TekTrek Brings 44 Student Founders Back to Massachusetts After 2-Month Silicon Valley Push
Updated
Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 19
TekTrek Brings 44 Student Founders Back to Massachusetts After 2-Month Silicon Valley Push
1 articles · Updated · The Boston Globe · Aug 19
Summary
44 students in John Werner’s TekTrek program returned to Massachusetts this month for talks and an MIT pitch showcase after spending two months in San Francisco building startups.
Werner said the goal was to immerse mostly East Coast students in Silicon Valley’s AI network—through mentors, coworking space and meetings with Google, Apple, Intel and Nvidia leaders—while showing they could still build in Boston.
The cohort included 11 MIT students, 12 from Harvard, 16 from Princeton and five from other schools, backed by funding from Eric Schmidt, David Siegel and Dave Blundin.
Dozens of Boston venture capital investors attended the MIT event, and Flybridge’s Jeff Bussgang said several pitches were substantive, though he added it remains unclear how many companies will stay local.
Early signs were mixed: Harvard founders Julia Alvarenga and Alice Jacob said their AI startup would be based in Boston, while Princeton founder Emilka Puchalski said her health-sensor company would probably end up in California.