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. This one is built on Gong's analysis of over 85 million cold emails, so the subject-line advice comes from real open and reply... 30 Minutes to President's Club Article 4 Data-Backed Subject Lines to Get Your Cold Emails Opened Jason Bay
  2. This is the India-specific legal picture from a global law firm, not a US or EU rulebook that a founder has to translate. It... DLA Piper Data Protection Laws of the World Article Electronic Marketing in India (Data Protection Laws of the World) DLA Piper
  3. If you email anyone outside India (US, EU, Canada), you need the cross-border basics in one place, and this guide puts... Instantly.ai Article GDPR, CAN-SPAM, and B2B Email List Compliance Hans Dekker
  4. This is the rare cold email guide that treats the first line as a research problem, not a template swap. It gives you a... Datablist Article · ~15 min read Cold Email First Lines: The Truth About What Works in 2025 Habib Benabdeslam
  5. This is the plain, do-it-yourself walkthrough to read before you pay for any tool. It covers the free manual routes (guessing... saleshandy.com Article How to Find Anyone's Email Address: 13 Methods That Work Saleshandy
  6. This is the honest benchmark most founders never get shown: Belkins analyzed 7.5 million cold emails and, crucially, switched... Belkins Article · ~15 min read What Are B2B Cold Email Response Rates? (2026 Study, 7.5M Emails) Belkins
  7. When replies are flat, most people go straight to subject lines and send times, and Alex Berman argues that is almost always... Alex Berman Essay · ~8 min read Cold Email Doesn't Fail, Your Offer Does Alex Berman
  8. This gives you a concrete cold email structure for the exact spot you are in: no case studies, so you lead by asking for... Medium Article · About a 10 minute read The Anatomy of an Effective Cold Email for Early Adopters Mert Hilmi Iseri
  9. This is the rare piece that treats the From field as a real decision instead of a footnote, walking through what a personal... Mailpool Article · ~10 min read Cold Email From Name Strategy: The Hidden Deliverability Lever Nobody Tests Hugo Pochet
  10. The clearest argument for why you, personally, should be the one doing early outreach and sales, which is exactly why using... Heavybit Essay · ~15 min read How to Run Founder-Led Sales (Adapted from Pete Kazanjy's Founding Sales) Walter Roth
  11. When you are cold emailing a big enterprise, the hardest part is not the wording, it is knowing who to write to. This piece... Disciplined Entrepreneurship (MIT) Article The Decision-Making Unit: The Who-is-Who of Your B2B Sales Process Matthias Hilpert and Martin Giese
  12. This is a founder-first checklist, not a generic sales listicle, so it names the errors you can catch in your own draft before... Polymail Blog Article · ~8 min read 10 Cold Email Mistakes Founders Still Make (And How to Fix Them) Pulin Thakkar
  13. Josh Braun spends his days tearing down cold emails, and here he flips the frame: he takes apart one real email that survived... joshbraun.com Essay · ~6 min read A Cold Email I Didn't Delete Josh Braun
  14. Cold outreach is one channel on a much bigger map, and Balfour explains why the channel that works for you is decided by your... brianbalfour.com Essay · About a 15 minute read Get Out of the ARPU-CAC Danger Zone with Channel Model Fit Brian Balfour
  15. This piece helps you time the shift: it names the handful of B2B growth channels, argues most of your early growth comes from... Lenny's Newsletter Article · About a 12 minute read Scaling your B2B growth engine Lenny Rachitsky
  16. A useful counterweight, written specifically to slow founders down before they hire. It names the false signals, feeling tired... Techstars Article · 8 min read Founders: Your First Sales Hire Is Probably a Mistake Techstars
  17. This is a step-by-step guide to actually running the pricing conversation with a customer, including the exact trap of asking... Kyle Poyar's Growth Unhinged Article How to have the talk with your customers Kyle Poyar's Growth Unhinged
  18. This is the answer to when do I stop following up. Steli Efti lays out how to send a final, respectful email that closes the... Close Article · 10 min read How to Write Breakup Emails for Sales Steli Efti

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 →