Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. This is the clearest argument we know for reframing the whole early-vs-late question: it says being first or being a fast... NFX Essay · ~15 min read · Starting Up Why Startup Timing Is Everything Pete Flint In 5 answers
2. Moore's classic maps the market you are timing your entry into: innovators and early adopters buy for very different reasons... Goodreads Book · ~250 pages · Starting Up Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers Geoffrey A. Moore In 5 answers
3. This is written by an early-stage Indian investor (founder of Gemba Capital), so you get the assessment from the exact side of... Adith Podhar (Gemba Capital) Essay · ~12 min read · Starting Up How to Assess Founder Market Fit: A Framework Adith Podhar In 5 answers
4. Lavingia's whole thesis is the one you need as a part-time founder: start with a community you already know and belong to, then... Penguin Random House Book · 288 pages · Starting Up The Minimalist Entrepreneur: How Great Founders Do More with Less Sahil Lavingia In 5 answers
5. When you and your technical hire are arguing about the stack, this essay reframes the whole fight: the goal is not the best or... mcfunley.com Essay · ~20 min read · Starting Up Choose Boring Technology Dan McKinley In 5 answers
6. This is the piece that gives you permission to stop waiting for a big study. Nielsen shows that just five people uncover... Nielsen Norman Group Article · About a 10 minute read · Starting Up Why You Only Need to Test with 5 Users Jakob Nielsen In 5 answers
7. This is Google's own field research on building for people coming online in markets like India, and it names the exact... Google Design Article · ~12 min read · Starting Up Connectivity, Culture, and Credit: Designing for the Next Billion Users Google Design (Next Billion Users team) In 5 answers
8. Shapiro gives you a concrete framework you can apply the same afternoon: write a header that is fully descriptive of what you... julian.com Article · Long read, about 30 minutes · Starting Up Startup Handbook: Landing Page Copywriting Julian Shapiro In 5 answers
9. This is the reference everyone quietly copies when they first try to write down their brand voice, and it is public, free, and... Mailchimp Content Style Guide Article · Starting Up Voice and Tone, Mailchimp Content Style Guide Mailchimp In 5 answers
10. This is the canonical structure for the investor cold email, written by a YC partner who reads them from the other side. It is... Y Combinator Startup Library Essay · 5 min read · Starting Up How to Cold Email Investors Aaron Harris In 5 answers
11. This is the clearest plain-language walkthrough of the one thing that trips up Indian founders billing abroad: your foreign... TaxGuru Article · Long read (with 23 Q&As) · Starting Up GST for Freelancers & Consultants: A Complete Guide for Domestic & Foreign Clients Mohd Muaz Malik In 5 answers
12. This is the source document for the entire SAFE debate, written by YC's CFO who papered thousands of these. It walks the actual... Y Combinator Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Understanding SAFEs and Priced Equity Rounds Kirsty Nathoo In 5 answers
13. This is the concrete map of where the small cheques actually live in India: Indian Angel Network, Mumbai Angels, LetsVenture,... Inc42 Article · 15 min read · Starting Up From Seed To Success: 15 Active Angel Networks For Indian Startups Inc42 Staff In 5 answers
14. This is the canonical slide-by-slide template from the person who has read more pre-traction decks than almost anyone. Seibel's... Y Combinator Article · 12 min read · Starting Up How to Build Your Seed Round Pitch Deck Michael Seibel In 5 answers
15. This is the guide for the check-in itself: what to actually say when you sit down. Perel names the three things co-founder... First Round Review Article · 20 min read · Starting Up How to Fix the Co-Founder Fights You're Sick of Having: Lessons from Couples Therapist Esther Perel Esther Perel (via First Round Review) In 5 answers
16. This is the legal spine for doing it cleanly under Indian rules. It spells out why parting during probation is the cleanest... India Briefing Article · 15 min read · Starting Up A Guide to Terminating Employment in India Dezan Shira & Associates In 5 answers
17. This breaks down the four things you will run monthly (TDS under Section 192, PF via UAN, ESI for sub-21,000 wages, PT capped... Razorpay Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Payroll Compliance: PF, ESI, PT and TDS Explained RazorpayX Payroll In 5 answers
18. This is the government's own checklist, so it settles the entity question straight: Pvt Ltd if you plan to raise (investors... Startup India Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Legal and Regulatory Checklist for Startups in India Startup India (DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry) In 5 answers
19. Jackson breaks fit into levels and asks how acute the problem is, how reachable the audience is, and how differentiated your... Lenny's Newsletter Article · about 20 min read · Starting Up A Framework for Finding Product-Market Fit Todd Jackson (First Round Capital) In 5 answers
20. The free, original essay that defined the MVP before the book existed, written plainly by the person who coined the term. It... Startup Lessons Learned (Eric Ries) Essay · ~15 min read · Starting Up Minimum Viable Product: a guide Eric Ries In 5 answers
21. The qualitative half of the answer, told through founders describing the moment things flipped: inbound you cannot keep up... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~2,000 words · Starting Up What it feels like when you've found product-market fit Lenny Rachitsky In 5 answers
22. This is the piece written for exactly your situation: no audience, no network, no obvious way to reach the people you need.... A Smart Bear (Jason Cohen) Article · Starting Up When You Have Nothing: How to Find Customers to Interview Jason Cohen In 5 answers
23. Blank, who built customer development, uses a real founder story to show how a team defaulted to 'build a smaller product' when... steveblank.com Article · 7 min read · Starting Up An MVP is not a Cheaper Product, It's about Smart Learning Steve Blank In 5 answers
24. Steve Blank's argument for searching for a business model before building one, the get out of the building philosophy in short... Harvard Business Review Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Why the Lean Start-Up Changes Everything Steve Blank In 5 answers

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