorship officer; the winning ideas and teams; and find out how to get involved next year.