Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. A tight, credible framing of the core bet the answer makes: stop trying to work the room and instead play to introvert... Fast Company Article · 7 min read · Starting Up The Introvert's Networking Playbook Fast Company
2. Written by a fund built entirely around go-to-market, so it treats sales/hiring/pricing as distinct functional problems, not... Stage 2 Capital Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Startup Founders: How to Find the Right Advisor for Your Business Liz Christo
3. An Indian founder's actual sequenced roadmap, not theory: stay lean in India (2 to 3 founders, burn under 3,000 dollars a... Inc42 Article · 8 min read · Starting Up A Playbook For Indian Founders Building Global Businesses Pranay Srinivasan
4. This is the anatomy of the ask that actually gets answered in an alumni channel. Iskold, a founder and now VC, hands you the... Startup Hacks Article · 7 min read · Starting Up How to ask me (and others) for an intro Alex Iskold
5. The clearest breakdown of how the best-run alumni network on earth actually delivers hires, customers, investor intros, and... Horizon Labs Article · 12 min read · Starting Up How Bookface (YC) Helps Early-Stage Founders Thrive Horizon Labs
6. This is the discipline that keeps an alumni network from going cold: show up for other people first. Ranadive distills Adam... Medium Article · 9 min read · Starting Up Be a Giver: Think of Others and Get Ahead Ameet Ranadive
7. Traynor gives you a simple two axis test: how many people have the problem, and how often does it hurt. Ideas that are both... ycombinator.com Article · about 8 min read · Starting Up Be Wary of Solving a Small, Rare Problem Des Traynor (Intercom)
8. A detailed, honest set of notes on The Mom Test from a founder's point of view, with the best example questions pulled out. A... mtlynch.io Article · 15 min read · Starting Up The Mom Test book report Michael Lynch
9. A former Stripe and Twitter operator, now an investor, on why, when, and how to interview customers. Practical and concise on... Uncork Capital (Medium) Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Get out of the building: Why, when, and how to interview your customers Amy Saper
10. This tackles the how many question head on with a level head. It makes the case that below five conversations you cannot trust... Kromatic Article · 10 min read · Starting Up How Many Customer Interviews Are Enough? The Pre-Testing Sweet Spot Kromatic
11. Rachitsky pulls together practical guidance on how to run user interviews that actually move you toward fit, including who to... Lenny's Newsletter (Lenny Rachitsky) Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Interviewing users for product-market fit Lenny Rachitsky
12. A quick, scannable checklist for running interviews well, covering open-ended questions, avoiding leading the witness, and... ProductPlan Article · 10 min read · Starting Up 9 Tips for Better Customer Validation Interviews ProductPlan
13. A validation walkthrough written for the Indian context, covering landing pages, coming soon fake doors, and pre orders with... Salaah School of Startups Article · ~12 min read · Starting Up How to Validate Your Startup Idea in India Salaah School of Startups
14. The most common way founders fool themselves about PMF is believing the next feature will fix weak retention. Chen shows with... andrewchen.com Essay · ~1,800 words · Starting Up The Next Feature Fallacy Andrew Chen
15. Olsen gives you a full framework (the Product-Market Fit Pyramid) for getting to fit deliberately rather than by luck: target... Dan Olsen (dan-olsen.com) Book · ~336 pages · Starting Up The Lean Product Playbook Dan Olsen
16. A concrete, step-by-step account of collecting real pre-sale money before building, from a founder who actually did it. Unlike... Indie Hackers Article · ~12 min read · Starting Up $1,400 in pre-sales, step by step Indie Hackers community
17. A head-on comparison of the exact question you are asking, useful as an orientation before the deeper resources. It draws out... Bundl Article · 12 min read · Starting Up B2B vs B2C Venture Validation: Key Differences Bundl
18. Aulet, who runs MIT's entrepreneurship center, lays out how to do primary research properly: observe, listen, and interact with... VentureWell (Bill Aulet, MIT) Article · medium read · Starting Up A Practical Guide to Primary Market Research Bill Aulet
19. Written by an investor who founded and sold a marketplace himself, this is a structured handbook covering business models,... Version One Ventures Article · ~45 min read · Starting Up A Guide to Marketplaces Boris Wertz and Angela Tran
20. Grinda has backed over a thousand marketplaces, and his blunt take is that roughly 95 percent are demand constrained, not... Fabrice Grinda Essay · ~30 min read · Starting Up Lessons Learned Building Online Marketplaces Fabrice Grinda
21. Udemy's cofounder explains, with real numbers, how they hand recruited supply when cold calls failed, even creating a course... The Hustle Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up How Udemy Found Their First 1,000 Instructors Sam Parr
22. Kromatic works with corporate and startup teams on lean experiments, and this piece is precise about the difference and the... Kromatic Article · Starting Up Wizard of Oz Prototyping vs. Concierge Test Kromatic
23. A practical walkthrough of when a concierge MVP is the right fit, when it is not, and how to actually run one. It is helpful... Upsilon Article · Starting Up What Is a Concierge MVP and When to Use It Upsilon
24. The reference book on interview craft itself: how to build rapport, ask follow ups, and manage your own bias in the room.... Rosenfeld Media Book · 248 pages · Starting Up Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights (2nd Edition) Steve Portigal

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