Starting Up

The resources founders actually use.

Every essay, video, podcast, book and tool behind 1,046 answered founder questions, in one place, each with a note on why it is here.

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

  1. Melanie Perkins spent years teaching design software to students before she ever started a company, and Canva came straight out... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · ~90 min The woman behind Canva shares how she built a $42B company from nothing (Melanie Perkins) Lenny Rachitsky
  2. This is a grounded India show where founder Gauri Devidayal interviews women who built real companies (ZestMoney in fintech,... Ladies who Lead Podcast · ~30 min per episode Women on Top in India Gauri Devidayal
  3. Michael Goldberg's series is built entirely around founders and ecosystems away from the famous hubs, from Cleveland to... Case Western Reserve University (Beyond Silicon Valley) Podcast · ~7 episodes, ~30 min each Beyond Silicon Valley Michael Goldberg
  4. Russ Fradin has started and sold companies across more than 30 years, so he is exactly the person to ask whether past wins... A Product Market Fit Show Podcast · ~46 min He walked away from $5M ARR, then built a $50M company (Russ Fradin, Founder of Larridin) Russ Fradin
  5. Nitesh Salvi went from late-night poker games in his student dorm to building one of India's larger poker platforms, which is... The Indian Startup Show Podcast · ~1 hr Nitesh Salvi, Founder & CEO of Pocket52, on building India's largest poker platform Neil Patel (host)
  6. A demo that works once on stage and a system that holds up for real users are two very different things, and this conversation... AI + a16z Podcast · ~45 min Building Production Workflows for AI Applications Tony Holdstock-Brown, Yoko Li and Derrick Harris
  7. This is the India-specific version of the question: Kabeer Biswas started Dunzo in 2014 as literally a WhatsApp group, used it... Prime Venture Partners Podcast Podcast · ~30 min Creating Magical Experiences with Kabeer Biswas, CEO & Founder Dunzo Sanjay Swamy
  8. When the conversations you want are happening in metro coffee shops you are not in, listen to the ones being recorded instead.... CIIE.CO Podcast · ~20 to 30 min per episode Build For Bharat Bharat Inclusion Initiative, CIIE.CO
  9. This is the India-specific version of the same lesson: a founder-led conversation about the Account Aggregator framework and... Fintech Ki Baat Podcast · ~45 min Deep dive into India's Account Aggregator ecosystem (Fintech Ki Baat, with the founder of SAAFE) Shreyas Jani (host), with Venkatesh Krishnamoorti (SAAFE.in)
  10. This is the canonical show for founders who chose open source as more than a license: as the way people find, try, and trust... Open Source Startup Podcast Podcast · ~40 to 60 min per episode Open Source Startup Podcast Robby (MTF) and Tim (Essence VC)
  11. Ben Tossell built MakerPad, one of the best-known no-code education businesses (he sold it to Zapier), so this is a first-hand... Mixergy Podcast AI Made a No-Code Founder Into a Coder (Ben Tossell interview) Andrew Warner
  12. The in-house versus agency timing call is easier to make once you hear founders describe how their own team came together, and... SeedToScale Podcast · Ongoing series, episodes roughly 30 to 60 minutes SeedToScale, Curated by Accel Accel (hosted by Anand Daniel)
  13. Frameworks are useful, but sometimes you just want to hear how real founding teams actually got through a hard disagreement.... Apple Podcasts Podcast · Episodes ~30 to 60 min How I Met My Co-Founder Annie Garofalo
  14. This is the rare show built entirely for founders who are shipping a product without being the one who writes the code. Host... Tech for Non-Techies Podcast · Ongoing, ~30 to 45 min episodes Tech for Non-Techies Sophia Matveeva
  15. This is the real founder story behind the meme: Chesky and his cofounder flew to New York and knocked on hosts' doors, then... Masters of Scale Podcast Airbnb's Brian Chesky in Handcrafted (Masters of Scale) Reid Hoffman (host), with Brian Chesky
  16. SaaSBoomi is the community of Indian SaaS founders, and its Deep-Dive episodes are founders talking plainly about how they... SaaSBoomi Podcast SaaSBoomi Podcast (A Founder's Deep-Dive) Suresh Sambandam
  17. Marc Lou built and launched more than ten products in a year, so nobody has more lived data on what launching over and over... Indie Hackers Podcast (episode 272) Podcast · About 52 minutes Escape Rooms, Side Project Marketing, and Getting to Ramen Profitable with Marc Lou Courtland Allen and Channing Allen (with Marc Lou)
  18. Most founder podcasts only interview winners, so you never hear how someone talked about a product that died and then tried... Failory Podcast · 15 episodes, roughly 30 to 60 minutes each The Failory Podcast: Candid Talks with Failed Startup Founders Failory
  19. Jason Lemkin has watched more SaaS companies win and lose enterprise deals than almost anyone, and here he is blunt with... The Official SaaStr Podcast Podcast SaaStr Podcast #175: Jason Lemkin on How To Approach Long Sales Cycles Harry Stebbings and Jason Lemkin
  20. This is the closest thing to hearing Indian SaaS founders talk shop about actually selling in India, hosted by Suresh Sambandam... SaaSBoomi Podcast SaaSBoomi (Founder's Deep Dive with Suresh Sambandam) SaaSBoomi (host Suresh Sambandam)
  21. Hosted by Roshni Baronia, one of India's first women to run a sales podcast, this is founder-led selling from people who felt... Apple Podcasts Podcast · ongoing series, roughly 20 to 40 minute episodes Ace the Sales: Simplifying Selling for Women Entrepreneurs Roshni Baronia
  22. This is a long-running show built specifically for founders doing their own selling into big accounts, before they have a sales... Apple Podcasts Podcast · ~30 to 45 min episodes Startup Selling: Talking Sales with Scott Sambucci Scott Sambucci
  23. A long, unscripted interview where Steli Efti walks through the real mechanics of his own first sales hires at Close, including... Mixergy Podcast · 40 min Case Study: Hiring a salesperson Steli Efti
  24. Postman started with real bias against the idea that a global developer product could come out of India, and Asthana talks... First Round Review (In Depth) Podcast · 50 min From Chrome extension to $5B platform | Postman's journey Abhinav Asthana

