It all started with an informal mention by Harvard Business School Professor Tom Eisenmen around this time last year. He fondly referred to a group of passionate entrepreneurs who had been going to him for advice as a “startup tribe.”
The group gained momentum quickly thanks to a Wiki and an initial group of dedicated students who spread the word. Since then the Startup Tribe has amassed to over 125 students, and even lobbied Harvard to offer a $50,000 startup fund this winter.
What exactly is this Startup Tribe? It is a group of students who think they’re stronger as a whole, sharing resources and helping one another as a community, than moving forward separately in starting their business. The Tribe serves as a team of peer advisors for Harvard Business School entrepreneurs, and they are living proof that HBS has a vibrant, growing, and competent startup community.
Their goal is simple: to increase the number of successful startups launched from the HBS. And their metric is refined: 1 HBS startup launching a year that will be valued at $100M+ each 3 years out.
“The Startup Tribe embodies what the HBS experience is all about — a dynamic group of students from diverse backgrounds, coming together to learn from each other and the faculty, and to leverage the deep resources at the school,” one of the group’s initial members, Andrew Rosenthal, shared with Bostinno.
A handful of HBS faculty and Entrepreneurs in Residence have been active supporters of the Tribe — meeting individually, speaking with the group, and sharing their story with their broader networks — including Chris Michel, founder of Military.com and Affinity Labs, and Eric Ries founder of IMVU and the Lean Startup Methodology.
But the group isn’t for HBS students who are interested in exploring entrepreneurship. Nor for people who plan to pursue entrepreneurship post-HBS. The tribe makes clear it is a home for people who want to start a startup while at HBS.
“You can’t fake it here or be looking to startups as a backup option,” Rafael Corrales, now CEO of Learnboost, stated in the Tribe’s earliest days of formation back in February of 2010. “Believe me, it’s pretty easy to tell who is in love with the idea of entrepreneurship and who is in love with the day to day realities of entrepreneurship. There’s a big difference.”
How does the Startup Tribe plan to meet their goal?
Members get together in small groups to learn from one another and share advice and resources while building their startups. They also have monthly meetings and organize dinners with “funders and founders.” Their next dinner event is in early February with Charles Huang and Andrew Parker from Spark Capital.
The Tribe is also putting the fire under HBS faculty and administration to offer more resources to student entrepreneurs. The $50,000 MVP Fund, which we were the first to cover back in December, was a result of the Startup Tribe taking an idea, refining it collectively, and catching the attention of the administration and the Dean.
“The development of the MVP Fund concept is emblematic of the Tribe as a whole: after one student championed the idea, over 30 students, faculty and alumni contributed to a wiki to further refine the proposal and line up support all the way to the Dean,” explained Rosenthal.
Currently about two-thirds of the active Tribe members have formed teams for the Harvard Business School Business Plan Competition in April, where startups like Birchbox and RelayRides (who recently announced funding from Google Ventures) were launched.
In 2011, the Tribe hopes to plug themselves more heavily into the plethora of resources and events here in Boston’s thriving startup ecosystem. Rosenthal shared,
“We’re proud to be located in Boston and we want to be part of the excitement here. We hope to leverage the attention we’ve received and the momentum we are enjoying to strengthen our relationships within the Harvard community and outward, into the vibrant network of Boston firms, funders and organizations.”
For students at other colleges looking to light a fire under their administration to support student entrepreneurs, Rosenthal advised, “The most important piece of advice is: find your tribe. The core component of our effort is the dedicated group of students who wake up every day thinking about startups.” After finding your Tribe, Rosenthal recommends looking for an advocate within faculty and administration. “Go for some ‘easy wins’ to build momentum, like hosting a facilitated brainstorming session, meetings with funders, or any other event to get people physically together,” he offered.
Learn more about what the Startup Tribe is up to on their wiki, and make sure to follow them on Twitter @StartupTribe or by following the hashtag #startuptribe.
