Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. Elaine Wherry posted a fake engineer profile, got hit by 382 recruiters, and dissected every message, so this is a real... First Round Review Article · 20 min read · Starting Up The Inside Story of How 382 Recruiters Pursued an Imaginary Engineer First Round Review
2. This is the single best playbook for the exact call you are dreading: the candidate has a bigger offer and you have to close... First Round Review Article · 18 min read · Starting Up Make Stronger Offers to Engineering Candidates and Boost Your Closes Adil Ajmal (CTO, LendingHome), via First Round Review
3. This is the mechanics-and-speed piece: it makes the case that your unfair advantage against a big company is turnaround time,... Gem Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Startup Hiring 101: A Founder's Guide, Part 19, Selling and Closing Gem (recruiting team, drawing on Y Combinator talks)
4. This is the operational manual, not a theory piece: it lists the exact paper trail Indian courts look for (appointment letter,... Corrida Legal Article · 18 min read · Starting Up Probation and Confirmation Policy for Indian Companies: A Practical Drafting Guide for Employers Corrida Legal
5. A plain-language read on the legal footing itself: it explains that a probationer has no lien on the job, so termination during... IndiaFilings Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Understanding Probation Period in Employment Services IndiaFilings
6. Section 8 (Flubbing the onboarding process) names the exact failure mode in the question: founders assume a strong hire is a... a16z Article · 18 min read · Starting Up 10 hiring mistakes early stage founders make (and how to avoid them) a16z crypto talent team
7. Written for the Indian startup reality where most onboarding stops after day one and the hire quietly checks out in weeks two... Springworks Article · 14 min read · Starting Up Employee Onboarding Best Practices: What Actually Works for Growing Indian Startups Springworks
8. A serial founder makes the exact call you should make for your first seats: hire generalists until product-market fit, because... Mean CEO (STARTUP POV) Essay · 14 min read · Starting Up Generalists vs. Specialists: Which Should You Hire First in Your Startup? Violetta Bonenkamp
9. A ready-to-use question bank grouped by the traits that separate a generalist first hire from a specialist: adaptability,... DigitalOcean Article · 15 min read · Starting Up 40 Startup Interview Questions to Ask Potential Hires DigitalOcean
10. Lemkin gives you the exact sequencing this question needs: close 10 to 20 customers yourself first, then hire two reps (not... SaaStr Article · 6 min read · Starting Up Dear SaaStr: When Should a Startup Hire its First Sales Person, and What Should Their Profile Look Like? Jason Lemkin
11. Your early rep has to hunt cold, not coast on warm inbound, and this piece hands you the concrete tells: the true hunter chases... Peak Sales Recruiting Article · 9 min read · Starting Up Hunter vs. Farmer in Sales: Empowering Your Team for Long-Term Success Peak Sales Recruiting
12. This is the India-specific explainer you hand a candidate who has never held equity. It defines pool, vesting (typically 3 to 4... Razorpay Article · 15 min read · Starting Up ESOP for Startups in India: Benefits, Legal Framework, Costs, & Taxation Razorpay Learn
13. The canonical answer to the sequencing question: do not hire a go-to-market specialist before you know what drives growth.... First Round Review Article · 15 min read · Starting Up When to Make Your First Sales Hire: Expert Guide for Startup Founders First Round Review
14. The most concrete guide on the specific role our answer names: the founder's associate, the high-agency generalist you hire to... Jumpstart Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Startup Guide to Hiring a Founder's Associate Jumpstart
15. This is the India proof of the answer's edge: great people in smaller cities are underpriced and overlooked, and hiring them is... Zoho Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Rural Revival: building world-class products from small towns Sridhar Vembu / Zoho
16. This is the India-specific pre-day-one checklist you actually run down: it names the offer letter and employment contract (with... ClearTax Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Recruiting Your First Few Employees ClearTax
17. This is the direct answer to the 'can't I just run them as a consultant on invoices?' temptation. It lays out the control,... Deel Article · 12 min read · Starting Up India Employee Misclassification: Risks and Best Practices Deel
18. Lopp ran People Ops at Palantir and Pinterest, and his one non-negotiable rule is the one that saves a five-person team: a... First Round Review Article · 18 min read · Starting Up The Best Approach to the Worst Conversation: How to Fire Someone Michael Lopp (Rands)
19. Dalgaard, who founded SuccessFactors and sold it to SAP for 3.7 billion dollars, makes the case you need to actually pull the... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Essay · 12 min read · Starting Up It's Never Too Early to Fire Lars Dalgaard
20. The canonical piece for avoiding exactly the vanity-title trap you warn against. It caps the role at about 20% admin work (so... a16z Article · 15 min read · Starting Up How to Hire a Chief of Staff Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
21. This is the reference implementation of your thesis: the handbook IS the process, not a description of it. GitLab's rule that... GitLab Handbook Article · browse 30 min · Starting Up The GitLab Handbook (and the Handbook-First Approach) GitLab
22. This is the 'why does nobody read our handbook' guide, and it names the real failure mode: fewer than 1 in 20 docs get updated... Slite Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Internal Documentation: How to Build Docs Your Team Actually Reads Slite
23. This is the anti-overspend stack argued out loud: Google Workspace, Notion free, Google Chat, Canva free, one accounting tool,... Medium Article · 9 min read · Starting Up The SaaS Tools I'd Give Every New Startup on Day One Jackki Ashgrove
24. This is the India-specific answer to which HR and payroll tools founders actually run: it names Keka, Zoho People, and... Razorpay Rize Article · 14 min read · Starting Up HR Policies: Best Practices For Start-Ups In India Razorpay Rize

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