Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. This is the founder-sized version of Radical Candor: a four-step order of operations (Get, Give, Gauge, Encourage) that starts... Radical Candor Article · 15 min read · Starting Up How to Get and Give Feedback Using the Radical Candor Order of Operations Kim Scott (Radical Candor team)
2. Written by a manager who has actually done it, so it reads like a playbook, not theory: prep your talking points in bullets,... Medium (The Innovation) Article · 9 min read · Starting Up How to Fire Someone With Dignity Shannon Z
3. The India-specific money mechanics of an exit, laid out by a payroll company that processes them daily. It itemizes exactly... Razorpay Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Full and Final Settlement (FnF): All You Need to Know Razorpay Payroll
4. This is the honest post-mortem, not the launch hype. Buffer ran fully public salaries for a decade (17 to 75 people) and this... Buffer Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Reflecting on a Decade of Transparent Salaries at Buffer Courtney Seiter and the Buffer team
5. The definitive playbook for saying hard news first and plainly. Steinberg (People lead at Sennder, ex-Zynga/Facebook) is... First Round Review Article · 20 min read · Starting Up How to Lead and Rally a Company Through a Layoff Beth Steinberg (interviewed by First Round)
6. Salary transparency made real in the Indian ecosystem: named founder comp across 65 founders at 37 companies. It shows the... Inc42 Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Founder Salaries Tracker FY25: How Much Did Startup Founders Earn? Inc42 Data Labs
7. GitLab runs 2,000+ people across 60+ countries with zero headquarters, so their handbook is the closest thing to a field manual... The GitLab Handbook Article · 45 min read · Starting Up GitLab's Guide to All-Remote GitLab
8. This is a real, published pay formula, not opinion: Salary = (SF 50th-percentile benchmark x cost-of-living multiplier x role... Buffer Article · 15 min read · Starting Up The Next Evolution of Transparent Salaries: Our Remote-First Formula and Salary Calculator Buffer
9. Before you lock in location-based bands, read the honest case against them: this lays out where cost-of-living pay breeds... Sifted Article · 10 min read · Starting Up Should you earn less because you live somewhere cheaper? Sifted
10. Your answer says 'write the decision, the reasoning, and who owns it in one place', and this is the copy-paste template for... GitHub Template · 30 min read · Starting Up Decision Record: how to initiate and complete decisions for teams Joel Parker Henderson
11. Written by a two-time exited founder who now coaches CEOs, this maps almost exactly onto our answer: split business focus... Matt Munson (2x exited founder, CEO coach) Essay · 14 min read · Starting Up How to Plan a Great Team Offsite Matt Munson
12. This is the missing India cost context: real rupee numbers for a distributed team that can drive out of Mumbai instead of... StayVista Journal Article · 12 min read · Starting Up Corporate Offsite Destinations Near Mumbai: Where to Go, What to Spend and How to Plan StayVista Editorial
13. This breaks down the four things you will run monthly (TDS under Section 192, PF via UAN, ESI for sub-21,000 wages, PT capped... Razorpay Article · 15 min read · Starting Up Payroll Compliance: PF, ESI, PT and TDS Explained RazorpayX Payroll
14. POSH is the compliance founders skip until a complaint or a diligence checklist forces it, and this is a clean, dedicated... greytHR Article · 12 min read · Starting Up POSH Act Explained: Full Form, Meaning and Compliance Guide greytHR
15. Doist runs a 100+ person team across every time zone with 80-90% of communication written, and this piece is their playbook... Doist / Twist Article · 18 min read · Starting Up Asynchronous Communication: The Real Reason Why Remote Workers Are More Productive Doist
16. Newport diagnoses exactly why distributed teams end up always waiting on the founder: the hyperactive hive mind of ad hoc Slack... calnewport.com Essay · 12 min read · Starting Up On Productivity and Remote Work Cal Newport
17. This is the exact scene you are dreading, in Indian parents' own words. Vineeta Singh (SUGAR) turned down a lucrative offer and... Humans of Bombay Article · 8 min read · Starting Up 5 Indian startup stories: founders who turned down the safe job and faced the family they had to answer to Humans of Bombay
18. Kamath built Zerodha with zero VC, so his advice is un-hyped and unusually honest for an Indian founder of his stature. He blew... nithinkamath.me Essay · Varies (essay collection) · Starting Up Nithin Kamath: musings on risk, quitting, and the thin line between passion and foolishness Nithin Kamath
19. This is the runway-and-plan-B ammunition you can literally quote to your parents. Adam Grant's research found founders who kept... tampham.co Article · 6 min read · Starting Up Don't quit your job to start a business (Adam Grant's research on de-risking the bet) Adam Grant (research), summarized
20. This is the clearest naming of the exact trap in the question: Gorman, a therapist who works with founders, calls it identity... Ingmar Gorman (psychotherapist for entrepreneurs) Article · 10 min read · Starting Up When the Startup Becomes You: Burnout, Founders' Identity, and Therapy for Entrepreneurs Ingmar Gorman, PhD
21. Colonna is the VC-turned-coach founders actually trust on this, and here he tells it from the inside: after losing his... On Being Podcast · 51 min listen (full transcript available) · Starting Up Can You Really Bring Your Whole Self to Work? (Jerry Colonna) Jerry Colonna, interviewed by Krista Tippett
22. This is the piece that proves burnout is an operations problem, not a mood. Saxena's line is the whole distinction you need:... First Round Review Article · 14 min read · Starting Up Practical Frameworks for Beating Burnout Roli Saxena (interviewed by First Round Review)
23. The rare founder account of hitting the wall and recovering without stepping away from the company. El-Hage burned out in years... First Round Review Podcast · 30 min read · Starting Up The First-Time Founder's Guide to Learning Everything the Hard Way Steve El-Hage, founder and CEO of Drop
24. India's most respected bootstrapped founder built the exact week-level defenses this answer argues for, and runs a company of... Business Today Article · 5 min read · Starting Up Zerodha's Nithin Kamath stops all work chats after 6 pm; here's why Business Today staff, reporting Nithin Kamath

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