Princeton University
Computer Science Department

Computer Science 448
Innovating Across Technology, Business, & Markets

Jaswinder Singh

Spring 2013


General Information | Schedule | Writeups | Papers | Policies

The schedule and syllabus is preliminary and will evolve throughout the course. Students should check this page frequently. Lecture slides are available, for enrolled students, on Piazza

Date Lecturer Topic Readings
Mon 02/04 JP Singh Intro, Course structure
Wed 02/06 Michael Walrath
(Founder, RightMedia)
The Entrepreneur's Journey:
From start to exit
Mon 02/11 Muneeb Ali A Brief History of Computing:
The tale of New Jersey and Silicon Valley
Wed 02/13 Christine Hunsicker
(CEO, Gwynnie Bee)
Starting a Company:
The founder's view, and applying the lessons learned
Mon 02/18 JP Singh What is a CTO:
Organization structures and roles; role of CTO
Mon 02/18
(special time)
Paul Graham
(Co-founder, Y Combinator)
Starting a Company:
The investor/incubator view
Wed 02/20 JP Singh What is a CTO:
Organization structures and roles; role of CTO (continued)
Mon 02/25 JP Singh Starting a Company:
The CTO view (why, what, and why this one,
hiring/talent, competition, setting it up right)
Wed 02/27 JP Singh Defining and Validating your Business:
Mission, vision, strategy, validation, competition
Mon 03/04 JP Singh Defining and Building the Offering:
Financing Options
Wed 03/06 Fred Wilson
(Founding Partner, USV)
Funding and Growing Companies:
The investor view
Mon 03/11 JP Singh Defining and Building the Offering:
Financing Options (continued)
Wed 03/13 Dan Levin
(COO, Box)
Tech Business Boundary in Scaling a Startup
Mon 03/18 --- --- Spring Break!
Wed 03/20 --- --- Spring Break!
Mon 03/25 Muneeb Ali The New Software Stack:
MVC Frameworks and Web Services
Wed 03/27 JP Singh Startup Funding: Term Sheets, Vesting, other Legal Issues
Mon 04/01 JP Singh Hiring and Growth
Wed 04/03 JP Singh Hiring and Growth (continued)
Mon 04/08 JP Singh Scaling an Organization
Wed 04/10 JP Singh Scaling an Organization (vs. Scaling the Product/Service)
Mon 04/15 Muneeb Ali Gettting your Business Going on the Cloud:
Building and Scaling it
Wed 04/17 John Hennessy
(President, Stanford)
Starting a Company: Technical Founder's View
Tue 04/23
(special time)
Jack Dorsey
(Co-founder, Twitter)
Q/A Session
Wed 04/24 JP Singh Managing Innovation and Growth
Mon 04/29
(12:15pm-1:20pm)
Padmasree Warrior
(CTO, Cisco)
Strategy, Technology, and Leadership
Wed 05/01 Peter Fenton
(General Partner, Benchmark)
Rapid Growth
Mon 05/06 --- --- Reading Period begins
Wed 05/08
(10:30am)
Final Presentations --- ---
Tue 05/14
(Dean's Date)
Final Paper Due --- ---
Wed 05/22 Sanjit Biswas
(CEO, Meraki)
From Roofnet to Meraki