We chat with Michael Kearney, principal at The Engine – the tough tech incubator and patient capital fund backed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University – about the importance of hiring diverse teams (in spinouts and in fund management), the highly unique ecosystem in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the reasons why the journey of a deep tech founder is fundamentally different.
He also tells us why his own experience working for a tough tech spinout prompted him to return to academia to gain a PhD from MIT looking at barriers to commercialisation and ultimately to become an investor at The Engine.
Further listening
If you want to learn more about MIT’s ecosystem, do also listen to our previous interview with Lesley Millar-Nicholson, director of the institute’s Technology Licensing Office.
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Thierry Heles
Thierry Heles is the editor of Global University Venturing, host of the Beyond the Breakthrough interview podcast and responsible for the monthly GUV Gazette (sign up here for free).