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Playbooks

A goal, and the route through it a step at a time.

Find an idea worth pursuing Spot problems worth solving and find the one that actually fits you. 4 steps Validate before you build Get real evidence people want it before you write a line of code. 4 steps Understand your customers Talk to real users, define who you're for, and read the market clearly. 4 steps From idea to first customers The idea-stage spine: find a problem, prove it, talk to customers, and land the first ten. 4 steps Build an MVP without code Ship a first version with no-code tools before you hire anyone. 4 steps Build and launch your first product Turn a validated idea into something real people can use. 6 steps Find and work with developers Hire, brief, and work with builders without getting burned. 4 steps Name and brand your startup Name it, design an identity, and say what it does in a line. 3 steps Build a landing page that converts A page that loads fast, earns trust, and turns visitors into signups. 4 steps Get your first customers The scrappy, unscalable work of going from zero to your first paying users. 5 steps Sell it yourself, founder-led Reach out, run the conversation, and close before you have a sales team. 4 steps Grow with content and SEO Compound reach with content, search, and a founder audience. 3 steps Grow with paid ads Spend that returns: the channels, metrics, and loops behind it. 4 steps Price and package your product Charge for value, package it right, and check the numbers work. 3 steps Bootstrap instead of raising Fund growth from revenue, and keep control of your company. 4 steps Raise your first round Understand the game before you pitch: whether to raise, from whom, and on what terms. 5 steps Find a co-founder, split equity Find the right partner and split equity without regret. 3 steps Set up the company right Incorporate, split equity, protect your IP, and make your first hires. 4 steps Survive founder life Mindset, burnout, the leap, and the parts nobody warns you about. 5 steps Build in India The India-specific playbook: schemes, government, enterprise, and the local market. 5 steps

The questions founders start with

I want to start a startup but I don't have an idea. Where do I even begin? Stop hunting for a billion-dollar idea and start collecting problems. The best ideas come from noticing things that annoy you or people around you ... Beginner 19 resources → What does 'validating an idea' actually mean? Validation is gathering real-world evidence that a specific group of people has a painful problem AND will change their behaviour (pay, sign up, sw... Beginner 20 resources → Do I actually need a co-founder, or can I go solo? You don't strictly need one, but the data says teams outlast solos: complementary skills, shared load, and someone to argue you out of bad calls al... Beginner 3 resources → What actually counts as an MVP, and what's the smallest one I can get away with? An MVP is the least you can build (or fake) to test your single riskiest assumption, not a shrunken version of your dream product. Ask 'what's the ... Beginner 20 resources → How do I talk to customers without them just telling me what I want to hear? Stop pitching and start interrogating their past. Ask about what they actually did last time the problem hit, what it cost them, and what they trie... Beginner 23 resources → How do I actually get my first 10 customers when nobody has heard of me? You go get them by hand, one at a time, email people you already know, people your investors/friends know, and strangers in the exact niche you're ... Beginner 19 resources → How do I decide how much to charge for my product? Stop guessing and stop pricing off your costs, price off the value the customer gets and their willingness to pay. Talk to customers about pricing,... Beginner 3 resources → Should I raise venture capital or bootstrap my startup? Raise VC only if your business needs a big pile of cash to reach escape velocity before someone else does, and if a 10x-in-a-few-years outcome is g... Beginner 3 resources →

Questions for your situation

The Aspiring Founder The Idea-Stage Founder The Builder The Launcher The Grower The Student Founder The Indie Hacker The Technical Solo Founder The Non-Technical Founder The Domain Expert The Women Founder The Anywhere Founder The Corporate Switcher The Repeat Founder
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