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. The audio version goes deeper on the practical mistakes: unequal splits that breed resentment, forgetting vesting, and treating... Y Combinator Startup School Podcast · 35 min Co-Founder Equity Mistakes to Avoid Michael Seibel
  2. Kanstein built and sold three products without writing code, and here he talks through how to validate an idea with no-code... Indie Hackers Podcast, episode 160 Podcast · 60 min Validating and Building Your Ideas Without Code with Bram Kanstein Courtland Allen and Bram Kanstein
  3. A balanced take from experienced founders on where no-code genuinely helps and where it bites you later. It is honest about the... Startups For The Rest Of Us, episode 642 Podcast · 35 min The Pros and Cons of Building a No-Code MVP Rob Walling and Tara Reed
  4. 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 Hire When It Hurts Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  5. A short listen on why defaulting to real-time communication quietly hurts a team, from the people who run Basecamp remotely. It... 37signals REWORK Podcast · ~30 min episode The Wrong Time for Real Time (REWORK podcast) 37signals
  6. Written directly for the non-technical founder trying to tell whether engineering is on track, which is the heart of this... Tech for Non-Techies Podcast How to lead a development team when you're not technical Sophia Matveeva
  7. Baxley led design at Apple and Pinterest, and here he talks about craft and the obligation to reduce the friction people feel... Lenny's Podcast (Bob Baxley) Podcast · ~90 min episode 35 Years of Product Design Wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest, and Beyond Lenny Rachitsky and Bob Baxley
  8. A conversational episode with a Google advocate on low bandwidth design and data cost, good for absorbing the mindset while... Designer vs Developer (Google) Podcast · 30 min Sam Dutton on designing for the next billion users Google
  9. 37signals on finding the one thing your product cannot exist without, and building that first. It is the sharpest version of... REWORK, 37signals Podcast Start at the Epicenter Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson
  10. A relaxed conversation with a working UX writer about how interface words get made at a real product company, including button... Intercom (Inside Intercom podcast) Podcast · ~30 min Dropbox's John Saito on the role of writing in experience design John Saito with Intercom
  11. Pratilipi built India's largest vernacular storytelling platform across a dozen languages, and its founder walks through what... The Neon Show Podcast · 46 min Ranjeet Pratap Singh on the story and culture of Pratilipi Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  12. ShareChat built a social product for 15 plus Indian languages from launch, not as a later add on, and this episode gets into... The Ashish Sinha Show Podcast · ~40 min Building for Bharat: ShareChat's Group Product Manager Ashish Sinha
  13. Short episodes on specific data communication problems, including decluttering and focusing attention, that you can listen to... Storytelling with Data Podcast · Episodes 20 to 40 min Storytelling with Data Podcast Cole Nussbaumer Knaflic
  14. Doshi is unusually sharp on why most execution problems are really prioritization and strategy problems in disguise. You get... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 90 min Shreyas Doshi on pre-mortems, the LNO framework, and prioritization Shreyas Doshi
  15. The audio companion to the essay, where the 37signals team argues the point with real examples from running their own company.... REWORK by 37signals Podcast · ~25 min Planning is Guessing (REWORK podcast) 37signals
  16. A deep interview where Singer explains the reasoning behind Shape Up, especially why the word bet was chosen to put risk back... The Changelog Podcast · ~70 min Shaping, betting, and building (Changelog Interviews #357) Ryan Singer
  17. Traynor explains how Intercom stopped sorting feedback by what was said and started sorting it by the job the customer was... Jobs-to-be-Done Radio Podcast Des Traynor on Jobs-to-be-Done & Intercom Des Traynor
  18. Fried makes the case for saying no to most requests and letting them pile up, so only the ones that keep recurring earn... Intercom Podcast Basecamp's Jason Fried on product strategy Jason Fried
  19. The 37signals team makes the case for doing fewer things extremely well rather than many things adequately. It is the audio... REWORK by 37signals Podcast · ~25 min Build Half a Product, Not a Half-Assed Product Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  20. The Make Time authors walk through how they actually defend a daily Highlight and fight the pull of reactive work, in... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · ~1 hour episode Making time for what matters (Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky) Lenny Rachitsky
  21. The founders of 37signals (Basecamp) explain how they built tools for their own problems without focus groups or market... REWORK by 37signals Podcast · 25 min Scratch Your Own Itch Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
  22. An Indian founder podcast episode about the messy stage before you commit, which Aditya Agarwal calls minus one. It treats... The Neon Show Podcast · ~60 min Where Founders Take Figuring Out as Seriously as Building (South Park Commons) Siddhartha Ahluwalia
  23. A focused conversation on how consumer motivation and trust differ between India and the West, and what that means for which... Return on India podcast Podcast · ~1 hr Kunal Shah: Exploring Consumer Psychology (Return on India) Return on India and Kunal Shah
  24. A conversational walkthrough of how to move from a hunch to a tested idea quickly, good for a commute when you do not want to... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · podcast episode Rapidly Test and Validate Any Startup Idea Lenny Rachitsky

Show the next 24

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
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →