Jonathan Hinton, EMBA ’15, urged entrepreneurs to be ready for the demands and challenges of founding a company. He believes that the ability to accept failure and pivot when necessary is critical in successful leadership.
“Learn to deal [with challenges] with grit and grind through it,” said Hinton during a 2025 MIT Sloan Reunion panel entitled “Scaling Impact: MIT Sloan Alumni Driving Sustainable Solutions.” Hinton is the co-founder and CEO of Polarworx, Inc., a nationwide HVAC and refrigeration engineering, management, and installation vendor.
Organizational and entrepreneurial impact was a prevalent topic of discussion during Reunion, as MIT Sloan alumni attended two sessions to hear their peers’ experiences with leading successful companies. “Scaling Impact” featured alumni who have successfully scaled sustainability-focused entrepreneurial ventures. The second session, “IM2M Talks: Ideas Made to Matter,” explored the topic of leadership more broadly, featuring TED-style talks from alumni whose work and ideas positively impact their communities.
Learn to deal [with challenges] with grit and grind through it.
Examining impact-oriented entrepreneurship
“Scaling Impact” also included panelists Sandhya Murali, MBA ’15, and Denis Lussault, EMBA ’20. Murali is the co-founder and CEO of Solstice, a community solar company that gives people and businesses access to solar energy through community-shared solar arrays. Lussault is the chief product officer and co-founder of Kadeya, which produces smart vending machines that recycle empty bottles to eliminate plastic from the beverage supply chain.
Panel moderator Jason Jay, PhD ’10, (Senior Lecturer, Sustainability; Director, MIT Sloan Sustainability Initiative) asked the panelists about overcoming challenges that are related to the four phases of life of an impact-oriented company. These include forming a founding team for the organization, gaining traction and achieving product-market fit for profitability, scaling the organization, and displaying resilience in uncertain times.
When it comes to building teams, Murali and Hinton both emphasized that an organization’s talent needs may evolve as the company grows and develops. This could lead to difficult decisions about letting team members go.
“[It was about] being able to recognize [that] this person has been great to get us to where we are and may not be the right person to get us to the next level,” said Murali.
In addition to pivoting in terms of talent, the panelists found it necessary to pivot their strategies for selling themselves to customers and investors. Lussault explained that Kadeya initially marketed itself as a company that helps to eliminate beverage plastic use. However, it was able to gain traction and sales through pivoting to selling itself as a company that could help customers save money on logistical issues related to stocking plastic bottles on industrial sites.
“Our strategy has been changing into selling a product that solves a problem,” said Lussault.
Similarly, Murali’s company also shifted how it described its work to its clients: solar developers who are building and financing community solar arrays. Murali and her team previously emphasized Solstice’s commitment to low-income customers in their pitches. They began emphasizing their timely execution of solar projects and their ability to maximize revenue from these projects. This shift has led to more business and the expansion of the company’s operations into additional states. Solstice is now working to integrate more technology into its processes as it scales.
“That’s going to be key for us to maintain our ability to execute these projects on a much larger scale,” noted Murali.
As these companies grow, they need to adapt to changing economic and political conditions. When asked about building companies that are resilient to economic changes such as tariffs, Hinton mentioned that long-term strategic decisions for a company usually involve an element of risk.
“You have to be willing to accept uncertainty and risk. That is entrepreneurialism,” said Hinton.
[Supporting Black entrepreneurs] is a great opportunity to think creatively about how to optimize all of that potential [of Black and brown employees], all of that supply that we're looking for, while also building up our local economic community and making it stronger and more competitive.
Leading to grow communities
During “IM2M Talks: Ideas Made to Matter,” speakers Andrew Myerson, EMBA ’15, Nicole Obi, MCP ’95, SM ’95, and Diya Sukh, MBA ’15, discussed how they use strategic thinking to lead their organizations. Leon Bian, SDM ’05, served as the emcee for the session.
Myerson is the co-founder and executive director of Haymakers for Hope, a nonprofit that organizes high-end, white-collar charity boxing events for cancer research. Participants sign up for a four-month-long boxing training program that culminates in a match with an opponent. They also raise money and sell tickets to a gala event that benefits the cause. During his talk, Myerson explained that his organization has been successful in providing challenging and engaging experiences for participants. The program has created a strong community of past participants that are committed to the organization’s mission, many of whom have stayed involved with the organization for years.
“I think one of the reasons why there is real stickiness or staying power within the community is because of the cause focus,” said Myerson.
The theme of community empowerment was also present in Obi’s talk. Obi is the president and CEO of the Black Business Council of Massachusetts (BECMA), a member-based nonprofit that drives economic equity and prosperity to achieve inclusive growth through advocacy, programming, and strategic partnerships that enable Black-owned businesses and Black communities to thrive. Obi explained that BECMA was founded in response to the publication of a 2015 report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston entitled “Color of Wealth in Boston” that showed a massive wealth discrepancy between Black and white households in Boston.
BECMA addresses this wealth gap through several activities aimed at increasing the number of Black-owned businesses. These activities include helping Black entrepreneurs gain access to capital, supporting their transactions with buyers, and advocating for policy changes that affect the economic well-being of the Black community. BECMA also helps members of the Black community gain home ownership, and Black business owners gain equity stakes in their businesses. Its impact extends beyond the success of individual entrepreneurs. Black-owned firms often hire Black and brown people, helping to attract, retain, and keep these skilled employees in Massachusetts.
“[Supporting Black entrepreneurs] is a great opportunity to think creatively about how to optimize all of that potential [of Black and brown employees], all of that supply that we're looking for, while also building up our local economic community and making it stronger and more competitive,” said Obi.
I’m able to build up another generation of leaders at this company with that mindset, that culture matters, people matter, and they’re going to take that out into the world and the impact is going to spread.
Creating a positive culture
Sukh’s talk focused on how leaders can support the growth and development of their own employees through leading with authenticity. Sukh is the senior director of merchandising for BBQGuys, a specialty retailer of premium outdoor kitchen products.
She discussed her previous experiences working at Hasbro and Wayfair, where she learned about two important balances in leadership: innovation with core values and financial success with employee growth. Sukh has been able to apply the lessons she’s learned to building a supportive culture at BBQGuys.
“I’m able to build up another generation of leaders at this company with that mindset, that culture matters, people matter, and they’re going to take that out into the world and the impact is going to spread,” said Sukh.
Building culture was also discussed during the “Scaling Impact” session. Lussault explained that he looks for employees who demonstrate their desire to learn.
“I always ask people during interviews, ‘what are you a beginner at right now’?” said Lussault.
Check out the MIT Sloan Reunion 2025 website to see more highlights and videos.
