Project Overview¶
Throughout the course, you will work with a team to replicate the entire software stack for a popular tech startup. Of course, your team will use AI tools to accomplish this goal.
Startup-Founder Role-Play: As you develop the project, you and your teammates will pretend as if you are software-startup founders. Imagine that you live in a world where the famous examples of your startup don't exist. In this world, your startup is in the very early stages, and you and your co-founders have only a hazy idea of what the software should be like. Although you will generally have the same goals as a particular famous startup, as you develop the software, you may arrive at new and different ways of achieving those goals. Thus, this exercise goes beyond merely making a clone of a famous startup.
Startup Selection: Each team must pick their startup from the following list. No duplicates are allowed. Teams will receive instructions regarding when and how to sign up.
| Startup Idea | Famous Examples |
|---|---|
| Photo and short-form video sharing social networking service | Instagram/Tiktok |
| Social news aggregation and forum social media platform | |
| Ride-hailing service | Uber/Lyft |
| Microblogging and social networking service | X/Twitter/Bluesky/Mastadon |
| Graphic design platform to create presentations | Canva |
| Interface design platform | Figma |
| Desktop Email Client | Thunderbird, Outlook, Apple Mail |
| Project management platform | Trello/Asana/Jira |
| Team and social communication platform | Slack/Discord |
| Video conferencing platform | Zoom |
| Collaborative word processing platform | Google Docs |
Project Assignments: The project work will be divided into a series of team assignments. Each assignment will have its own goals, deliverables, and grading criteria.