Every resource founders actually use, in one library.

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

1. 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
2. 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
3. If you're going to spend a big ask on a launch that really matters, this research tells you how to spend it well: in-person or... Harvard Business Review Article · ~6 min · Starting Up Need a Favor? Research Suggests It's Best to Ask In Person Mahdi Roghanizad and Vanessa Bohns
4. A fast, watchable version of the giver/taker/matcher framework if you don't have time for the full book. It's a good gut-check... TED Video · Starting Up Adam Grant: Are you a giver or a taker? Adam Grant
5. This is the piece that pushes you to write down your success number before you launch, exactly the discipline our answer asks... Y Combinator Startup Library Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Setting KPIs and Goals Y Combinator Startup Library
6. Balfour argues that a big, splashy launch to everyone actually hurts you: it buries the signal you need under noise from people... Brian Balfour Essay · 15 min read · Starting Up How To Launch A Product or Feature To Maximize Growth Brian Balfour
7. Video · 20 min · Starting Up How To Keep Your Users Y Combinator Startup School (YouTube)
8. The Naukri.com founder, using Zomato as the case study, makes the same case as our answer from an Indian boardroom: valuation... Forbes India Article · 8 min read · Starting Up Startups Must Move Away From Vanity Metrics Sanjeev Bikhchandani
9. Ivan Zhao talks in detail about the years Notion nearly died, including a full technical rewrite after the first version... Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · 1 hour 12 minutes · Starting Up Notion's lost years, its near collapse during Covid, staying small to move fast, the joy and suffering of building horizontal, more | Ivan Zhao (CEO and co-founder) Ivan Zhao, hosted by Lenny Rachitsky
10. Rand Fishkin writes with total candor about the mistakes, product failures, and eventual founder exit that shaped Moz, then... Penguin Random House Book · Starting Up Lost and Founder: A Painfully Honest Field Guide to the Startup World Rand Fishkin
11. A tight, practical checklist for the specific call type this question is about: the first real conversation with a prospect. It... Gong Article · ~8 min read · Starting Up 8 Things to Consider Before Your Next Discovery Call Gong Labs
12. Jason Lemkin makes the case that the person who ghosted you almost never made a conscious decision to ignore you, they just got... SaaStr Article · Starting Up VCs Don't Really Ghost You. They are Just Prospects. Treat Them as Such. Jason Lemkin
13. Video · Starting Up Never Split the Difference | Chris Voss | Talks at Google Chris Voss
14. A short, concrete story from Steli Efti about following up with a single unresponsive investor 48 times before finally getting... LinkedIn Article · Starting Up How I followed up with an investor 48 times Steli Efti
15. Gong analyzed tens of thousands of real sales calls and found that deals which felt like sure things often died quietly because... Gong Article · Starting Up Why Deals Fail to Close and How to Succeed Next Time Gong
16. A practical reference you can keep open during calls: real objections, like it's too expensive or I need to think about it,... HubSpot Article · Starting Up Objection Handling: 44 Common Sales Objections & How to Respond Mark Burdon
17. Two YC partners talk plainly about why founders who avoid rejection end up avoiding their customers altogether, and why the... Y Combinator Video · Starting Up Dalton & Michael: Successful founders are OK with rejection Y Combinator
18. A concrete framework, from a long-running sales training school, for making sure every call ends with a mutually agreed,... Sandler Training Article · Starting Up How to Ensure Every Call Ends with Next Steps Frank Gustafson
19. This is the practical, step by step version of the discovery call our answer says to run before you ever demo: what to ask, in... Close Article · ~15 min read · Starting Up 18 Steps to a Successful Discovery Call Close
20. Our answer's second half is about treating sales as a repeatable pipeline, not one-off calls, and that needs somewhere to write... HubSpot Tool · Starting Up HubSpot Pipeline Management HubSpot
21. Video · about 30 min · Starting Up The Cold Email Formula That Made Over $1,000,000 with Sam Parr Sam Parr
22. A short, specific essay on why leading with the customer's need, not your product, is what makes a pitch land, with a simple... Dave Bailey Essay · Starting Up How to Sell the Problem Before Selling the Solution Dave Bailey
23. Gong built this from analyzing hundreds of thousands of real sales emails, so the advice on what to put in a post-call recap,... Gong Article · 12 min read · Starting Up 6 Cold Email Follow-Ups that Speed Up Deals Gong
24. When you need the actual words for the same-day recap email, this gives you five ready structures for different types of calls,... HubSpot Template · 8 min read · Starting Up 5 Recap Email Templates to Use After Connect, Discovery, and Demo Calls HubSpot

Show the next 24