Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. If you're selling to businesses rather than consumers, this book adapts customer development to the messier reality of... leanb2bbook.com Book · ~280 pages · Starting Up Lean B2B: Build Products Businesses Want Etienne Garbugli
2. Recruiting is often the actual hard part of this problem, not the conversation itself. This gives you the tactics NN/g uses... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 20 min read · Starting Up How to Recruit Participants for Usability Studies Nielsen Norman Group
3. A short, practical answer to the recruitment problem this question is really asking about: where do I even find these people.... Lean Startup Co. Article · 8 min read · Starting Up We Can't Find Customers to Interview. Now What? Lean Startup Co.
4. Lemkin lays out a specific, staged interview count for B2B SaaS founders: the first five to map the space, the next five to... SaaStr Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up Planning to Do a SaaS Startup? Don't Forget the 20 Interview Rule Jason Lemkin
5. Portigal has run professional research interviews for over 25 years, and this book is the deeper craft manual once you have the... portigal.com Book · Starting Up Interviewing Users: How to Uncover Compelling Insights Steve Portigal
6. This is a real thread of solo and small team founders admitting the exact fear in your question, and working through it... Indie Hackers Thread · Starting Up I'm afraid to talk to customers/prospects, and it's holding me back Indie Hackers
7. Blank's own blog distills the argument from his book into a short, free read: most startups don't fail on execution, they fail... steveblank.com Essay · Starting Up The Customer Development Manifesto: Reasons for the Revolution Steve Blank
8. A pre-seed fund's practical checklist for what real validation looks like before you write code, insisting on quantified... Hustle Fund (Hustle Commons) Article · Starting Up How to Validate Your Startup With Customers Before Building Hustle Fund (Hustle Commons)
9. A long comment thread of founders and operators arguing through the vitamin versus painkiller framing with their own real... Hacker News Thread · Starting Up Vitamin vs painkiller discussion thread Hacker News
10. Built around the well known CB Insights statistic, this piece is refreshingly concrete about what evidence to look for, an... The VC Lens Essay · Starting Up 42% of Startups Fail Due to No Real Market Need, Here's How to Solve That Sayanee Bhowmik
11. A roundup of concrete advice from Indian investors and mentors, and the standout point for this question is direct: founders... YourStory Article · Starting Up Idea Validation: 20 Startup Tips From the TiE Bangalore Mentor Clinic YourStory
12. Traynor's rule that you should never ask for feedback you are not prepared to act on is exactly the discipline the short answer... Intercom Blog Essay · 8 min read · Starting Up 3 rules for customer feedback Des Traynor
13. This is the companion piece that explains why the context around a piece of feedback (who said it, when, and in what mood)... Intercom Blog Article · 7 min read · Starting Up The when and where of product feedback Des Traynor
14. Doshi tells a visual, concrete story about a team that built for a problem customers said they had, but that was never actually... X (Twitter) Thread · 5 min read · Starting Up Destined to Fail: A B2B Product Management Story Shreyas Doshi
15. Kyle Poyar writes for people running go to market at growth stage B2B companies, so this piece is useful once your ICP needs to... Growth Unhinged Essay · 12 min read · Starting Up ICP marketing done right Kyle Poyar
16. This is a clean, no nonsense definition written for enterprise founders, distinguishing ICP (the company), buyer (who decides),... Unusual Ventures Field Guide Article · 8 min read · Starting Up What is an ideal customer profile? Unusual Ventures Field Guide
17. Lincoln Murphy is one of the people credited with popularizing the term ideal customer profile in SaaS, and this framework goes... Sixteen Ventures Article · 25 min read · Starting Up Ideal Customer Profile Framework Lincoln Murphy
18. The full book behind the Bullseye essay above, with nineteen traction channels laid out and worked examples of testing them... Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares Book · ~200 pages · Starting Up Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers Gabriel Weinberg, Justin Mares
19. Krish Subramanian describes trying to serve all customers early on, losing the specific insight Chargebee was actually built... YourStory Article · ~10 min read · Starting Up How Chargebee stayed focused before expanding customer segments YourStory
20. The foundational marketing text on owning a specific position in a specific customer's mind rather than trying to be relevant... Al Ries and Jack Trout Book · ~200 pages · Starting Up Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind Al Ries, Jack Trout
21. Revella more or less codified the term "buyer persona" for B2B, and this free manifesto is her own definition, not someone... Adele Revella, Buyer Persona Institute Essay · Starting Up The Buyer Persona Manifesto Adele Revella, Buyer Persona Institute
22. A clean, direct side by side of the two terms our question is about, written for people who actually have to use both in a... Total Product Marketing Article · Starting Up ICP vs. Buyer Persona: What's the Difference? Total Product Marketing
23. Close built its whole early sales motion around a narrow ICP, and this guide gives you the actual firmographic fields (company... Close Article · Starting Up How to Create an Ideal Customer Profile for B2B Leads (ICP Guide) Close
24. Graham lays out why the users who need you most, not the ones who are easiest to please, are the ones worth building for. It... Paul Graham Essay · Starting Up What I've Learned from Users Paul Graham

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