CSCI 4830:
Startup Essentials for Software Entrepreneurship
Spring 2014
Department of Computer Science,
University of Colorado at Boulder
See the Moodle class Web page at
http://moodle.cs.colorado.edu
Purpose: In this class, you will learn basic principles about
software entrepreneurship and acquire skills to aid you in starting
up a software company. You
will go through the process of building your own software IT
startup, beginning with the creation of the core idea/vision
behind your startup, followed by team formation, identifying the business model hypotheses behind your startup, validating these
hypotheses, identifying
the essential features in your minimum viable product, building your
software prototype, and all the while
obtaining feedback from customers and
iterating and pivoting based on that feedback.
You will pitch your final startup
conception and be evaluated on product/market fit.
Schedule
& Location: Tues, Thurs 2-3:15 pm, ECEE 1B32
(location may change later in the semester - stay tuned to
moodle)
Course number: CSCI 4830. See also the registrar's Web site.
Prerequisites: Basic Computer Science programming and/or consent of
the instructor.
Instructors: Professor
Rick Han, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~rhan,
and Zach Nies, CTO Rally.
Office (Prof. Han): ECCR 1B05F
Office Hours (Prof. Han): Tuesdays 11-12 pm and
Wednesdays 2-3 pm either in ECCR 1B09 (next door to my office) or in my office. Additional
appointments as needed.
Email: rhan@cs.colorado.edu,
zachary.nies@colorado.edu
Phone: 303-492-0914 (Prof. Han)
Textbook:
Other very useful references:
The Kindle electronic version of The Startup Owner's Manual, Steve Blank and Bob Dorf, K&S Ranch, Inc. Publishers, 2012.
class Web
site:
See the Moodle class Web page at
http://moodle.cs.colorado.edu. Assignments, lecture slides, and
announcements can be found there. The
moodle has a variety of useful features, including a forum for
posting questions. Each student should
establish an account on the moodle and then subscribe to our
class on the moodle using the special enrollment key given
out in class.
Approximate Timeline
see
moodle for revised up-to-date timeline
Grading
60% Demos in class
30% Final presentation on team venture's status and progress
10% Class participation
Discrimination and
Sexual Harassment Policy