Yet-Ming Chiang, Cofounder & Chief Scientist, 24M Rick Feldt, President, 24M
Anurag Bajpayee, Founder and CEO, Gradiant
For professionals new to sales, the process can seem like an alchemy of glad-handling and interpersonal magic. In this workshop we will discuss customer pain: the fundamental reasons why people and companies make it to “the close.” This workshop will focus on identifying the three fundamental personas in every organization that impact your ability to make a sale so that you can avoid wasted time talking to the wrong people and more quickly identify the people within an organization who can help you close deals faster.
This session will discuss how to increase the speed of your sales by improving your qualification process. This workshop will help you deepen your understanding of the qualities that determine the likelihood of a prospect or potential partner to commit. We will talk about how to decide who is qualified to buy from you and how to quickly qualify prospective customers and partners. Tricky issues like budget and decision-making authority will be addressed.
Understanding and refining your marketing and sales funnels are an ongoing part of building a successful business. In many ways the job of an early stage start-up is to identify and structure a funnel that works. This session will be a practical workshop to help you better understand how sales funnels work. The emphasis will be on using funnels to build better sales processes and allocate your time more effectively.
The MIT Energy Conference will be back on campus on February 23-24, 2026, with a new edition themed “Securing the Energy Future: Resources for Resilience”. A core feature of the conference is the Innovators Forum, a curated showcase where cutting-edge startups and research initiatives in energy and climate present their technologies to industry leaders, investors, entrepreneurs, researchers, and students.
John Andrews, CEO, Celect
The Schlumberger-Doll Research Center hosts the Innovators’ Event which offers a unique opportunity to network with experts and scientists, pitch ideas and discover solutions in a diverse and collaborative environment.
JC Gutiérrez-Ramos, President and CEO, Synlogic