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2005</title></head><body>
<blockquote type="cite" cite>From:<br>
Lillian Dai<br>
Ph.D. student - EECS<br>
Ventureships Lead Organizer<br>
<br>
<font color="#FF0000"><b>Internships at MIT Startups for Spring
2005<br>
<br>
</b></font>Welcome to the Spring 2005 Ventureships program, brought to
you by<br>
SEBC, Sloan VCPE and Venture Mentoring Service. The
Ventureships<br>
program, previously called V-Teams, is designed to provide an
opportunity for<br>
engineering, science, and other technically trained students to
acquire business<br>
skills through hands-on experience. Students are matched with
MIT-affiliated start-up<br>
companies to work on important business projects for the semester.<br>
Mentoring is available, so no prior business experience is required.
Time<br>
commitment is approximately 5-7 hrs per week. This will be the
3rd<br>
semester that this non-credit program is being run. Below
are<br>
the project descriptions for Spring 2005.<br>
<br>
1) Distribution Channel project: Cost/benefit analysis of
using<br>
direct sales, licensing, distribution partner, or a combination<br>
thereof for the company's technology/product. Defining those<br>
alternatives and identifying potential parties where applicable.<br>
Analysis of each alternative as it relates to revenue potential,<br>
company and brand recognition, company valuation, exit strategy and
potential need for future capital. <br>
This Project will interface directly with the CEO.<br>
<br>
2) Operations project: Optimizing the company's manufacturing
process<br>
from the purchase of raw materials thru finished goods inventory.
The<br>
student team will construct a manufacturing process flowchart<br>
detailing capacity at each step and performing an economic analysis
of<br>
the overall process. The team will be tasked with analyzing
and<br>
optimizing the process while identifying lead times, production<br>
cycles, critical steps and potential bottlenecks based on
production<br>
forecasts. Recommendations for capacity, process
improvements,<br>
capital equipment investments or outsourcing will be required.
This<br>
project will interface with the Director of Engineering and
Operations<br>
and the Director of Process Development.<br>
<br>
3) Sales and Marketing project: Develop and test consumer
market<br>
hypotheses through the iterative development of web site content
and<br>
software distribution strategies. Project goals include:<br>
a) Identifying market segments and messaging for potential
consumers.<br>
b) Testing market segmentation through a series of enhancements
and<br>
changes to company web site<br>
c) Conducting targeted market research focus groups with local
school<br>
systems and other organizations<br>
d) Driving online sales upward through continued improvement of
online<br>
experience<br>
<br>
4) Market Analysis project: The project will consist of<br>
characterizing the existing markets for adoption of the company's<br>
technology, helping propose products into these markets, and aiding
in<br>
pricing these markets. Finally, given the broad applicability of
the<br>
technology, the project may consist of creating financial models
for<br>
each of the different markets we would like to pursue.<br>
<br>
5) Product Development project (not-for-profit organization):<br>
Multiple components to this project. Market analysis for
data<br>
projectors in developing countries, with respect to product<br>
requirement and an assessment of current and future display<br>
technology. Engineering design: exploring design concepts that
would<br>
enable lower cost with adequate functionality for the developing
world<br>
with an analysis of production costs based on design features;<br>
proof-of-concept for display system using standard available<br>
technology (such as LCD display components used in cell phones and<br>
digital cameras). Go-to-market strategy: specify how a system
would<br>
be manufactured, distributed and supported in the developing
world.<br>
<br>
Further information will be made available in December.
Companies<br>
will be giving a presentation in early/mid-Jan, with on-line<br>
registration to open afterwards. Questions can be emailed<br>
to lldai@mit.edu, xuep@alum.mit.edu, or lgatti@mit.edu (for
MBAs).</blockquote>
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