Article · 10 min read

YC's Essential Startup Advice

Geoff Ralston, Michael Seibel · Michael Seibel (michaelseibel.com) Free Beginner

A tight distillation of what YC drills into every batch, with launch quickly and iterate as a core plank. It is the checklist version of everything above, useful for a fast gut-check on whether you are building the right habits. Read it early and return to it whenever you feel yourself drifting into perfectionism.

  • Launch quickly, then improve based on real usage
  • Build something a small number of users love before scaling
  • Talk to users continuously, not just at launch
Open on michaelseibel.com ↗

It answers 4 questions

  1. How often should an early-stage startup ship?
  2. I'm passionate about an idea but have zero background in it. Should I still do it?
  3. Should I worry that my market is already crowded with competitors?
  4. I'm a student with no work experience. Can I have founder-market fit at all, or should I wait?

Read with it

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  3. 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
  4. The nuanced counterweight: PMF isn't a single binary moment, it can be lost, and 'market' is doing more work than founders... a16z.com Article · ~20 min read 12 Things About Product-Market Fit Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)
  5. 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
  6. 200+ candid conversations with Indian founders and investors on how they actually found their idea, spotted a trend, and... Apple Podcasts Podcast · podcast series (45-90 min episodes) The Neon Show (formerly 100x Entrepreneur) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
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