Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. You asked how to say what you actually do instead of a vague inspirational line, and this piece is built around exactly that... HubSpot Marketing Blog Article · About a 12 minute read · Starting Up How to Write a Value Proposition (7 Top Examples and a Template) HubSpot In 2 answers
2. The reason technical founders write copy that experts respect but nobody acts on has a name, and this book coined it: the curse... Random House Book · Starting Up Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die Chip Heath and Dan Heath In 2 answers
3. This is the rare cold email guide that gives you a concrete structure instead of vague advice about being personal. It walks... Clay Article · ~20 min read · Starting Up B2B Cold Email Copywriting: The Complete Guide Mishti Sharma In 2 answers
4. Welsh built a large audience by going deep on one platform first, and this essay makes the case plainly: learn the nuances of a... justinwelsh.me Essay · ~10 min read · Starting Up How to Create a Social Media Content Strategy Justin Welsh In 2 answers
5. Most founders frame this as blog for SEO versus video for reach, and this Ahrefs piece dismantles that split: video shows up... Ahrefs Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up Video SEO: How to Rank YouTube Videos on Google Joshua Hardwick In 2 answers
6. This is the source everyone else is paraphrasing, straight from Google, so you can stop worrying about a penalty that does not... Google Search Central Blog Article · Starting Up Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content Google Search Central In 2 answers
7. On day one you do not need a growth strategy, you need to not miss anything basic, and this checklist is built exactly for... Ahrefs Article · about 25 min read · Starting Up The Only SEO Checklist You Need (Incl. Template) Joshua Hardwick In 2 answers
8. This is the honest, founder-written version of what selling to Indian SMBs actually looks like: high-touch, relationship-first,... Blume Ventures Article · Starting Up Selling Smart: The Insider's Guide to SaaS Success in India Blume Ventures In 2 answers
9. Once you have even one happy customer, this is how you turn that into the proof that wins the next one. Amy Saper (who did... Uncork Capital on Medium Article · About a 12 minute read · Starting Up Let Your Customers Do Your Marketing: A Practical Guide to Creating Customer Case Studies and Testimonials Amy Saper (Uncork Capital) In 2 answers
10. India does not have one launch button, so this is a useful starting point precisely because it shows ten real companies... Medium Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up How These 10 Indian Companies Got Their First 1000 Customers Harkirat Singh In 2 answers
11. This is the short, canonical essay that names the exact trap: people switch into a stiff, impressive-sounding written voice... paulgraham.com Essay · Starting Up Write Like You Talk Paul Graham In 2 answers
12. This is the clearest argument for why a launch should not be a single spike: if you share the process continuously, every day... Austin Kleon Book · 224 pages · Starting Up Show Your Work! 10 Ways to Share Your Creativity and Get Discovered Austin Kleon In 2 answers
13. If you want to fix the follow-up mindset for good, this is the book, and this is the author's own page for it. Blount is blunt... jebblount.com (official) Book · ~320 pages · Starting Up Fanatical Prospecting Jeb Blount In 2 answers
14. Andrew Chen ran growth at Uber and a16z, and his core idea here, the Law of Shitty Clickthroughs, is exactly why a channel that... andrewchen.substack.com Article · Starting Up Every Marketing Channel Sucks Right Now Andrew Chen In 2 answers
15. If you want word of mouth to be intentional, start with why people share at all. Berger's research pins it down to six... Jonah Berger (Wharton) Book · Book, about 256 pages · Starting Up Contagious: Why Things Catch On Jonah Berger In 2 answers
16. The whole game with referrals is timing: ask at the moment someone has just felt the value, not at signup or on a random login.... ReferralCandy Article · Article, about 10 minute read · Starting Up Best Time to Ask for a Referral: Mapping It to the Customer Journey Raul Galera In 2 answers
17. Ross and Lemkin are the people who wrote the sales-growth playbook most SaaS teams actually copy, so this is a solid grounding... Wiley Book · Book, roughly 350 pages · Starting Up From Impossible to Inevitable: How SaaS and Other Hyper-Growth Companies Create Predictable Revenue Aaron Ross and Jason Lemkin In 2 answers
18. Most founders pick an ad budget by copying a percentage they read somewhere, which is exactly backwards. Rollins gives you a... Practical Marketing Article · Starting Up How Much Marketing Budget Does A Startup Need? Brandon Rollins In 2 answers
19. This is the clearest walk-through of the most famous activation metric ever, Facebook's "7 friends in 10 days", and how it was... Mode Article · Starting Up Facebook's "Aha" Moment Was Simpler Than You Think Benn Stancil In 2 answers
20. Once you suspect a spike, this guide shows you the mechanic that actually proves it: split customers into cohorts by the month... Stripe Resources Article · About a 12 minute read · Starting Up SaaS Cohort Analysis: A Guide for Businesses Stripe In 2 answers
21. This is the clearest statement of the argument you need before you touch either lever: retention is not one metric among many,... OpenView Essay · Starting Up Retention Is the King of Growth (Brian Balfour, 500 Startups talk) Brian Balfour In 2 answers
22. This is the essay that reframes the whole question. Instead of asking whether your DAU/MAU is high enough, it tells you to look... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Essay · Starting Up The Power User Curve: The Best Way to Understand Your Most Engaged Users Li Jin and Andrew Chen In 2 answers
23. Torres takes the next step after you accept you cannot reach significance: figure out what you are actually trying to learn,... Product Talk Article · Starting Up What to Do When You Don't Have Enough Traffic to A/B Test Teresa Torres In 2 answers
24. This is the most direct piece we found on the founder-led versus formal-function question, and it argues hard that most early... First Round Review Article · About a 20 minute read · Starting Up You're Not Ready for a Head of Growth: Run This Founder-Led Growth Playbook Instead Matt Lerner In 2 answers

Show the next 24