Happiness & the Gorilla

CLASS SCHEDULE
DATE	READINGS	SPEAKER/LECTURER	NOTES
Introduction
Mon 01/27		JP Singh
Role of the CTO
Wed 01/29	How to Find a CTO for Your Startup: The 2025 Entrepreneur’s Guide The Many Roles of a Startup CTO What Does a Startup CTO Actually Do? Startup CTO or Developer
Why Build a Startup?
Mon 02/03	Should You Really Be A Startup Entrepreneur? Why Are You Doing a Startup? 10 Founders on What They Don't Tell You About Building a Startup Why You Shouldn't Build Your Startup in Silicon Valley-And Where To Do It Instead	Guest Lecturer: Dan Levin	Optional reading: The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen Crush It! Why Now is the Time to Cash In on Your Passion by Gary Vaynerchuk
What to build/Thinking about the Market/Competition
Wed 02/05	Startup KPIs and Balanced Scorecard The Startup Scorecard How to effectively determine your market size How to Determine If There's a Market for Your Business Idea Lean market research methods: a 4-step guide on how to do market research Market Research Tips for Startups Competitive Mindshare Maps	Guest Lecturer: Dan Levin	Optional reading: The Art of the Start 2.0 by Guy Kawasaki Demand: Creating What People Love Before They Know They Want It by Adrian J. Slywotzky
Mon 02/10	The Mission Statement: The Basis for Startups' Strategic Planning 30 Inspiring Billion-Dollar Startup Company Mission Statements How to define a mission and vision for your startup The Biggest Startup Strategy Myth (and How to Deal With It)	Group Presentation	Optional reading: Rework by Jason Fried Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries
Defining the Vision, Mission, Strategy
Wed 02/12	4 Reasons Why Your Startup Should Not Raise Capital Ways to Raise Money: The Ultimate Guide to Raising Startup Capital How the World Regulates Equity Crowdfunding 10 Terms You Must Know Before Raising Startup Capital 18 Best Idea Generation Techniques 19 Top Brainstorming Techniques to Generate Ideas for Every Situation		Optional reading: Venture Deals by Brad Feld
Raising money, and Financing Strategy
Mon 02/17	Financing Options: Convertible Debt Title III Crowdfunding Became Legal on May 16: What It Does and What's Still Lacking Matching principle Revenue Recognition Principle	Robert Fish
Incorporation and Setting Things Up Right
Wed 02/19	Choose Your Business Structure Incorporating a Startup Co-founder Equity Split: A New Framework to Objectively Divide Startup Ownership and Get Back to Building a Business	Michael Posner
Defining the Offering
Mon 02/24	The Lean Startup Methodology Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything 6 things wrong with the 'Lean Startup' model (and what to do about it) Lean Start-Up, and How It Almost Killed Our Company Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation Business Model Canvas: A Complete Guide	Ron Miasnik	Optional reading: The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses by Eric Ries Running Lean: Iterate From Plan A to a Plan That Works by Ash Maurya Lean Analytics by Alistair Croll
Building the Offering
Wed 02/26	Why Some Startups Say the Cloud is a Waste of Money A View of Cloud Computing What are the pros and cons of the waterfall and agile/scrum project management approach? New research turns the agile vs waterfall debate on its head Customers Included	Guest Lecturer: Albert Wenger	Optional reading: The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company by Steve Blank Business Model Generation by Alexander Osterwalder
Hiring, Talent, and Culture
Mon 03/03	How to hire the best people you've ever worked with Whom should you hire at a Startup? (Attitude over Aptitude) How Netflix Reinvented HR Why the Annual Performance Review is going extinct The Measure of a Man	JP Singh	Optional reading: Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh Optional reading: Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
Execution: Prioritization, Planning, Data driven, Pricing, Costs, Revenue Models
Wed 03/05	Peanut Butter Manifesto Checklist Manifesto How to Prioritize Feature Building on Your Startup How to Use Data to Plan Your Startup Budget 4 Steps to Launching a Data-Driven Startup The complete guide to A/B testing​	Deepika Bodapati	Optional reading: Scott Galloway blog Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap ... and Others Don't by Jim Collins
Mon 03/10		Spring Break
Wed 03/12		Spring Break
Intellectual Property
Mon 03/17	What Start-ups Need to Know About Intellectual Property Patent Strategies of Technology Startups Patenting Software Bitlaw Mickey, Disney, and the Public Domain: a 95-year Love Triangle	Robert Fish
Wed 03/19	Open Source Software Licensing Top Open Source Licenses Explained About CC Licenses Product-Market Fit: What It Is and How to Measure It Startup Resources Provisional Application for Patent Copyright Strategies for Start-Up Companies Trademarking Principles for Startups: A Brand Managers Guide	Robert Fish
Mon 03/24	U.S. Data Privacy Protection Laws: A Comprehensive Guide U.S. Cybersecurity and Data Privacy Review and Outlook – 2025 Essential Data Privacy Regulations Every Software Developer Should Know | MoldStud	Guest Lecturer: Esha Bhandari
Wed 03/26
Mon 03/31
Wed 04/02
Mon 04/07
Wed 04/09
Mon 04/14
Wed 04/16
Mon 04/21
Wed 04/23