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. Erik Kennedy writes for engineers and founders who were never taught design, and his rules are unusually memorable (light comes... Learn UI Design (Erik Kennedy) Essay · 25 min read 7 Rules for Creating Gorgeous UI Erik D. Kennedy In 3 answers
  2. The classic that gives non, designers four principles they will use forever: contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.... Robin Williams (Peachpit) Book · 240 pages The Non-Designer's Design Book Robin Williams In 3 answers
  3. Facebook's former head of product design on what separates good design from decoration, which reframes polish as clarity and... The Year of the Looking Glass (Julie Zhuo) Essay · 8 min read Good Design Julie Zhuo In 3 answers
  4. Levels built profitable products almost entirely by himself, and this handbook is his blunt account of how a solo maker ships,... readmake.com Book · Digital handbook MAKE: The Indie Maker Blueprint Pieter Levels In 3 answers
  5. Blank's core idea, get out of the building, is the discipline that lets a non-technical founder create real value before... steveblank.com Article Customer Development: Get Out of the Building Steve Blank In 3 answers
  6. A simple, repeatable four-step method for making hiring decisions instead of going on gut feel, which is where costly mis-hires... Geoff Smart and Randy Street Book · Book, around 200 pages Who: The A Method for Hiring Geoff Smart and Randy Street In 3 answers
  7. The practical answer to a crowded screen: show the few things most people need first, and tuck the advanced options behind a... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read Progressive Disclosure Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
  8. This is the technique that turns watching into understanding. Ask users to narrate their thoughts while they work, and their... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~6 min read Thinking Aloud: The #1 Usability Tool Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
  9. Zerodha built one of India's most used products with a tiny team and a stubborn focus on simplicity over polish. Kamath's view... Inc42 Article · 15 minute read Instincts, People and Vision: Nithin Kamath on Zerodha's Product Secrets Inc42 In 3 answers
  10. Testing with the wrong five people teaches you nothing, so this piece helps you decide who your five should actually be.... Lenny's Newsletter Article Identify your bullseye customer in one day Michael Margolis In 3 answers
  11. Intercom's Jobs-to-be-Done writing shows how to ask what customers are hiring your product to do, which forces you to describe... Intercom Article · ~short book, free Understanding Jobs-to-be-Done Des Traynor, Intercom In 3 answers
  12. Shapiro gives you five specific things to monitor (technology, behavior, environment, regulation, distribution) so your... Julian Shapiro (Startup Handbook) Essay · 20 min read Finding Startup Ideas through Market Timing Julian Shapiro In 3 answers
  13. Written from an early-stage investor's chair, this walks the calculation with examples and is blunt that a bottom-up build... Antler Article TAM, SAM and SOM: How to Calculate the Size of Your Market Akshat Agarwal In 3 answers
  14. This one focuses squarely on the method your short answer champions, building TAM up from real customer counts and pricing... Qubit Capital Article Bottom-Up Market Sizing for Startups Qubit Capital In 3 answers
  15. A follow up that applies the idea maze to a wave many of you are riding right now. It shows how founders repeatedly chased the... cdixon.org Essay · 5 min read The idea maze for AI startups Chris Dixon In 3 answers
  16. Perez shows that real technological revolutions run on 50 year cycles with a predictable frenzy, a crash, and then a long... Goodreads Book · 224 pages Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital Carlota Perez In 3 answers
  17. Naval defines specific knowledge as the thing you cannot be trained for, built from your curiosity, obsessions, and the way you... Naval Essay · 6 min read Arm Yourself With Specific Knowledge Naval Ravikant In 3 answers
  18. An investor's view of why founder-market fit is a top filter at the earliest stage, when there is little else to judge. It... F2 Venture Capital Article · 8 min read Founder Market Fit Matters F2 VC In 3 answers
  19. This is about the unique insight half of 'why you': seeing a market others dismiss and having the conviction to build there. It... First Round Review Article · 20 min read Future Founders, Here's How to Spot and Build in Nonobvious Markets Elad Gil In 3 answers
  20. Intel's former CEO defines the "strategic inflection point," the moment a real shift changes the fundamentals of a business,... Andrew S. Grove (Penguin Random House) Book · Book (~210 pages) Only the Paranoid Survive Andrew S. Grove In 3 answers
  21. This is Product Hunt's own pre-launch checklist, covering exactly the assets you need lined up weeks ahead: gallery images,... Product Hunt Article Preparing for launch Product Hunt In 3 answers
  22. This breaks down how early sales teams actually build and work a target account list, including how to find contact information... First Round Review Article · 12 min read Designing Your Sales Stack so that Customers Come to You Max Altschuler and Jorge Soto In 3 answers
  23. A bootstrapped founder's step by step account of building a short list of exactly-fit prospects and personally emailing each... Indie Hackers Thread · 10 min read How to get your first 10 customers with cold email William Paul In 3 answers
  24. Pete Kazanjy, who has built and scaled multiple B2B sales orgs, gives a founder-focused breakdown of how to get specific enough... Lenny's Podcast Article · 10 min read Defining your ideal customer profile: Pete Kazanjy's perspective Pete Kazanjy In 3 answers

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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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