2022-2024 Events & Things 

 Jack and Sales Boot Camp-1.jpg

 A few Events....

In December 2022, Jack was the kickoff speaker at The Advanced Drug Development Conference in Boston.   December, 2023, he was  back again as an panelist discussing how to improve the partnerships between universities and biopharms companies.  Just such a superb group of senior managers with a critical life-saving mission!

-In December, '22 and November, '23 Jack was the speaker at IEEE's ENET conference where he talked about Sales & Marketing Processes, Tools, Technology, & Metrics. 

-In June 2021 Jack and his wife, Jan, donated $10m to Tufts University naming the Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts

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Our pre-Covid Annual CEO Dinner
was a birthday celebration for Jack in March 2020.  We then did virtual check-ins every 6 months to keep the team together as we figured out how to operate as CEOs.  We've now moved back to live March events with our close friends at the MIT Endicott House.  Spectacular event, discussions and location! 

-We conducted a 2 day "Entrepreneur's Boot Camp" in May 2020, in April and September 2021, in May and September 2022 and in May, 2023 with Next Corps & Luminate entrepreneurs in Rochester, NY, where for 10 years, we keynoted The Entrepreneur's Network bringing thousands of new jobs to the City.

  • Jack continues to be an active Tufts professor in his two core courses in Marketing and in Sales.
  • He continues as a senior instructor at MIT teaching business planning and marketing, 
  • In 2020, even with the pandemic, we completed 31 business and sales planning meetings. 
  • In 2021, we completed a total of 35. In 2022, 22, and in 2023, 24
  • In 2020, we worked on 66 sales and marketing projects.  In 2021, 59.  In 2022, 71. In '23, 62
  • By December 2020 we had participated in 28 webinars on Sales or Marketing.  In 2021 we did 34  including a webinar with Forbes.  For 2022 17. In 2023, we decided to stop webinars and focus that time directly on increasing our F2F time directly with our customers.  
  • In April 2022, Tufts officially opened the Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts provided through Jack & Jan's $10 million gift to the School of Engineering.
  • On April 14th, Jack was the keynote speaker at the Financial Executive International's Boston Chapter Annual Academic Awards Program discussing "Entrepreneurship for the Rest of Us"  

David Radlo's Forbes Podcasts

David has been a strong ally and a senior coach working with Jack at Tufts.  You can click on to his podcasts here

Episode Six | Part One: Jack Derby
David's guest this week is Jack Derby. Jack is a long-time professor of entrepreneurship and marketing at Tufts University and M.I.T.  He’s been at the helm of several companies and startups, and in 1990, he founded Derby Management, a consulting firm specializing in strategic business planning ang revenue growth. In part one, Jack shares how his "Science of Sales" can help accelerate growth and maximize performance and the importance of inviting guest lecturers and certified coaches to help his students in the classroom.

Episode Six | Part Two: Jack Derby
David concludes his talk with Jack Derby, a long-time startup CEO, college professor, investor and volunteer with entrepreneurship organizations. In part two, Jack discusses what he learned about teaching during his time as  a volunteer in the Peace Corps, why his wife Jan has been a vital part of his personal and professional life, and the importance of continuing education. Jack also talks about his $10 million endowment to Tufts, that ensures the university will continue to help students develop an entrepreneurial mindset and the skills to turn ideas into successful ventures.

Jack received the ACG Boston Lifetime Achievement Award in April 2019

Editing our 2024 "How To" publications:  

In January 2024 we heavily edited our publications "Writing the Winning Business Plan". Given the major changes in business creation, we are now updating our "How To" publications twice a year. 

You can also find and download our new 2024 editions of:


For the 20th year, we are very proud of the fact that our "Writing the Winning Business Plan" has been used at MIT in its Management in Engineering course, and for the fifth year at Singapore University of Technology & Design.  

Mass High Tech-Jack's Advice to Entrepreneurs

Mass High Tech 

A 20-something launching a new tech company may bring great ideas, energy and dedication to their startup. However, they can always benefit from the experiences of those who have gone before them. So, Mass High Tech invited a handful of experienced members of the New England innovation community to share their own bits of advice to young entrepreneurs.

To set the stage, each person was told, “Imagine that you are talking to a 22-year-old new college grad who has a social media or software startup still in the ‘Mom’s Basement mode.’” They then answered two questions.

Question No. 1: What do they need to know about building and running the company that isn’t taught in school?

Jack Derby, President of Derby Management, co-founder and General Partner of Converge Venture Partners, a Mass High Tech All-Star, and past chairman of Common Angels, the MIT Enterprise Forum and the Association of Corporate Growth.  A Professor of the Practice at Tufts of Marketing, and of "The Art & Science of Sales". Director of the Tufts Entrepreneurship Center and the Cummings Family Professor of Entrepreneurship at Tufts. MIT Lecturer in Management in Engineering in Marketing and in Business Planning

“In my years of coaching, running and venture investing in technology companies, I have never had a company fail because the technology did not work. Sure, there were twists and turns, but ultimately it got worked out. Having said that, I have seen plenty of companies fail, and they primarily failed due to weak management, and specifically CEOs who did not hire people better than themselves in their own respective specialties. 

Lesson #. 1: strong, flexible, passionate and highly skilled management counts more than anything else. Sure, people mouth these words, but they don’t often teach the tactics of what this actually means.”. 

Lesson #2:  Success in any business is about success in Sales!

Question No. 2: Why should they feel confident in today’s business environment?

“Three things: One, there’s (a lot) more equity money available and being invested than last year. Two, the market for social media and capital efficient software is excitingly buzzy, and there’s significant talent available. Three, the support mechanisms in Greater Boston for startups are at a more robust level than I’ve seen in 30 years, so there’s no excuse for not getting experienced assistance.”