MBA Entrepreneurship & Innovation Track

The Entrepreneurship & Innovation (E&I) Track is for students within the MIT Sloan School of Management MBA program who have a strong commitment to an entrepreneurial life — technology-based or not — as well as for those who want to learn more about entrepreneurship as a part of their future careers.

The E&I Track focuses on learning how to launch and develop innovative technology companies and emphasizes the integration of academic and practitioner lessons, team practice, and real-world application in entrepreneurship.

As a student in the E&I Track, you will:

  • meet and work with a cohort of like-minded peers
  • gain exposure to key MIT faculty, staff, and other entrepreneurship resources
  • tap into a global entrepreneurship network

Additionally:

  • Enrollment is on a first-come, first-served basis and requires a written statement of application during the summer prior to your entry to MIT Sloan.
  • Admission is tentative until you have completed a brief online E&I survey of your background and interests.
  • A Wait List is maintained for those who exceed the maximum number permitted by classroom constraints. Many students are admitted to the E&I Track from the Wait List prior to the cutoff deadline in mid-September.

(this page reflects updates as of December 2021)

E&I begins with the required first semester course 15.360 Introduction to Technological Innovation. 15.360 provides an overview of key issues and knowledge needed for creating and building successful startups, whether technology-based or not.

Objectives include learning basic lessons about being an entrepreneur, such as:

  • how to generate ideas
  • steps for actually starting up companies
  • alternatives to startups, such as joining a young firm
  • initial funding options
  • perspectives on leading and scaling a young enterprise

Track members are introduced to organizational elements and key players of the MIT entrepreneurial ecosystem, learning how to get helpful technology, talent, and advice from MIT resources, both while at the Institute and after. Finally, the course serves as a starter for each student in creating a personal network to entrepreneurs, angels and VCs, mentors, and, most of all, to each other.

Held during the Spring semester, the Silicon Valley Study Tour (SVST) finds E&I Track students visiting founders and CEOs of startups, leaders in the Northern California venture capital community, and successful enterprises in the Climate Tech/Sustainability, FinTech, Health Tech, Mobility, Hard Tech, and SaaS industries.

SVST is an opportunity for participants to expand their networks and knowledge through organized visits to the companies, founders, and investors that are of the most interest to them.

To participate in SVST, E&I students must:

  • Complete 15.360 “Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship”
  • Pay $500 non-refundable deposit before the deadline; this is used to help pay for the hotel room and breakfast each morning
  • Plan to pay for ALL air travel, ground transportation, hotel incidentals, food, and social activities
  • With no exceptions, students must stay in the MIT-designated hotel during the trip and CAN NOT bring a significant other.

The four-day trip takes place during the week of the Spring Sloan Intensive Period (SIP) in March of the student’s first year and students will earn 1 academic credit in 15.005 Elective SIP course after completing the trip. For more information, please visit here.

Those who wish to participate in other study tours, international treks, and classes during SIP week should be aware of this conflict before signing up for the SVST.

A select sub-group of E&Iers take the lead in helping to organize the trip and scheduling company visits.

More information is provided during the introductory Fall seminar class.

For more information about the MBA Entrepreneurship & Innovation Track, please email eitrack@mit.edu.

A certificate in Entrepreneurship & Innovation will be awarded to those students who fulfill both their MBA degree requirements and the E&I Track requirements. MBA students may complete one track only; they may also complete one or more Sloan certificate programs, in addition to a track.

The E&I Track is flexible in approving a limited number of appropriate substitutes or waivers of specific certificate requirements. To request a substitution or waiver, please send an email in advance to Professor Scott Stern at sstern@mit.edu with supportive details.

Resources:

You must complete each of the following subjects:

  • 15.360 – Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship (fall of 1st year; 3 units)
  • 15.390 – New Enterprises (spring of 1st year; 12 units)
  • 15.911 – Entrepreneurial Strategy (spring of 1st year or fall of 2nd year; 9 units)

Under usual circumstances, you must complete one of the following subjects:

  • 15.225 – Modern Business in China: China Lab (S, 12 units)
  • 15.226 – Modern Business in India: India Lab (S, 12 units)
  • 15.248 – Israel Lab: Startup Nation’s Entrepreneurship & Innovation Ecosystem (fall H2 through IAP, 9 units)
  • 15.389 – Global Entrepreneurship Lab (G-Lab) (fall H2 through IAP, 12 units)
  • 15.399 – Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) (fall/spring, 12 units)

You must complete at least one of the following courses during your two years at MIT Sloan:

  • 15.128 / 9.455 / 20.454 / MAS.883 – Revolutionary Ventures: How to Invent and Deploy Transformative Technologies (fall; 9 units)
  • 15.366 – Energy Ventures (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.367 / HST.978 – Healthcare Ventures (spring; 12 units)
  • 15.371 / 10.807 – Innovation Teams (fall; 12 units, special application required)
  • 15.375 / EC.731 / MAS.665 – Development Ventures (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.376 / MAS.664 – Media Ventures (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.378 – Building an Entrepreneurial Venture (fall/spring; 12 units, special application required)
  • 15.783 / 2.739 – Product Design & Development (spring; 12 units)
  • MAS.533 – Imaging Ventures: Cameras, Displays, and Visual Computing (spring; 9 units)

NOTE: Other subjects may fulfill this requirement if you receive permission in advance from the E&I Track faculty chair.

Students must complete 15 additional units of “approved” entrepreneurial subjects.

  • Any course a student uses for E&I General, Firm-Level, or Product-Level requirements listed above cannot be counted toward their Entrepreneurial Electives requirement.
  • However, any course in the Firm-Level and Product-Level categories that were not used to fulfill those requirements can count toward the E&I Electives requirement.

The following additional subjects are “approved” for the elective credits required by E&I:

  • 2.916 / 10.407 – Funding Strategies for Startups (spring; 6 units; half semester)
  • 15.128 / 9.455 / 20.454 / MAS.883 – Revolutionary Ventures: How to Invent and Deploy Transformative Technologies (fall; 9 units)
  • 15.225 – Modern Business in China: China Lab (spring; 12 units)
  • 15.356 – Product and Services Development in the Internet Age (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.358 – Platform Strategy and Entrepreneurship (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.363 / HST.971 – Strategic Decision Making in the Life Sciences (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.364 – Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Lab (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.366 – Energy Ventures (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.367 / HST.978 – Healthcare Ventures (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.369 – Seminar in Corporate Entrepreneurship (fall; 9 units)
  • 15.371 / 10.807 – Innovation Teams (I-Teams) (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.375 / EC.731 / MAS.665 – Development Ventures (fall; 12 units)
  • 15.376 / MAS.664 – Media Ventures (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.385 – Innovating for Impact (fall; 6 units)
  • 15.386 – Leading in Ambiguity: Steering Through Strategic Inflection Points (Fall, H2; Spring H4, 6 units)
  • 15.387 – Entrepreneurial Sales  (fall/spring; 12 units)
  • 15.389 – Global Entrepreneurship Lab (fall H2 into IAP; 12 units)
  • 15.392 – Scaling Entrepreneurial Ventures (spring; 6 units; half semester)
  • 15.394 – Entrepreneurial Founding and Teams (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.395 – Entrepreneurship Without Borders (fall; 6 units, half semester)
  • 15.399 – Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab) (fall/spring; 12 units)
  • 15.431 – Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital (fall; 9 units)
  • 15.497 – FinTech Ventures (fall; 6 units)
  • 15.615 – Basic Business Law for the Entrepreneur and Manager (fall/spring; 9 units)
  • 15.618 – Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Startups, and the Law (spring; 9 units)
  • 15.785 – Digital Product Management Lab (spring; 12 units)
  • 15.814 – Marketing Innovation (fall/spring; 9 units)
  • 15.821 – Listening to the Customer (spring; 6 units, half semester)
  • 15.912 – Strategic Management of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (spring H4, 6 units)
  • MAS.533 – Imaging Ventures: Cameras, Displays, and Visual Computing (Spring, 9 units)

There are multiple ways to meet this requirement, for which no waivers will be granted.

E&I students must seriously engage in a startup. This includes assembling a team and working towards solving a problem or providing a new innovation as part of your proposed venture. This can be achieved by students successfully completing two or more of the following:

  • ES.580 – E&I Silicon Valley Study Tour (spring of 1st year; 2 SIP credits)

ENGAGE in

  • 15.368 – Disciplined Entrepreneurship Lab (IAP, 6 units)
  • 15.378 (G) “Building an Entrepreneurial Venture: Advanced Tools and Techniques” (fall/spring; 12 units)
    • a competitive, semester-long course offered in both the fall and spring where at least two members of a team enroll and focus on their startup. (limited to 6 teams each semester)
  • DesignX – an accelerator for ventures focused on design and the built environment (IAP through spring semester)
  • MIT delta v – MIT’s highly competitive capstone, 12-week academic accelerator (June – early Sept.)
  • MIT fuse – the Trust Center’s hands-on, immersive startup accelerator during IAP
  • StartMIT– the Trust Center’s 2-1/2 week program over January’s Independent Activities Period (IAP) that aims to give any student who is curious about entrepreneurship an introduction to the skill set and spirit it requires, and exposure to the amazing resources available at MIT to continue the journey after the class.

RECEIVE

  • Legatum Center Fellowship or Seed Grant – competitive programs for students pursuing entrepreneurship in the developing world. Grants may be applied for during the fall semester and fellowships early in the spring semester.
  • Tata Center Graduate Fellowship – a two-week program during SIP as well as over the summer months for students who wish to combine technical expertise with an emerging economy in India. Applications are open in the winter.
  • Sandbox Innovation Fund – startup must receive funding of $10,000 or greater for their innovation-focused startup. The fund is a competitive process and teams must have preliminary market research and a viable business model to receive support. Applications are open in both the fall and spring semesters.

COMPETE in

  • MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition – the student business plan competition has three distinct phases — Pitch (fall), Accelerate (winter), and Launch (spring) — and students must reach the Launch phase to meet the requirement.
  • MIT Clean Energy Prize – a student-run business plan competition for ventures focused on generating energy, delivering energy, improving energy usage, or providing energy for developing economies. Submissions are due in January and February.

SERVE as

  • Managing Director of the MIT $100K Entrepreneurship Competition
  • Managing Director of the MIT Clean Energy Prize
    • Students will manage a complete academic year of entrepreneurship-related coordination, including events, pitches, and fundraising, and are unable to compete in the competitions due to the conflict of interest.