Entrepreneurship. For many, the word prompts an ominous connotation. An image comes to mind of tense individuals traversing a seemingly endless pathway to the “Shark Tank,” flanked on both sides by creatures of the deep blue sea. The entrepreneurs are then placed in front of five vicious, ready-to-bite veterans of the business world who then judge their company down to its barest bones.
The Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts, located in the Joyce Cummings Center, could not provoke a more contrasting environment. Those entering are greeted with kind smiles. Off to the side, students can be found intently collaborating on a new venture. An atmosphere of innovation is immediately palpable.
The DEC opened in 2022, following a $9 million gift from Jack Derby, the former director of the entrepreneurship center, and his wife, Jan Derby. The DEC exists within the Gordon Institute, part of the Tufts School of Engineering and first school in the nation dedicated to teaching engineering leadership. The DEC’s programs encompass management, innovation and — of course — entrepreneurship. Assistant Director Carol Denning elaborated on the goals of the DEC.
“Our goal is to … help the students have an entrepreneurial mindset and skillset that will help them in their future endeavors,” Denning said. “We recognize that the journey is different for all the students … so we try to meet the students where they are and provide an appropriate experience for them.”
Today, the DEC is led by Elaine Chen, a self-proclaimed “recovering roboticist” and alumna of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After graduating, Chen worked for 30 years in the Boston area, later returning to MIT as an entrepreneurial coach and lecturer for The Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship. She was approached in 2019 by Kevin Oye, director of the Gordon Institute, about making the transition to Tufts and has headed the DEC ever since. According to Chen, the DEC’s location is critical to its success. Having worked for decades with startups in the Boston area, Chen understands the city’s value as a breeding ground for innovation.
“No city can do what Boston can do. We have so many schools in the ecosystem,” Chen said. “We try to both bring Boston to Tufts and bring Tufts to Boston.”
In order to achieve this, Tufts and other Boston-area schools interact through The Cross University Student Innovator mixers. Each event draws hundreds of student-innovators, with hosts rotating between Tufts, MIT, Harvard and Boston University.
Chen’s unique position as a professor, adviser and administrator is an embodiment of the center’s prized focus on outreach and individual connections. On the academic side, she is in charge of the center’s two available minors: entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship for social impact, offered in conjunction with the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Civic Life. Courses for these minors range from The Science of Sales to Public Speaking, with spots recently opened up for first-years to gain access to the minor. According to Chen, entrepreneurship is Tufts’ most popular minor.
“We have grown 14% [from last year],” Chen said. “We have 1,144 enrollments over 735 unique students who took at least one course.”
Professor Jayne Nucete, who teaches Preparing New and Aspiring Leaders, shares Chen’s view of the value of the entrepreneurship minor and the DEC.
“What really appeals to me about the Gordon Institute and the [DEC] is that there’s a human element to thinking about and working with cultivating leadership, cultivating what we call entrepreneurship skills,” Nucete said. “Some of the questions that come up in our class are big issue questions, and I think it’s really important for schools to be looking at those directly.”
The other aspect of the DEC is what Chen considers “co-curriculars,” or the various initiatives and programs the DEC provides throughout the year. For instance, the DEC hosts speaker events and workshops, many of which are publicly available. Past speakers include Tom Jessop, president of fidelity digital assets, and JocCole “JC” Burton, CEO of Maven Construction, who spoke on cryptocurrency and sustainability, respectively. The workshops are available on-demand on the center’s website and include presentations on building teams by Tina Weber, a part-time senior lecturer at the Gordon Institute.
Additionally, September 2023 saw the center host an Innovation Month that included a Personal Branding Workshop and an Entrepreneurial Taco Social. Other programs are available on an application basis, including the Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund and the Entrepreneurial Internship Program. The Internship Program connects students with local businesses — preferably those run by Tufts alumni — and offers a $4,500 stipend over 10 weeks.
The big draw is the Tufts $100k New Ventures Competition. Teams of students and recent alums pitch their ideas for startups across three tracks: General, Social Impact and Healthcare and Life Sciences. In a public venue, five teams from each track emerge from a year-long application process to pitch their ideas to judges who then choose the various winners. The 2024 finals are set to occur on Friday, April 5.
Chen expressed her excitement regarding the pitches, ranging from unique dating apps to utilizing silk to treat burn wounds. According to Chen, this competition highlights the intellectual diversity of the community.
“This is Tufts, where our students are incredibly diverse,” Chen said. “You can expect a full diversity of Tufts student interests in the 15 pitches that you'll be able to watch.”
While some teams win and others lose, Chen does not measure success in prize money.
“We don't measure success by how much money you've raised,” Chen said. “We measure success by [asking], ‘Does this entrepreneur feel like they’re really deploying their full potential?’”
In line with the ingrained culture of molding a better future, the DEC has recently integrated various new initiatives to make its opportunities more accessible to the Tufts community. For example, on Feb. 28, it hosted the first-ever Consumer Product Fair. Featuring seven private vendors from across the Tufts community, the event displayed the hard work and creativity of the Tufts community in the DEC.
The idea was conceived through Chen’s discussions with a student entrepreneur, sophomore Sadie Dodson. Dodson is the founder of DyedbyDodson, one of the businesses that participated in the event.
“The fair was super cool,” Dodson said. “[It] was really fun [to get] to showcase products … to tell the story of the business … I’ve never done something like that before, so that was really cool for me.”
Not only was the event a roaring success, but it also provided students with valuable entrepreneurial experience.
“I think having one experience under my belt [for] the next time we do it … I’ll know exactly what type of products to bring and how to deal with the commerce side of it,” Dodson said.
Though the quest for the next great idea and the ticket to the Tufts $100k New Ventures Competition might seem overwhelming, the DEC is committed to being an educational setting and facilitating involvement as smoothly as possible.
“We really like to make this a whole learning experience. Whether or not this venture continues on after Tufts, we hope that you’ve developed the skills you need to move forward with your next idea,” Denning said.
Tufts is lucky to have the DEC and the DEC is lucky to have Tufts. As a resource full of wisdom and expertise, the DEC allows the Tufts community to make its mark in the world and usher in a brighter future. One thing is certain: Neither side will be saying “I’m out.”
