Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. Erik Kennedy writes for engineers and founders who were never taught design, and his rules are unusually memorable (light comes... Learn UI Design (Erik Kennedy) Essay · 25 min read · Starting Up 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI Erik D. Kennedy In 3 answers
2. The classic that gives non, designers four principles they will use forever: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.... Robin Williams (Peachpit) Book · 240 pages · Starting Up The Non-Designer's Design Book Robin Williams In 3 answers
3. Facebook's former head of product design on what separates good design from decoration, which reframes polish as clarity and... The Year of the Looking Glass (Julie Zhuo) Essay · 8 min read · Starting Up Good Design Julie Zhuo In 3 answers
4. Levels built profitable products almost entirely by himself, and this handbook is his blunt account of how a solo maker ships,... readmake.com Book · Digital handbook · Starting Up MAKE: The Indie Maker Blueprint Pieter Levels In 3 answers
5. You only need one automation tool to sync your source of truth outward, and this helps you choose without trying both. It lays... Softr Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Make vs Zapier: which automation platform to pick Softr In 3 answers
6. Blank's core idea, get out of the building, is the discipline that lets a non-technical founder create real value before... steveblank.com Article · Starting Up Customer Development: Get Out of the Building Steve Blank In 3 answers
7. A deep, practitioner heavy set of guides from operators who built strong technical teams from scratch, useful once you commit... First Round Review Article · long read · Starting Up Hiring engineers First Round Review In 3 answers
8. This is the founding text on interviewing programmers, written by someone who actually ran a software company. It argues you... Joel on Software Essay · Long read · Starting Up The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing (version 3.0) Joel Spolsky In 3 answers
9. This is the operational how-to behind our short answer: how to run a paid, job-representative trial, drawing on how Linear,... Lenny's Newsletter Article · Medium read · Starting Up Adding a work trial to your interview process Lenny Rachitsky In 3 answers
10. Amazon's trick is to write the customer facing press release and FAQ before building anything, which forces you to describe the... Working Backwards (Colin Bryar and Bill Carr) Article · 12 min read · Starting Up The Amazon Working Backwards PR/FAQ Process Colin Bryar and Bill Carr In 3 answers
11. Once you have described a feature, acceptance criteria is how you say what done means so you and the developer agree before... Atlassian Article · 9 min read · Starting Up What is Acceptance Criteria? Definition, Examples, and Tips Atlassian In 3 answers
12. A short, illustrated checklist of rules that are safe to follow when you have no design intuition yet. Never use pure black or... anthonyhobday.com Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Visual design rules you can safely follow every time Anthony Hobday In 3 answers
13. The practical answer to a crowded screen: show the few things most people need first, and tuck the advanced options behind a... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Progressive Disclosure Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
14. This is the technique that turns watching into understanding. Ask users to narrate their thoughts while they work, and their... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~6 min read · Starting Up Thinking Aloud: The #1 Usability Tool Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
15. Zerodha built one of India's most used products with a tiny team and a stubborn focus on simplicity over polish. Kamath's view... Inc42 Article · 15 minute read · Starting Up Instincts, People and Vision: Nithin Kamath on Zerodha's Product Secrets Inc42 In 3 answers
16. This is the concrete how-to for collecting problems on purpose. It walks through Amy Hoy's Sales Safari method, where you... O'Reilly (Scott Hurff) Article · About 12 min read · Starting Up How to Create Products People Want (Sales Safari) Scott Hurff In 3 answers
17. Intercom's Jobs-to-be-Done writing shows how to ask what customers are hiring your product to do, which forces you to describe... Intercom Article · ~short book, free · Starting Up Understanding Jobs-to-be-Done Des Traynor, Intercom In 3 answers
18. Shapiro gives you five specific things to monitor (technology, behavior, environment, regulation, distribution) so your... Julian Shapiro (Startup Handbook) Essay · 20 min read · Starting Up Finding Startup Ideas through Market Timing Julian Shapiro In 3 answers
19. Written from an early-stage investor's chair, this walks the calculation with examples and is blunt that a bottom-up build... Antler Article · Starting Up TAM, SAM and SOM: How to Calculate the Size of Your Market Akshat Agarwal In 3 answers
20. A follow up that applies the idea maze to a wave many of you are riding right now. It shows how founders repeatedly chased the... cdixon.org Essay · 5 min read · Starting Up The idea maze for AI startups Chris Dixon In 3 answers
21. If you truly have no category, this is the book on deliberately designing one, which reframes sizing as creating demand rather... playbigger.com Book · Book · Starting Up Play Bigger Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, Kevin Maney In 3 answers
22. Perez shows that real technological revolutions run on 50 year cycles with a predictable frenzy, a crash, and then a long... Goodreads Book · 224 pages · Starting Up Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital Carlota Perez In 3 answers
23. Naval defines specific knowledge as the thing you cannot be trained for, built from your curiosity, obsessions, and the way you... Naval Essay · 6 min read · Starting Up Arm Yourself With Specific Knowledge Naval Ravikant In 3 answers
24. An investor's view of why founder-market fit is a top filter at the earliest stage, when there is little else to judge. It... F2 Venture Capital Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Founder Market Fit Matters F2 VC In 3 answers

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