Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. If your developer sits in France, Germany, the UK, or the US, this guide explains how code ownership actually works in each,... Orrick Article · Starting Up Intellectual Property Assignments from Software Developers (France, Germany, UK, US) Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe
2. A clear walk-through of what an IP assignment agreement is and how ownership moves from a person to the company, covering... Stripe Article · Starting Up How to Assign Intellectual Property to a Business Stripe
3. Atlas built this guide with Orrick, and its blunt advice is to get signed IP assignments from everyone who touches the company,... Stripe Atlas Article · Starting Up Employment (Stripe Atlas Guide) Stripe Atlas with Orrick
4. The most practical piece on this list: it tells you to own the repository from day one, set up GitHub in your business name,... Captain Pragmatic Article · Starting Up Do You Need Source Code Escrow? (Probably Not, But Here's When You Do) Captain Pragmatic
5. A working handbook with ready-to-use contractor agreements and sample IP assignment language, including a version written for... Nolo Book · Starting Up Consultant & Independent Contractor Agreements Stephen Fishman
6. A free companion to Nolo's book that lays out the two tools you need: a work-for-hire clause where it applies, and an... Nolo Article · Starting Up How to Protect Your Intellectual Property Rights in Works Created By Contractors Nolo
7. A concise lawyer's post on the single most common and most avoidable legal mistake early startups make: never securing clear IP... The IP Law Blog Article · Starting Up Who Really Owns Your Startup's IP? Jeffrey Pietsch, Weintraub Tobin
8. Y Combinator's own primer on the legal machinery of a startup, including why everyone must assign IP to the company or there is... Y Combinator Startup Library Article · Starting Up Startup Legal Mechanics Y Combinator
9. A corporate-counsel reference on why the work-for-hire doctrine frequently does not cover software, and how to structure... Association of Corporate Counsel Article · Starting Up Quick Counsel: Software Work for Hire (United States) Christopher T. Varas, Association of Corporate Counsel
10. The Supreme Court case that turned on two words, and this article explains why "hereby assigns" beat "agrees to assign" and... The National Law Review Article · Starting Up Agree to Assign vs. Hereby Assign: In Stanford v. Roche, the Wording Decided Kevin W. McCabe, The National Law Review
11. This gives concrete cost ranges by MVP type, from a landing page build up to a full app with backend and integrations, which is... Riolabz Article · Starting Up MVP Development Cost in India Riolabz
12. The number that blows a build budget is rarely the first quote, it is the additions that pile on afterward. This piece explains... DECODE Article · Starting Up What Is Scope Creep and How Do You Avoid It DECODE
13. Orosz builds a hiring process from role definition through to the final debrief, written by someone who has hired and been... The Pragmatic Engineer Article · 20 min read · Starting Up Hiring Software Engineers Gergely Orosz
14. The single most valuable thing an outgoing agency has is context, the why behind the code, which is exactly what a codebase... Thoughtworks Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Lessons from Inheriting Another Team's Codebase Birgitta Bockeler
15. A short, concrete checklist your new engineer can actually follow in their first weeks with an unfamiliar, agency built... Atomic Spin Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Four Steps for Inheriting a Codebase Tyler Hoffman
16. Written for non technical founders, this explains what you are really inheriting when an agency hands over the code and how to... madewithlove Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Understanding and Managing Technical Debt and Legacy Code: A Guide for Founders Emma Williams
17. A Django co creator's practical framing of technical debt as something to budget and manage continuously, not a crisis to panic... jacobian.org Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Managing Technical Debt Jacob Kaplan-Moss
18. Newport's point is that accountability breaks down when work has no defined process and everyone just messages each other all... Cal Newport (Portfolio/Penguin) Book · ~320 pages · Starting Up A World Without Email Cal Newport
19. Written by the founder who runs a fully distributed company of thousands across every time zone, this gives you a ladder from a... Matt Mullenweg (Automattic / ma.tt) Essay · ~2,500 words · Starting Up Distributed Work's Five Levels of Autonomy Matt Mullenweg
20. This makes the case that working software should be produced and integrated constantly, so a broken or stalled build is caught... Joel on Software Article · ~1,500 words · Starting Up Daily Builds Are Your Friend Joel Spolsky
21. This is the piece specifically about people whose working hours barely overlap, which is your exact problem. It shows how to... The GitLab Handbook Article · Long reference page · Starting Up The complete guide to asynchronous and non-linear working GitLab
22. Doist built a fully remote company across dozens of countries and wrote down how they structure communication so nobody in an... Doist / Twist Article · Multi-chapter guide · Starting Up The Art of Async: The Remote Guide to Team Communication Doist
23. A founder walks through actually cutting almost all standing meetings and running the company on written updates, with the... First Round Review Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up The Secret to an In Sync Startup? Ditch Your Meetings and Try an Asynchronous Culture First Round Review
24. Built from running a large fully remote team, this is a tactical field guide to keeping distributed people aligned and... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read · Starting Up Struggling to Thrive as a Large Team Working Remotely? This Exec Has the Field Guide You Need First Round Review

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