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. A short, free primer straight from the person who coined the term, useful when someone on your team thinks an MVP just means a... Lean Startup Co. Article · ~8 min read What Is an MVP? Eric Ries Explains Eric Ries In 4 answers
  2. A clean, practical playbook for the mechanics: where to place the door, what to measure, and how to avoid annoying the people... Learning Loop Article · ~12 min read Fake Door Testing: What It Is and How to Run One Learning Loop In 4 answers
  3. The qualitative half of the answer, told through founders describing the moment things flipped: inbound you cannot keep up... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~2,000 words What it feels like when you've found product-market fit Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  4. A useful correction for founders chasing a market-wide 40 percent before a single cohort loves the product. The authors argue... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Article · ~2,000 words Product-User Fit Comes Before Product-Market Fit Peter Lauten and David Ulevitch In 4 answers
  5. Validation in B2B bleeds straight into early sales, and this answers the real questions founders hit when they start selling to... First Round Review Article · 18 min read The Most Common Go-to-Market Questions This Expert Gets from Early Founders Emery Rosansky (First Round Review) In 4 answers
  6. Lenny interviewed dozens of people who built Airbnb, DoorDash, Thumbtack, Etsy, and Uber, then distilled how they actually got... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~25 min read How to Kickstart and Scale a Marketplace Business (Part 1) Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  7. Ramanujam argues that putting willingness to pay at the very centre of product design, before you build, is what separates... First Round Review Article It's Price Before Product. Period. Madhavan Ramanujam In 4 answers
  8. Cohen bootstrapped two companies past a hundred million in revenue, and he is blunt that a typical launch converts around one... A Smart Bear (Jason Cohen) Essay · 15 min read Excuse Me, Is There a Problem? Jason Cohen In 4 answers
  9. The other side of the question, honestly told, including when a coordinated launch is actually the wrong move. It shows how... Lenny's Newsletter Article · 15 min read How to Successfully Launch on Product Hunt (When It's Right for Your Startup) Leo Bosuener In 4 answers
  10. A practical, structured playbook for the exact fear in this question: users quietly leaking away. Lenny breaks retention into... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~15 min read How to Increase Your Product's Retention Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  11. Context on how Indian founders are actually using no-code to launch without engineering teams, with real examples. It is useful... KrASIA Article Indian Founders Say Yes to No-Code Tools Shreya Asopa In 4 answers
  12. Once no-code has carried you to traction, this is a grounded guide to building the early team you eventually need, including... Lenny's Newsletter Article Hiring your early team Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  13. A free, fast preview of the Refactoring UI mindset that you can apply this afternoon. It gives you seven fixes (use more white... Refactoring UI (Medium) Article · 10 min read 7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger In 4 answers
  14. A deep, practitioner heavy set of guides from operators who built strong technical teams from scratch, useful once you commit... First Round Review Article · long read Hiring engineers First Round Review In 4 answers
  15. Finding a great engineer is only half the battle when everyone is competing for them, and this piece is about the other half:... Y Combinator Startup Library Article · Medium read Convincing engineers to join your team Y Combinator In 4 answers
  16. A venture firm's field guide to engineering hiring for founders, covering the full arc from defining the role to sourcing,... CRV Article · Long read How to Hire Engineers: A Guide for Founders CRV In 4 answers
  17. A clean primer if you have never run a test. It defines the three pieces that matter (a facilitator who does not lead,... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~12 min read Usability Testing 101 Kate Moran In 4 answers
  18. A tight distillation of what YC drills into every batch, with launch quickly and iterate as a core plank. It is the checklist... Michael Seibel (michaelseibel.com) Article · 10 min read YC's Essential Startup Advice Geoff Ralston, Michael Seibel In 4 answers
  19. A transcript of a real switch interview so you can hear what a great customer conversation actually sounds like. Reading it... Jobs to be Done Radio Article The Jobs to be Done Mattress Interview Jobs to be Done Radio In 4 answers
  20. Cagan argues your job is to deliver outcomes, not to maintain a prioritized list of everyone's requests. That is the backbone... Silicon Valley Product Group (Marty Cagan) Essay · 10 min read Product Roadmaps Marty Cagan In 4 answers
  21. A counterweight for when you overcorrect into safe, small, derivative ideas. Graham describes why the biggest ideas often feel... Paul Graham (paulgraham.com) Essay · ~12 min read Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas Paul Graham In 4 answers
  22. A side-by-side of both methods that makes clear why you use bottom-up as your primary number and top-down only as a rough... Waveup Article · 14 min read Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Market Size Calculation Waveup In 4 answers
  23. The hype cycle names the exact trap in your question: the peak of inflated expectations, the trough of disillusionment, then... Gartner Article · 10 min read Gartner Hype Cycle Research Methodology Gartner In 4 answers
  24. Kelly's argument is that some technological directions carry their own momentum, so you can reason about where things are... Kevin Kelly (kk.org) Book · 336 pages The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future Kevin Kelly In 4 answers

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 →