2022-2025 Events & Things
A few Events....
In December 2022 and '23, Jack was the kickoff speaker at The Advanced Drug Development Conference in Boston discussing how to improve partnerships between universities and biopharma companies.
-In December, '22, November, '23 and again in '24, Jack was the speaker at IEEE's ENET conference where he talked about Sales & Marketing Processes, Tools, Technology, & Metrics. Love this group of enthusiastic entrepreneurs!
-In June 2021 Jack and his wife, Jan, donated $10m to Tufts University naming the Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts
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Our Annual CEO Dinner held at The MIT Endicottt House in March every year is a birthday celebration for Jack and our favorite customers and industry friends. This year, Brooke Thomson, CEO & President of The Associated Industries of Massachusetts, will again be providing her exacting perspective of doing business in the Commonwealth.
We've conducted hundreds of Boot Camps in New England and New York. Some of those have been on Entrepreneurship and some within the framework of "The Science of Sales" where we collaborate with Next Corps & Luminate in Rochester, NY, where for 10 years, we keynoted The Entrepreneur's Network bringing thousands of new jobs to the City of Rochester.
- Jack continues as an active Tufts professor in his two core courses in Marketing and in Sales
- This past year, Jack was a keynote speaker at Parent's Weekend what it takes to get jobs.
- He also teaches 2 to 4 capstone courses in entrepreneurship.
- 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 35. In 2022, 22, in 2023, 24, and 34 in 2024.
- In April 2022, Tufts officially opened the Derby Entrepreneurship Center@Tufts provided through Jack & Jan's $10 million gift to the School of Engineering.
- 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 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 2025 "How To" publications:
In January 2025 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! .
Mass High Tech-Jack's Advice to Entrepreneurs
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 at Tufts in Marketing & Sales, and founder of the Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts. Jack continues as a senior lecturer at MIT where he has taught for 22 years.
“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.”