Principal Investigator Amy Googins
Project Website https://www.theeforum.org/
Project Start Date July 1998
The MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge has changed its name to The eForum to reflect their new status as an independent non-profit organization.
As The eForum, they have becoma a member of the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, whose mission is to advance knowledge and educate MIT students in innovation-driven entrepreneurship. This partnership allows eForum to learn from their leadership in the field of entrepreneurship education and share it with the broader global community of innovation-driven entrepreneurs being served.
Like the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship, eForum believes entrepreneurship is a craft that can be taught.
When The MIT Enterprise Forum was founded in 1978, there was no active ecosystem for early-stage startup founders. The organization was built by aspiring MIT Alumni entrepreneurs who met informally in New York and Cambridge to help each other pitch and refine their business plans. These small informal gatherings quickly grew and the group incorporated as The MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, holding large, open-to-all events to foster connection between entrepreneurs, mentors, investors, corporate and IP attorneys, and other tech-curious folks.
In subsequent years more chapters of the MIT Enterprise Forum were established globally. With the mission to help early-stage technology entrepreneurs succeed faster by informing, connecting, and coaching them through relevant, practical workshops, mentoring programs, competitions, and networking events, we have helped stimulate the founding and growth of thousands of companies all over the world.
Cambridge has always been proud to be the largest and most active chapter of the MIT Enterprise Forum Cambridge; identifying the key early shifts affecting the innovation community—providing programs that enable entrepreneurs to capitalize and thrive as those shifts unfold.
As The eForum, we plan to continue to engage with the best and the brightest from MIT and beyond—just as we always have. So, although our existing affiliation has changed, we remain a 501(c)3 serving early-stage entrepreneurs and the innovation community. The programming, people and mission will stay intact. Additionally, the relationships we have nurtured and sustained with other Chapters and groups across MIT—who support innovation and entrepreneurship—will remain strong.