Princeton University Computer Science Department

Computer Science 448 Innovating Across Technology, Business, & Markets Jaswinder Singh

Spring 2011

Writeup #2 - Submit

There are two parts to this writeup. You can work on them as a group, but each group member should write and submit one part. Assume a two-year-old startup. The company's current leadership consists of a VP of Sales, a VP of Engineering, a VP of Services, and a Financial Controller. Now:

Part-1: You've been recently hired to be the CTO. Discuss with your CEO what your role should and shouldn't be, and what you should primarily focus on. List for her all the functions and key areas you could own, which ones you should and shouldn't, and why. You should break functions between the CEO and CTO as well.

Part-2: CEO and the founders need to hire a CTO. List the two key characteristics of the right person for the job and why (be specific to your company/situation). Also, list any other characteristics important in the hiring process.

You may refer to, and factor in, any assumptions you like about the current state of things in or with regard to the company. If you've already selected a company for your paper(s), then you can work on that. If not, then we recommend picking a company from the online advertising space, since a lot of material in the course will revolve around that.