This summer, I attended the LaunchX entrepreneurship program at MIT in which students expanded upon their business skillset by developing startups in teams. Through this program, I had the opportunity to listen to riveting lectures from industry leaders and young entrepreneurs on the roadblocks that can make or break startups, the importance of understanding your customer persona, and the iterative process of prototyping. Absorbing key marketing, sales, and finance principles, I applied this knowledge in a team setting to go though the process of creating the startup, Bippy. The mission of our company is to improve the educational experience of students with learning differences. To carry out this mission, we created a robot that helps elementary school children with ADHD focus on their work by utilizing a personalized system of reminders and incentives.
On Demo Day, the final day of the program, my team and I had the opportunity to pitch our startup to a panel of business professionals and investors to receive valuable feedback. We were able to display our working prototype, explain the features of our robot, and share our plans to continue the startup past the end of the program. During the four weeks of the program, I got to explore Cambridge, meet incredibly intelligent high school students from across the world, and grow my business knowledge. LaunchX was an amazing experience, and I am so glad I pursued the opportunity!
Varsha Nekkanti
Current Ace Participant
2017 Outstanding Participant & Leadership Summit Attendee
2018 John Deere Power for Good Scholarship Winner
