Entrepreneurship Lab

E-Lab at a glance

  • Term

    Fall, Spring

  • Units

    12

  • Eligible students

    All MIT Sloan and MIT graduate students, and cross-registering students 

  • Prerequisites

    No

  • Bid/Application

    Bid

  • Host organization profile

    Early-stage startups

  • Sample sectors

    Artificial intelligence, blockchain, cleantech, consumer products, hardware, healthcare, life sciences, robotics, software

  • Sample projects

    Finding a beachhead market for a new technology, primary market research, solving a key strategic problem

How E-Lab works 

Teams of science, engineering, and management students participate actively one day a week with the top management of high-tech startups. The students gain hands-on experience about starting and running new ventures. The companies gain assistance with an urgent aspect of their businesses; examples include choosing initial markets, approaching initial customers, and communicating the value of the product. 

The E-Lab process begins well before the start of the semester. Companies apply to become hosts by registering candidate E-Lab projects on this website. The course teaching assistants, or TAs, work with the companies to identify projects that will fit well in the course and bring substantial value to the host companies. Students register through the normal MIT course registration process, or they can attend the first class to help themselves get enrolled. 

Once the faculty has selected the most promising E-Lab projects, the TAs give registered students access to information about the host companies. We encourage students to take a look at the companies' profiles before the first class, because the projects will be pitched to them during that class. 

Then, in the following week, students submit their top company preferences, and we form them into teams and match the teams to startups based on their interests. 

The first task is for the team and the host company CEO to agree on and sign a brief project plan. For the remainder of the semester, the students work on that plan, frequently interacting with the company's senior management. 

At the end of the semester, each team presents its findings to the course faculty in a confidential session, and then presents to the company's senior management.  

Interested in enrolling?

E-Lab is open to any student who can register for classes at MIT. Participants in E-Lab typically include, but are not limited to, MIT Sloan MBAs, Sloan Fellows, Leaders for Manufacturing (LFM), MIT masters and PhD students from various disciplines, Harvard students, and Wellesley students.

Please make sure to attend the first day of class since startups will pitch to you that day, and we will start matching you to startups immediately afterwards. Even if you are not officially registered, you are welcome to attend the first day of class and we will help you get officially enrolled.

Student voices

  • MIT MBA Student, E-Lab Fall 2016

    “The project team comprised of a PhD student, a visiting MBA, a visiting MBA fellow, a Sloan MBA, and an SDM fellow. It was due to our diverse viewpoints and experiences that we created value for our client. Our analysis of the autonomous vehicle market gave the AI startup the knowledge on how to position itself in the market through its business model and partnerships.”