There's a great entrepreneurship network at MIT (speaking as an alum and as past lead organizer of some of the clubs there). You could always go and work on yo

There's a great entrepreneurship network at MIT (speaking as an alum and as past lead organizer of some of the clubs there). You could always go and work on your PhD while getting networked into the community there. As you build your network and learn, there's always the possibility of taking leave to found a startup if the right opportunity happens before your thesis is done - happens all the time.