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.
- The standard modern playbook for keeping discovery continuous so roadmap decisions stay grounded in real customer input, not... Product Talk Book · ~240 pages · Starting Up Continuous Discovery Habits Teresa Torres In 19 answers
- This is the canonical source of the ship-ugly-first idea, the LinkedIn co-founder's own essay behind the line about being... LinkedIn Essay · About a 6 minute read · Starting Up If There Aren't Any Typos In This Essay, We Launched Too Late Reid Hoffman In 19 answers
- The canonical fake-door test, told by the founder who ran it. Buffer started as a two-page site: one page pitched the tool, a... Buffer Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up Idea to Paying Customers in 7 Weeks: How We Did It Joel Gascoigne In 19 answers
- The idea that started the lean movement, from the person who coined it. No business plan survives first contact with customers,... steveblank.com Article · ~8 min read · Starting Up Get Out of the Building Steve Blank In 19 answers
- When your first ten will come from cold outreach, this guide gives you the full mechanics: building a target list, qualifying,... Close Article · Multi-chapter guide · Starting Up The Ultimate Startup Guide to Outbound Sales Steli Efti In 19 answers
- Patrick Campbell built ProfitWell on pricing data from thousands of companies, and this is the single best free deep-dive on... lennysnewsletter.com Article · long-form guide · Starting Up Pricing Your SaaS Product Patrick Campbell (ProfitWell), via Lenny's Newsletter In 18 answers
- A calm explainer of what a secondary actually is, who has to approve it, and how the price gets set, before you raise it with... Carta Article · Wealth How secondary sales work at private companies Carta In 17 answers
- A blunt, practical guide from Demand Curve's founder on which paid and organic channels fit which business, and why most... julian.com Article · Long-form guide · Starting Up Startup Handbook: Customer Acquisition Channels Julian Shapiro In 16 answers
- From the founder of CMX and author of The Business of Belonging, a practical framework for deciding whether to build community... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~25 min read · Starting Up A Founder's Guide to Community David Spinks In 16 answers
- The most concrete guide to actually measuring what customers will pay, including survey methods and tier design. It turns... lennysnewsletter.com Article · long-form guide · Starting Up The Ultimate Guide to Willingness to Pay Lenny Rachitsky & Patrick Campbell In 16 answers
- A punchy, contrarian classic on building a lean, sane, profitable company from the founders of Basecamp. It's the antidote to... 37signals Book · ~288 pages · Starting Up Rework Jason Fried & David Heinemeier Hansson In 16 answers
- This is the essay that forces the honest question underneath your idea: are you building a growth company or a good small... Paul Graham Essay · ~20 min read · Starting Up Startup = Growth Paul Graham In 16 answers
- Savoia, who led early Google AdWords, argues most ideas fail because nobody wanted them, and teaches pretotyping: cheap... Alberto Savoia Book · ~250 pages · Starting Up The Right It: Why So Many Ideas Fail and How to Make Sure Yours Succeed Alberto Savoia In 16 answers
- The FSSAI's current table of which food business needs which licence and what it costs a year, revised from 1 April 2026: most... foscos.fssai.gov.in Article · 9-page PDF · Starting Up FSSAI kind of business: eligibility criteria and fee structure (updated 1 April 2026) Food Safety and Standards Authority of India In 16 answers
- The India-specific piece: perquisite tax at exercise, capital gains at sale, and the startup deferral, with worked examples in... ClearTax Article · Wealth How ESOPs are taxed in India ClearTax In 16 answers
- Market size is meaningless until you know exactly who you're for, and Lenny turns that into a concrete, repeatable ICP exercise... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up How to identify your ideal customer profile (ICP) Lenny Rachitsky In 15 answers
- The most accessible, practical intro to usability ever written, you can read it in a weekend and immediately fix your product.... sensible.com Book · ~200 pages · Starting Up Don't Make Me Think, Revisited Steve Krug In 15 answers
- Moore's beachhead idea is the definitive case for winning one narrow segment before you touch the broader market, which is... Geoffrey A. Moore Book · ~240 pages · Starting Up Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers Geoffrey A. Moore In 15 answers
- This is the plain-language answer to "do I have to register yet." It lays out the 40 lakh goods / 20 lakh services limits, the... ClearTax Article · 12 min read · Starting Up GST Registration Threshold Limits: Goods, Services and Special Category States ClearTax Editorial Team In 15 answers
- This is the best method for the exact job of learning an industry's language when you cannot yet get face time with people in... Stacking the Bricks (Amy Hoy) Article · video walkthrough · Starting Up Sales Safari in Action Amy Hoy In 15 answers
- Before you sweat which side to seed, Gurley helps you judge whether your marketplace is even structurally worth building. He... Above the Crowd Essay · 20 min read · Starting Up All Markets Are Not Created Equal: 10 Factors to Consider When Evaluating Digital Marketplaces Bill Gurley In 15 answers
- The reference primer on the metrics and market-sizing logic investors use, including bottom-up market sizing that keeps... a16z Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up 16 Startup Metrics Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) In 14 answers
- The official source for DPIIT recognition, the free registration that unlocks tax benefits, self-certification, and scheme... startupindia.gov.in Article · Official portal page · Starting Up DPIIT Startup Recognition & Tax Exemption (Startup India) Startup India / DPIIT In 14 answers
- The authoritative, government-hosted explanation of exactly what a DPIIT-recognised startup gets in public procurement. If you... startupindia.gov.in Article · single-page policy explainer · Starting Up Procurement by Government, Public Procurement Benefits for DPIIT Startups Startup India (DPIIT), Ministry of Commerce & Industry In 14 answers
The hubs
Starting Up
Find an idea, validate it, build, and land your first customers.
GTM
Go-to-market, from breaking in to how the best teams do it.
D2C
Building a direct-to-consumer brand, India-first.
Wealth
Paying yourself, ESOPs, secondaries, and de-risking founder wealth.
How Founders Use AI
How founders actually put AI to work, mapped topic by topic.
Glossary
Plain-language definitions of the startup and VC terms you'll hit.
eChai Partner Brands
The partnership →