Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. Most advice tells you to just ignore the haters, which is useless in the moment a wave of comments is hitting. This piece is... Rachel Pedersen Article · About a 10 minute read · Starting Up How to Handle Haters, Trolls, and Internet Critics Like a Pro Rachel Pedersen
2. When your post gets piled on, the instinct is to treat every angry reply as a real dispute you have to win. Paul Graham... paulgraham.com Essay · About a 7 minute read · Starting Up Haters Paul Graham
3. The pile-ons women founders face online often turn personal in a way male founders rarely deal with, and that sharper edge is... Female Founder World Podcast · About a 30 minute listen · Starting Up What No One's Saying About This Viral Founder Takedown Jasmine Garnsworthy
4. This is the essay that names the shift you're betting on: online, your reputation and reach are no longer tied to where you... Not Boring (notboring.co) Essay · Medium read (about 20 to 30 minutes) · Starting Up The Great Online Game Packy McCormick
5. This is the cleanest split we found between the numbers that mean something and the ones that just feel good. Buffer walks... Buffer Article · About a 12 minute read · Starting Up 12 Social Media Metrics You Should Be Tracking (And Why) Shivani Shah
6. Video · About 15 minutes · Starting Up Alex Hormozi's Content Strategy (REVEALED) Alex Hormozi
7. This is the tactical companion to the theory: how to actually spot your super-members in the data, ask them in a way they will... Higher Logic Article · Starting Up Building an Online Community Super Users (Ambassador) Program Higher Logic
8. Patrick O'Keefe has managed online communities for over 20 years and interviews people doing the unglamorous work, so this is... Community Signal Podcast · Starting Up Community Signal Patrick O'Keefe
9. A direct, practical treatment of the exact decision: what a free community gets you (reach, discovery, top of funnel) versus... HubSpot Blog Article · Starting Up Free vs. Paid Online Communities: Which Is Right for You? Flori Needle
10. Video · ~40 min talk · Starting Up Giants: David Spinks on Building Your Online Community David Spinks
11. This is the cleanest checklist of the ways a community dies quietly, and it names the exact traps founders miss: chasing... Heartbeat Article · About a 10 minute read · Starting Up Why Most Online Communities Fail Murtaza Bambot
12. Written by two consumer investors who have watched dozens of communities scale and stall, this essay makes the case that more... a16z (via Medium) Essay · About a 12 minute read · Starting Up Why Most Online Communities Fail (and How to Build a Better One) Justine and Olivia Moore
13. Each episode sits a working community professional down to talk about the worst advice they followed and what it actually cost... Community Marketing Revolution Podcast · Episodes run roughly 30 to 45 minutes · Starting Up Bad Community Advice Seth Resler
14. Priya Parker's whole argument is that people show up (and stay engaged) when a gathering has a clear, specific purpose and... Riverhead Books (Penguin Random House) Book · ~320 pages · Starting Up The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters Priya Parker
15. Justin Jackson builds from Vernon, a small town in British Columbia, not a metro tech hub, and he started the MegaMaker... justinjackson.ca Podcast · Ongoing show, episodes ~30 to 60 min · Starting Up Justin Jackson's podcasts (MegaMaker, Build your SaaS, Product People) Justin Jackson
16. Video · ~45 min · Starting Up Jatin Chaudhary on Building Global Startup Communities with eChai Ventures KU Podsquad (guest: Jatin Chaudhary)
17. This is the cleanest short explainer we found on the exact fork in your question: a community tied to your brand and customers... Turf Essay · ~8 min read · Starting Up Customer Community vs Community of Practice: What Is the Difference? Hannah Rafter
18. David Sacks argues that the strongest companies rally people around a cause and a change in the world, not around the product... Bottom Up (David Sacks) Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up Your Startup Is a Movement David Sacks
19. This is the clearest breakdown we found of which numbers actually signal a healthy community versus which ones just look good... Circle Blog Article · Starting Up The Complete Guide to Community Analytics Pedro Hernandes (Circle)
20. Of the tools we checked this is the one still built squarely for community health, since Common Room has since pivoted toward... Circle Tool · Starting Up Circle Community Analytics Circle
21. FeverBee is the most credible voice on running online communities, and this piece makes the honest case that written guidelines... FeverBee Article · 8 to 10 min read · Starting Up Community Guidelines Richard Millington (FeverBee)
22. This is a short, plain-language code of conduct adopted by thousands of communities (including nine of the ten largest open... Contributor Covenant Template · 1 page, interactive builder · Starting Up Contributor Covenant: A Code of Conduct for Digital Communities Organization for Ethical Source
23. Shirky's classic essay is the deepest argument for why a community's real norms come from how the group behaves and how the... shirky.com Essay · 25 to 30 min read · Starting Up A Group Is Its Own Worst Enemy Clay Shirky
24. When you are the only person shipping code and also the only person showing up in the community, the real question is how you... PlanStacker Article · ~10 minute read · Starting Up How Solo SaaS Founders Manage Their Time for Maximum Impact Christopher Chee

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