Faculty & Research

William Aulet is a Senior Lecturer and Managing Director in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He conceived, developed, and teaches an MIT graduate-level class called “Energy Ventures,” which explores the new brand of entrepreneurship and innovation required to meet the energy challenge. He is also the chairman of the MIT Clean Energy Prize.

A highly accomplished business leader, Aulet has a long track record of success. For over 25 years, he has raised more than $100 million in funding for his companies and has directly created hundreds of millions of dollars in market value. Aulet started his career at IBM and after 11 years was named a prestigious MIT Sloan Fellow. Upon graduation, he became a serial entrepreneur running two MIT spinouts as the president/chief executive officer of both Cambridge Decision Dynamics and then SensAble Technologies. The latter became a two-time Inc. Magazine 500 Fastest-Growing Private Company. With a presence in over 20 countries, SensAble also won more than 24 awards and was featured in Fortune Magazine, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, and many other publications for its innovative products and strong business foundation.

In 2003, Aulet was recruited as chief financial officer to help turn around Viisage Technology, a security technology company with a dual focus in the areas of drivers’ licenses and facial recognition. During his tenure of two and a half years, Viisage developed a new strategy, overhauled its operations, made three major acquisitions, and executed two major fundraising rounds totaling over $55 million, including a highly successful public offering. During this time, the market value for Viisage increased from approximately $50 million to over $500 million.

Aulet works around the world with single entrepreneurs trying to launch new ventures, and with large corporations—such as Danfoss, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, Mobilink, and Saudi Aramco—seeking to achieve their goals through entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, and innovation. He also serves on the board of directors or advisors for a number of companies. Aulet is a regularly featured speaker at management leadership programs on topics such as entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurial marketing, technology innovation, creating sustainable and rapid profitable growth, financing strategies, and operational excellence. He also contributes as an Xconomist on these subjects to the popular and respected blog: http://www.xconomy.com/. A former professional basketball player, Aulet lives in Belmont, Massachusetts with his wife and four sons.

Aulet holds a BS in engineering from Harvard University and an MMS in business management from the MIT Sloan School of Management. 

William Aulet is a Senior Lecturer and Managing Director in the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

He conceived, developed, and teaches an MIT graduate-level class called “Energy Ventures,” which explores the new brand of entrepreneurship and innovation required to meet the energy challenge. He is also the chairman of the MIT Clean Energy Prize.

A highly accomplished business leader, Aulet has a long track record of success …