In Memory of VMS Co-Founder Alec Dingee
VMS Co-founder Alec Dingee, successful entrepreneur who started seven companies, passed away on March 22, 2019. Alec founded VMS in 2000, along with the late Professor David Staelin, to remedy a gap in how the university supports emerging entrepreneurial ventures.
Learn more about the life and legacy of VMS Co-Founder Alec Dingee in the MIT News.
what our mentees say
VMS has been an exceptional resource. When we set out, we were three co-founders with an idea and some technology. Our mentors helped guide us to turn those ideas and technology into a product and company. They helped us focus on what's most important at each stage along the way. Our mentors have been a great sounding board; with their help, we spun out of Draper Laboratory, raised venture capital, and are building an exciting, new, scalable cyber-security business.
The wisdom of experienced mentors at the VMS has really helped us get started and allowed us to move fast.
When we first started out we were a consulting organization. VMS was instrumental in helping us design the original business and helped us as we shifted to a product company. They also provided a lot of critical early advice. Now, VMS is a great community of fellow entrepreneurs!
VMS-MENTORED COMPANIES in the news
Acoustic Wells taps MIT $100K Launch top prize. Read More.
SiPure named co-winner of the MIT Water Innovation Prize. Read More.
Bevi wins 2019 NEVY "CleanTech Company of the Year" Award. Read More.
Humon in Fast Company: Why NBA athletes are using this device to enhance their training. Read More.
Looking for more VMS news? Visit our news page
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VMS Company Spotlight - Elephant in a Box
We owe VMS’s existence not only to our founders’ programmatic vision but to their philanthropic vision, as well. When Alec Dingee and Dave Staelin joined forces to launch VMS, each one made a sizable personal donation that got the program started.
A few years beyond its start-up phase, the founders addressed VMS’s future. Recognizing the impact VMS was having on the MIT community, they wanted to secure its financial future. Joined by a few other “friends of VMS," they created the VMS Endowment. These leaders are recognized as the VMS Benefactors.
Today, through the financial support of its mentors and entrepreneurs, VMS has adopted a culture of philanthropy, created and inspired by our benefactors.
Will you join those who have shown their commitment to helping VMS educate MIT's emerging entrepreneurs?