Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. The actual research behind the claim that a stranger judges your page in seconds, not minutes: visitors form a gut reaction in... Google Research Article · Starting Up Users love simple and familiar designs: why websites need to make a great first impression Javier Bargas-Avila
2. This is the actual psychology behind your short answer: you overestimate how much other people notice and track you, because... Psychology Today Article · ~7 min · Starting Up All Eyes on Us: The Spotlight Effect Psychology Today
3. Linear's cofounder makes the case for a running, dated log of what shipped, which turns constant announcing into infrastructure... Linear Essay · ~5 min · Starting Up Startups, Write Changelogs Karri Saarinen
4. Intercom's own playbook for feature announcements is useful precisely because it treats every release as its own small... Intercom Article · ~10 min · Starting Up A guide to announcing your new features Intercom
5. A price change is one of the clean, new reasons your short answer points to, and this is a practical, plainly written... Chris Lema Article · ~10 min · Starting Up How to announce pricing changes (without ruining everything) Chris Lema
6. Clubhouse's invite-only waitlist is the clearest cautionary tale of using scarcity as a growth trick rather than a real... Medium Article · 7 min read · Starting Up Creating the Illusion of Exclusivity: The Story of Clubhouse Dan DeSimone
7. Cialdini's chapters on scarcity are the underlying psychology behind why a waitlist feels persuasive at all, and why that... Amazon Book · Book · Starting Up Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition Robert Cialdini
8. If you have decided a waitlist genuinely fits your situation, this is a practical, current playbook for running one well,... a16z speedrun Article · 10 min read · Starting Up The Growth Meta: How to Build a Waitlist a16z speedrun
9. CRED launched invite-only, restricted to people with a credit score above 750, and turned that restriction into both a real... Forbes India Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Inside Cred's growth strategy Manu Balachandran
10. This short essay explains why fancy language in a launch post reads as a warning sign to your reader, since ornate writing... Paul Graham Essay · 5 min read · Starting Up Write Simply Paul Graham
11. HN's own posting guidelines tell you plainly what a technical, skeptical audience wants from a launch post: no editorializing,... Y Combinator Article · 5 min read · Starting Up Hacker News Guidelines Y Combinator
12. Nathan Barry walks through the real, unpolished early drafts of the ConvertKit landing page and how a copywriter's feedback... Nathan Barry Article · 20 min read · Starting Up Step-By-Step Landing Page Copywriting Nathan Barry
13. This is a working copywriter's breakdown of what actually goes into a launch message that lands, including the parts founders... Copyhackers Article · 15 min read · Starting Up How to write launch emails that sell out your next launch Copyhackers
14. Figma spent years building quietly before a genuinely coordinated launch, and this piece walks through how that transition was... First Round Review Article · 20 min read · Starting Up How to Launch Your Startup Out of Stealth, from Figma's First Marketer First Round Review
15. Gary Vaynerchuk's core argument, document your actual work instead of manufacturing polished content from scratch, is the... garyvaynerchuk.com Essay · 6 min read · Starting Up Document, Don't Create: Creating Content That Builds Your Personal Brand Gary Vaynerchuk
16. Pieter Levels wrote up, in public, exactly how he built and launched a project while narrating each step on Twitter, and this... levels.io Essay · 10 min read · Starting Up Building a startup in public: from first line of code to frontpage of Reddit Pieter Levels
17. This is a direct, practical answer to the flatline problem: specific things to do in the days after your launch day,... Product Hunt Article · 6 min read · Starting Up 4 strategies to keep momentum going post-launch Product Hunt
18. A short, concrete framework for the actual first message you send someone you don't know: lead with something useful, not with... justinwelsh.me Essay · Starting Up How to Write a (Successful) Cold DM Justin Welsh
19. Ferrazzi's whole thesis is that networking works when it's generosity-first and ongoing, not a favor you cash in only when you... Keith Ferrazzi Book · Starting Up Never Eat Alone, Expanded and Updated: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time Keith Ferrazzi
20. Bohns' research shows founders usually get the psychology backwards: people underestimate how much sway an ask has and how... Vanessa Bohns Book · Starting Up You Have More Influence Than You Think: How We Underestimate Our Power of Persuasion, and Why It Matters Vanessa Bohns
21. Flynn's research found people underestimate by as much as 50% how often others will say yes to a direct ask, which is useful... Stanford Graduate School of Business Article · ~7 min · Starting Up Francis Flynn: If You Want Something, Ask For It Marguerite Rigoglioso
22. A short, blunt essay that names the exact problem in your question: treating social capital like an infinite chit you can cash... Rachel Mazza Essay · ~5 min · Starting Up Burning Through Social Capital Rachel Mazza
23. The book's whole argument is that the founders with the most useful networks aren't the ones who ask the most, they're... Scott Gerber and Ryan Paugh Book · Starting Up Superconnector: Stop Networking and Start Building Relationships Scott Gerber, Ryan Paugh
24. A practical guide built around one idea worth sitting with: network before you need something, so you're not always showing up... First Round Review Article · Starting Up Networking First Round Review

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