From MIT to Startups: A Fireside Chat with Serial Entrepreneur Eric Haywood

​What does it take to build and scale a startup from scratch? Join Stephanie Melodia as she sits down with Eric Haywood, a serial entrepreneur, MIT grad, and founder of Vikri.IO, one of MIT’s Top Startups to Watch in 2024.

​Eric has founded and co-founded companies across multiple industries, including B2B SaaS, AgTech, food innovation, and sustainable fashion. His expertise spans platform and marketplace strategy, product development, and international business expansion, having previously worked as a product manager in Tokyo, launching industrial tech into 12 countries.

​In this fireside chat, Eric will share lessons from MIT’s flagship Delta V accelerator, the challenges of building platform businesses, and how he approaches early-stage startup validation, product strategy, and fundraising.

​What You’ll Learn:

​✅ How to go from idea to a real, scalable business

​✅ Key insights from MIT’s entrepreneurship accelerator (Delta V)

​✅ The reality of building a marketplace or platform startup

​✅ How to validate an idea, build traction, and raise funding

​✅ Lessons from scaling multiple startups across different industries

​Join us for an insightful conversation with a founder who’s been in the trenches, bringing innovative products to life and helping others do the same.