Knowing some MIT startups pretty well for some time, I can only partly confirm the comparison for the past. Since the school pushed some entrepreneurship activities across campus (100k, Idea Lab, Beehive, Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship, MediaLab) and departments, lots of things changed. It might be true that the school tries to learn from the West in terms of marketing and communications. I might agree that the talent of the East is still more on the engine while the West is better at chassis. It might also be true that the average MIT student rather enjoys being defined as a product magician solving a complex problem than a salesman wo re-invents the way how the product is packaged and communicated (both deserves its credit). However, the focus is merely on the product solution where thinking about the end-consumer often flows in a little later, sometimes too late. But as some successful examples show, the ugly duckling often bears a beautiful swan inside, once someone puts hands on user experience. Also, there are a few collaborative startups coming up in the recent two years, where founders join from different coasts and try to match the best of two worlds. At least that was my observation.

Last but not least, the YC embassadors in the Boston area and alumni (Dropbox etc.) did a great job in sharing their experiences.