Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. If a developer already built your code in their own account, this is the official step-by-step for moving the repository to... GitHub Docs Tool · Starting Up Transferring a Repository GitHub
4. 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
5. 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
6. 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
7. 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
8. Video · 58 min · Starting Up Startup Mechanics (Stanford CS183F) Kirsty Nathoo
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. A free, editable IP assignment template you can adapt as a starting point rather than facing a blank page. Use it to see the... Contractbook Template · Starting Up Intellectual Property (IP) Assignment Template Contractbook
12. 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
13. 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
14. The timing principle you actually need: do not hire ahead of real, sustained pain, hire when the pain is constant and you have... REWORK by 37signals Podcast · 30 min · Starting Up Hire When It Hurts Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
15. 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
16. 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
17. 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
18. 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
19. A ready starting point for the job post you will need the day you commit to hiring, so you are not staring at a blank page. It... Yardstick Template · template · Starting Up Founding Engineer Job Description Template Yardstick
20. 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
21. 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
22. 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
23. 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
24. 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

Show the next 24