Explore · The library

Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

The essays, videos, podcasts, books and tools behind every answer across eChai's hubs, from starting up to go-to-market, D2C, founder money and AI, each with a note on why it is here.

What founders use most, ranked by how many answers lean on it.

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages · Starting Up The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick In 214 answers
  2. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read · Starting Up Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham In 136 answers
  3. Turns the vague feeling of product-market fit into a number you can move. Ask users how they would feel if they could no longer... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read · Starting Up How Superhuman Built an Engine to Find Product/Market Fit Rahul Vohra In 93 answers
  4. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read · Starting Up How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham In 90 answers
  5. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read · Starting Up The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen In 63 answers
  6. The origin text for the modern MVP and validated-learning vocabulary every founder now uses. Read it for the mental model that... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages · Starting Up The Lean Startup Eric Ries In 48 answers
  7. A tactical follow-on covering the channels and motions top B2B startups scale after the first ten. Grounds distribution... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up How to win your first 10 B2B customers Lenny Rachitsky In 45 answers
  8. The best book on positioning against competitors by understanding the alternatives customers actually consider. Directly turns... aprildunford.com Book · ~200 pages · Starting Up Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It April Dunford In 40 answers
  9. The authoritative handbook on founder-led sales, written for technical/first-time sellers building B2B SaaS. Readable free... foundingsales.com Book · book (~400 pages) · Starting Up Founding Sales: The Early Stage Go-to-Market Handbook Peter Kazanjy In 36 answers
  10. The cleanest distillation of the one framework that turns a customer chat into a relationship instead of a survey. The three... Sachin Rekhi's Blog Article · 10 min read · Starting Up A Primer on Talking to Customers From Rob Fitzpatrick's The Mom Test Sachin Rekhi In 31 answers
  11. A short, practical field guide to customer discovery: who to talk to, how to find them, and how many. Pairs perfectly with The... talkingtohumans.com Book · ~80 pages (free PDF available) · Starting Up Talking to Humans Giff Constable In 28 answers
  12. The best reminder that avoiding ruin beats chasing returns, and that wealth is the money you don't spend. The whole founder... The Psychology of Money Book · Wealth The Psychology of Money Morgan Housel In 28 answers
  13. The India reference on short vs long term capital gains, holding periods, and rates for equity, funds, and property, so you... ClearTax Article · Wealth Capital gains tax in India ClearTax In 27 answers
  14. Basecamp's battle-tested, opinionated system for shipping meaningful work in fixed cycles without endless backlogs, a primary... Basecamp / 37signals Book · free online book · Starting Up Shape Up: Stop Running in Circles and Ship Work that Matters Ryan Singer In 26 answers
  15. When you have no budget, the worst move is to pour your limited time into a channel that was never going to work for your... Portfolio (Penguin Random House) Book · Starting Up Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares In 26 answers
  16. Altman's condensed operating manual for founders, including sharp guidance on focus, spending your time on what only you can... playbook.samaltman.com Article · long · Starting Up Startup Playbook Sam Altman In 24 answers
  17. Entering an unfamiliar industry means you cannot see the walls and dead ends that veterans already know. Dixon explains that a... cdixon.org Essay · short read · Starting Up The Idea Maze Chris Dixon In 24 answers
  18. A practical India-first reference for keeping personal and company finances (and their tax) cleanly separate. ClearTax Article · Wealth ClearTax: personal and business tax guides ClearTax In 23 answers
  19. Todd Jackson studied how dozens of now-large companies validated their very first idea. The pattern that repeats: deliver the... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up How to Validate Your Startup Idea Todd Jackson In 21 answers
  20. A step-by-step guide to running discovery when you have almost no data, aimed squarely at first-time founders. It is practical... First Round Review Article · 15 min read · Starting Up A Founder's Guide for Successful Early-Stage Customer Discovery Jeanette Mellinger In 21 answers
  21. This is the canonical argument that you do not need a mass market to build something real, you need a small number of people... The Technium (kk.org) Essay · ~15 min read · Starting Up 1,000 True Fans Kevin Kelly In 20 answers
  22. Free to read online, with chapters like "Build Less" and "Half, Not Half-Assed" that name your exact trap. It argues that... Basecamp / 37signals Book · Free online, ~4 hr · Starting Up Getting Real (free to read online) Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals) In 20 answers
  23. Thiel pushes you to look for ideas hidden in plain sight by asking what important truth very few people agree with you on. It... Peter Thiel and Blake Masters Book · About 220 pages · Starting Up Zero to One Peter Thiel and Blake Masters In 20 answers
  24. The market regulator own free investor-education portal: unbiased basics on investing, mutual funds, and avoiding scams, with... SEBI Guide · Wealth SEBI Investor Education portal SEBI In 20 answers

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