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. Iskold reduces market size to a single honest formula, number of customers times revenue per customer, and warns against... Startup Hacks (Alex Iskold) Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Everything You Need to Know About Market Sizing Alex Iskold
  2. Blank's core rule is that there are no facts inside your building, so a disagreement resolved at your desk is not really... Steve Blank Article · varies · Starting Up Customer Discovery (Get Out of the Building) Steve Blank
  3. Altman argues that a durable edge often lives at the intersection of two or three fields you know, which is good news if you... Sam Altman (blog.samaltman.com) Essay · Medium essay · Starting Up How to Be Successful Sam Altman
  4. A balanced look at the evidence: deep expertise speeds decisions and credibility, but a large share of billion dollar founders... SaaStr (Jason Lemkin) Article · Medium article · Starting Up How Important Is Domain Expertise in Building a B2B Public Company? The Evidence Is Mixed Jason Lemkin
  5. Qasar Younis built a company only he could start, stacking a decade of automotive engineering, a Google acquisition, and years... First Round Review Article · 18 min read · Starting Up Applied Intuition's Path to Product-Market Fit (Qasar Younis) First Round Review
  6. An India-focused early-stage program explains why founder-market fit is the thing to earn before you chase product-market fit.... PedalStart Article · 7 min read · Starting Up Founder-Market Fit: Why It Matters More Than Product-Market Fit Early On PedalStart
  7. A structured self-assessment for founders who want to grade their own fit honestly rather than wait for an investor to do it.... Tran.vc Article · 9 min read · Starting Up How to Self-Diagnose Founder-Market Fit Tran.vc
  8. Horowitz explains why founders hold a knowledge advantage no hired CEO can replicate, built from every early decision, hire,... Andreessen Horowitz Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Why We Prefer Founding CEOs Ben Horowitz
  9. Ali and Kubba give you a framework (money, intelligence, location, education, expertise, status, and luck) to audit the edges... Macmillan Book · 288 pages · Starting Up The Unfair Advantage: How You Already Have What It Takes to Succeed Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba
  10. Gil, who backed dozens of unicorns, names the founder traits he weights most and why. It is a concise investor-side view of... Elad Blog Article · 6 min read · Starting Up What Are The 2 Most Important Traits in An Entrepreneur? Elad Gil
  11. A clear explainer of why the earlier the stage, the more the decision rests on the founder rather than the numbers. It names... NTU TEC Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Why Early-Stage Investing Is So Often a Bet on the Founders NTU TEC
  12. This book makes the research-backed case that a different vantage point is not a handicap but a source of ideas that... Matthew Syed Book · Starting Up Rebel Ideas: The Power of Diverse Thinking Matthew Syed
  13. Nayar saw demand that the whole industry had written off, because she understood Indian women as customers in a way the... Forbes India Article · Starting Up Falguni Nayar: The Woman Who Redefined Beauty Retail in India Forbes India
  14. Drawing on many founders who built outside the traditional hubs, this argues that being underestimated and under-resourced... Outsider Inc. Article · Starting Up The Outsider Playbook: Underestimated, Under-Resourced, and Built to Win Ian Hathaway
  15. A collection of blunt, practical advice from women who built real companies, much of it centered on treating your difference as... NewBeauty Article · Starting Up The Advice 20+ Female Founders Would Give the Next Generation NewBeauty
  16. A current investor argument that deep industry knowledge, not raw technical ability, is the durable advantage in vertical... CRV Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Vertical AI Companies: Why Domain Expertise Beats General AI CRV
  17. Haber argues that tools are now widely available, so the scarce ingredient is knowing what is actually useful inside a real... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Context is King David Haber
  18. A free, tactical operating manual for the founder skills you never practiced as an employee: making decisions fast, running... Matt Mochary (public Google Doc) Book · ~200 pages · Starting Up The Great CEO Within Matt Mochary
  19. A compact roundup of Dixon's startup thinking, including founder/market fit and why passion for a problem beats chasing a hot... Andreessen Horowitz Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up 12 Things I Learned from Chris Dixon about Startups Tren Griffin
  20. This frames founder-market fit as a team question and lists what a strong founding team should be able to answer together about... Techstars Article · ~8 min read · Starting Up High Performing Founding Teams: The Five Questions Every Rockstar Founding Team Can Answer Martin Schilling and Brian Daly
  21. A seed investor explains what he actually looks for as founder-market fit and how he weighs it across a whole team rather than... Tom Wilson (Medium) Article · ~9 min read · Starting Up Investing at Founder-Market Fit Tom Wilson
  22. Gil argues against overlapping expertise and for clear role division, warning that two people setting the same direction leads... Elad Gil (Elad Blog) Essay · ~8 min read · Starting Up How to Choose a Co-Founder Elad Gil
  23. Gil makes the case for co-founders splitting the company into clear areas of ownership so each person drives their domain... Elad Gil (Elad Blog) Article · ~6 min read · Starting Up Founders Should Divide and Conquer Elad Gil
  24. A useful counterweight that questions how much founder-market fit really predicts, arguing that great founders often pursue... Bessemer Venture Partners (Atlas) Article · ~12 min read · Starting Up A Brainstorming Framework for Aspiring Founders Adam Fisher

Show the next 24

The hubs

eChai Partner Brands The partnership →