Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. A focused guide to the milestone payment clause itself: how to tie amounts to deliverables, set review periods, and handle... fynk Article · Starting Up Milestone Payment Schedule: Essential Contract Clause Guide fynk In 2 answers
2. A plain founder-level explainer from a top startup law firm on why the person who writes the code owns it by default, and what... WilmerHale Launch Article · Starting Up Who Owns Your IP WilmerHale In 2 answers
3. When a developer needs to walk you through a feature but you are twelve hours apart, a short recorded screen video does what a... Loom (Atlassian) Tool · Starting Up Loom (asynchronous video updates) Loom (Atlassian) In 2 answers
4. This is a ready-to-use set of lightweight templates for recording why technical decisions were made, so the reasoning survives... GitHub (joelparkerhenderson) Template · Repo with templates · Starting Up Architecture Decision Records: Templates and Examples Joel Parker Henderson In 2 answers
5. Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) is a startup focused pond where developers who want to work at early companies actually... Wellfound Tool · Starting Up Wellfound (post a job and hire startup talent) Wellfound In 2 answers
6. The classic on what professional, maintainable code and habits look like, the standard your reviewer is measuring against. Even... The Pragmatic Bookshelf Book · 352 pages · Starting Up The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery Andrew Hunt and David Thomas In 2 answers
7. Forms are where most products lose users, whether it is signup, checkout, or onboarding. This is the definitive guide to label... Luke Wroblewski (Rosenfeld Media) Book · ~226 pages · Starting Up Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks Luke Wroblewski In 2 answers
8. Human short term memory is tiny, so making people remember things across screens is a hidden tax on your product. This explains... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 7 min read · Starting Up Memory Recognition and Recall in User Interfaces Raluca Budiu In 2 answers
9. Video · ~24 min · Starting Up Usability Test Demo by Steve Krug Steve Krug In 2 answers
10. The most memorable proof that watching users pays. A single confusing choice on a checkout form was quietly costing a retailer... LukeW / User Interface Engineering Essay · ~6 min read · Starting Up The $300 Million Button Luke Wroblewski In 2 answers
11. The lowest cost way to watch real people use your product, no recruiting agency required. This guide walks through the coffee... Maze Article · ~9 min read · Starting Up What is Guerrilla Usability Testing? (And How To Do It) Maze In 2 answers
12. From the Google Ventures team, this shows how to go from a fuzzy idea to a tested prototype in a single week. The core move is... Jake Knapp (jakeknapp.com) Book · Approx. 275 pages · Starting Up Sprint: Solve Big Problems and Test New Ideas in Five Days Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Braden Kowitz In 2 answers
13. Facebook's first design VP explains what design actually is beneath the surface of pretty screens. She frames it as solving a... The Year of the Looking Glass Essay · 8 minute read · Starting Up Why Design Julie Zhuo In 2 answers
14. This turns a written description of your flow into an interactive prototype you can click through and refine. For a founder who... Figma Tool · Tool · Starting Up Figma Make (prompt to prototype) Figma In 2 answers
15. This answers the flip side of the question, how much design to do yourself versus when to bring in a real designer. It lays out... First Round Review Article · 30 minute read · Starting Up The Ultimate Guide to the Founding Designer Role First Round Review In 2 answers
16. This is the single best starting point if you think design just means making things look nice. Riley wrote it as an open letter... Wells Riley Essay · 15 min read · Starting Up Startups, This Is How Design Works Wells Riley In 2 answers
17. Graham argues that good design is not just personal opinion, it has real properties (simplicity, honesty, solving the hard... Paul Graham Essay · 25 min read · Starting Up Taste for Makers Paul Graham In 2 answers
18. The book behind the site, and worth it if you want the reasoning, not just the rules. Yablonski walks through familiar apps and... Laws of UX Book · Approx. 150 pages · Starting Up Laws of UX: Using Psychology to Design Better Products and Services Jon Yablonski In 2 answers
19. The law in the author's own words, with the reasoning and the stakes spelled out. Nielsen explains why users transfer... Jakob Nielsen (Substack) Essay · 7 min read · Starting Up Jakob's Law of the Internet User Experience Jakob Nielsen In 2 answers
20. Testing with the wrong five people teaches you nothing, so this piece helps you decide who your five should actually be.... Lenny's Newsletter Article · Starting Up Identify your bullseye customer in one day Michael Margolis In 2 answers
21. Concrete rules for writing the words on your buttons and menus so nobody has to decode them. It covers using a verb plus a noun... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~9 min read · Starting Up UI Copy: UX Guidelines for Command Names and Keyboard Shortcuts Anna Kaley In 2 answers
22. A short interview where Kunal Shah argues margins come from desire, which design creates, rather than from utility alone. It is... Outlook Business Article · Starting Up Margins Are Earned from Desire, Not Utility, says CRED founder Kunal Shah Kunal Shah In 2 answers
23. Practical guidance from someone who has placed many founding designers, on when the hire actually pays off and how to run the... Andy Budd Article · Starting Up How to Hire Your First Founding Designer (and Not Regret It Later) Andy Budd In 2 answers
24. A fast way to check whether a screen reads clearly in the first impression, which is often where clunky starts. Show people a... Five Second Test (Lyssna) Tool · Starting Up Five Second Test Five Second Test (Lyssna) In 2 answers

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