Jarrett Heflin, SM ’26, brings a wealth of experience to the entrepreneurial landscape, having co-founded two companies — one without artificial intelligence and the other utilizing its capabilities. His hands-on knowledge has led him to appreciate the value of the MIT Entrepreneurship JetPack, an innovative AI tool developed by the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.
“Activating JetPack for the first time was the quickest I’ve ever transitioned from an unclear startup idea to a distinct customer profile that I could envision, interview, and design around,” Heflin remarked.
First priority: Establishing a beachhead market
Between 2020 and 2024, Heflin was instrumental in developing and launching Ergatta, a high-end rowing machine that integrates gaming content. To refine their customer understanding, the Ergatta team employed the 24-step Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework promoted by Trust Center founder Bill Aulet. “I became fascinated with the approach of working backward from the customer to effectively address a solution for a beachhead market,” said Heflin.
This valuable experience led him to MIT Sloan, where he is now applying the same framework to launch Spondi, a platform aimed at assisting individuals dealing with severe autoimmune conditions in managing their health.
Heflin envisions a conversational platform that empowers newly diagnosed patients to comprehend how lifestyle factors—like exercise, nutrition, and sleep—can influence their symptoms.
The key challenge was to focus on a substantial segment of the autoimmune population to identify a viable beachhead market. This initial market, once dominated, allows for transitioning into adjacent markets with different offerings.
Disciplined Entrepreneurship meets artificial intelligence
This is where JetPack comes into play. Utilizing a large language model and trained on the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework, JetPack is designed to expedite — not replace — the decision-making process for founders. “It felt as though my Disciplined Entrepreneurship playbook had transformed into a co-founder, enhancing my expertise to uncover new, testable hypotheses,” Heflin shared.
With this tool, which is accessible via MIT’s Orbit website, Heflin systematically evaluated dozens of potential customer segments across various autoimmune conditions, generating comprehensive profiles and examining how each group might adopt, utilize, and share the product over time.
“JetPack enabled me to delve into the details that distinguish even similar customer segments,” he explained. “Rather than settling for broad categories like ‘autoimmune patients,’ it encouraged me to focus on their mindsets, routines, limitations, and methods of discovering and sharing tools.”
A guided deep dive into market segments
He described the process as iterative, continuously refining segment definitions with each repetition. “[JetPack’s] strength lies in its collaborative nature,” Heflin remarked. “It clarified why two segments appearing similar on the surface can behave quite differently regarding adoption and word-of-mouth promotion.”
While JetPack currently provides preliminary data on market dimensions and spending patterns, Heflin discovered that its true utility lay in helping structure which hypotheses to validate next.
“Starting with a broad concept — ‘a means to track and manage autoimmune symptoms’ — JetPack assisted me in breaking it down into multiple viable beachhead markets,” he said. He pursued an in-depth analysis of three or four of these markets, following the same iterative process each time:
- Create a detailed depiction of the end-user.
- Evaluate which tools that segment currently employs.
- Identify what factors would lead them to switch, who influences their decisions, and whether they would actively promote a tool like Spondi.
“When the rationale behind a segment’s ‘why now?’ or their word-of-mouth narrative didn’t hold up, I would refine the definition and conduct another analysis,” Heflin noted. “Through a rapid series of focused sessions, I advanced further than I would have during weeks of manual trial and error. I noticed the efficiency, not wasting days on the wrong market only to hit a wall.”
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A targeted market ready to “cheer for the product”
Through this meticulous process, Heflin successfully pinpointed a highly specialized beachhead market: former athletes newly diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis. This rare autoimmune condition affects the spine and hips.
“It’s a life-altering diagnosis,” he remarked. “You essentially lose the ability to lift your head until you begin biologic treatments.”
What makes this group particularly compelling is not only their diagnosis but also their mindset. “They are determined to reclaim their lives, routines, and identities as athletes,” Heflin noted. “For them, exercise and physical activity are vital components of their daily lives.”
He strategically targeted a smaller market, comprising approximately 115,000 to 125,000 individuals in the U.S., many of whom are actively seeking wellness solutions.
“They’re buying Whoops and Oura Rings,” Heflin stated. “They are genuinely invested in tracking their fitness and health. JetPack enabled us to narrow down a broader audience from various autoimmune conditions to identify a motivated subset who would truly resonate with this product.”
An initial pass in 10 minutes
What stands out to Heflin is JetPack’s speed. “Previously, it would take an MIT student an entire semester to navigate through steps 1 to 24 in class,” he explained. The tool allows entrepreneurs to conduct an initial evaluation of the framework in as little as 10 minutes, generating hypotheses and structuring next steps.
“This enables a rapid full assessment, real-world validation, and quick iterations over minutes. The more context you accumulate, the better the feedback,” Heflin added, emphasizing his focused sessions on iterating, validating insights with customers, and refining assumptions.
Next steps
Having clearly articulated his beachhead market, Heflin is now utilizing JetPack to refine subsequent markets, organize customer interviews, and translate findings into minimum viable product requirements and positioning.
“The immediate goal is comprehensive customer discovery, followed by developing an MVP and conducting a small pilot to assess adoption, retention, and outcomes,” Heflin stated. “In the long run, I will leverage JetPack to determine when to expand and which adjacent markets to pursue next.”
Read next: ‘This AI tool helped me choose the right market for my startup’
The MIT Entrepreneurship JetPack tools are currently in use by entrepreneurship students at MIT and are being piloted outside the Institute; there is a waitlist for interested users.
JetPack is also accessible to participants in either of two MIT Sloan Executive Education courses:
