Faculty & Research

Elaine Chen is a Senior Lecturer in the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship.

Elaine is a seasoned product development executive with a unique background spanning product development and product management. She co-teaches 15.S16 with Brian Halligan - a special seminar in management focusing on entrepreneurial product development and marketing.

Elaine is deeply passionate about all aspects of bringing a product to market, from market sizing and analysis through customer research, ideation, user experience, design, development and release to product life cycle management and planned obsolescence. She has brought over 20 hardware and software products to market, in industries spanning robotics, haptics, CAD, consumer electronics, web, mobile platforms and more. She has built and grown several technical organizations from the ground up. She is a co-inventor on more than ten patents, and has managed IP portfolio strategies for several startups.

Elaine has spent her entire career in startups and small companies. She really appreciates the speed, innovation and breadth of experiences that this type of environment has to offer. She loves that you never get pigeonholed; you are free to wear as many hats as you are comfortable wearing and can contribute to your maximum personal potential (and then some)! She says, "You learn something new every day, and that is priceless."

Elaine is currently serving as Vice President of Product Development at Rethink Robotics, which is technically her fifth startup. Prior to Rethink Robotics, she has served at the VP level in engineering, product development and product management roles in several other Boston area startups, including Zeo, Zeemote and SensAble Technologies. She is also the founder and principal at ConceptSpring, a consulting business focusing on helping startups develop product strategies to bring their ideas from concept to market.

Elaine is an active member of the MIT community and is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship.

She holds a BS and an MS in mechanical engineering from MIT.

Elaine Chen is a Senior Lecturer in the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship.

Elaine is a seasoned product development executive with a unique background spanning product development and product management. She co-teaches 15.S16 with Brian Halligan - a special seminar in management focusing on entrepreneurial product development and marketing.

Elaine is deeply passionate about all aspects of bringing a product to market, from market sizing and analysis through customer research, ideation, user experience, design, development and release to product life cycle management and planned obsolescence …