Course · ~7-week self-paced course

Startup School, Free Startup Course

Y Combinator Free Beginner

The best free on-ramp for founders who feel 'too early' for a funded accelerator, it distils YC's thinking into a structured course and, critically, includes the largest co-founder matching platform anywhere. It builds the proof and the team you'll need before you ever apply for equity money.

  • A free ~7-week course (1-2 hours/week) with video lessons from YC partners on MVPs, funding, growth and launching.
  • Access to the world's largest co-founder matching platform, with 100,000+ matches made.
  • Includes a weekly update tool to track your growth and hold yourself accountable.
  • Built for anyone at the earliest stages, turning a side project into a company, or exploring whether to found at all.
Open on startupschool.org ↗

It answers 13 questions

  1. Should I join an incubator or an accelerator, and which one?
  2. Should I take a job first or start a startup right now?
  3. Should I solve a problem I personally have, or chase a bigger market?
  4. When should I quit, before or after I have traction?
  5. How do I get into YC or a top accelerator, what do they actually look for?
  6. Is the equity an accelerator takes worth it?
  7. Can I build on the side while employed without getting into legal trouble?
  8. I have deep expertise but no startup skills, what do I learn first?
  9. I have deep experience but only as an employee, never a founder. Does that still count as founder-market fit?
  10. How do I know if my idea is actually worth quitting my job for?
  11. I'm still at the idea stage with no team, am I too early for any of this?
  12. How much should an MVP realistically cost to build in India?

And 1 more across the hub.

Read with it

  1. The single best thing ever written on customer conversations. It teaches you to ask about the customer's life and past... momtestbook.com Book · ~130 pages The Mom Test Rob Fitzpatrick
  2. The definitive essay on where good ideas come from: notice problems you personally have, don't force it. Use it as the lens for... paulgraham.com Essay · ~20 min read How to Get Startup Ideas Paul Graham
  3. The permission slip to recruit users by hand, do things manually, and deliver 'insanely great' experiences to your first few... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read Do Things That Don't Scale Paul Graham
  4. The canonical primary source on the mindset shift before you start up, Graham's Stanford lecture directly addresses whether you... paulgraham.com Essay · ~6,000 words Before the Startup Paul Graham
  5. The book that gave the world 'MVP', 'build-measure-learn', and 'validated learning'. It reframes a startup as a series of... theleanstartup.com Book · ~330 pages The Lean Startup Eric Ries
  6. The essay that put 'product-market fit' into the startup vocabulary. Read it for the gut-level description of what PMF feels... pmarchive.com Essay · ~15 min read The Only Thing That Matters Marc Andreessen
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