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 is a practical, step by step walkthrough with real before and after examples of cold emails, useful when you want a... Woodpecker Article · 12 min read How to Write a Cold Email: 6 Steps + Templates Woodpecker In 3 answers
  2. A real teardown of real cold emails sent to a real, busy recipient, with his honest reaction to each subject line. Reading... Nick Gray Essay Feedback on 4 Cold Emails To Me From Ramit's Brain Trust Nick Gray In 3 answers
  3. Ellis lays out the 40 percent test, the survey question and threshold he found across hundreds of startups for knowing you have... GrowthHackers Essay Using Product/Market Fit to Drive Sustainable Growth Sean Ellis In 3 answers
  4. Gupta names the Mom Test problem directly, that people in interviews behave like your mom and unconsciously lie to keep you... Aakash Gupta Essay Customer Interviews: Advanced Techniques Aakash Gupta In 3 answers
  5. Amy Hoy and Alex Hillman built the Sales Safari methodology, and a business, around finding what an audience already complains... Stacking the Bricks Essay · 12 min read Updating the Sales Safari System for 2023 Alex Hillman In 3 answers
  6. Michael King runs a16z's go to market network, and this piece is aimed squarely at the moment your first guess at an ICP needs... Andreessen Horowitz Article · 12 min read A Framework for Defining and Refining Your ICP Michael King In 3 answers
  7. A grounded India-specific feature with hard-won lessons from BigBasket, Razorpay, BrowserStack and Instamojo on understanding... Inc42 Article · ~15 min read Defining, Measuring And Solving Product-Market Fit Puzzle For Startups Inc42 In 2 answers
  8. The definitive text on how strong product teams discover and deliver products customers love, from the most cited voice in... Silicon Valley Product Group Book · ~370 pages INSPIRED: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love (2nd Ed.) Marty Cagan In 2 answers
  9. A grounded, India-specific look at how well-known desi brands actually got named, a better cultural template for Indian... YourStory Article · 7 min read From Nykaa to Zerodha: the fascinating origins of India's favourite brand names YourStory In 2 answers
  10. A real Indian case study of brand and trust built with zero ad spend, proof that product, transparency and word of mouth beat a... Inc42 Article · 5 min read Zerodha now has over 1.6 Cr users without advertising Inc42 Staff In 2 answers
  11. A landmark Indian example of content-led growth, Zerodha built trust and a huge audience by teaching in public for free. The... Zerodha Varsity Article · Resource hub Varsity by Zerodha, learn to build an audience by teaching Zerodha In 2 answers
  12. A candid Q&A where a top sales founder answers real early-founder questions on outreach, persistence, and closing.... Stripe Atlas Guides Article · ~15 min read AMA with Steli Efti (Stripe Atlas) Steli Efti / Stripe Atlas In 2 answers
  13. The original, still-used test for whether you have product-market fit, from the person who coined 'growth hacking' and grew... Startup Marketing / GrowthHackers Article · ~10 min read The Sean Ellis Product-Market Fit Survey (40% Test) Sean Ellis In 2 answers
  14. The definitive explanation of why every marketing channel decays over time, from an a16z general partner who wrote 650+ essays... andrewchen.com Article · ~8 min read The Law of Shitty Clickthroughs Andrew Chen In 2 answers
  15. A myth-busting piece showing most 'viral' growth is actually broadcast reach, so you can stop praying for virality and engineer... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~12 min read Virality Is a Myth (Mostly) Lenny Rachitsky In 2 answers
  16. A16z is the definitive source on marketplace and network-effect business models, having funded and studied more of them than... a16z.com Article · long-form article All About Network Effects & Marketplaces Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) In 2 answers
  17. A practical India-specific guide to term sheets and iSAFEs, written by working Indian VCs and startup lawyers (3one4 Capital,... Inc42 Article · 30 min read (guide) Decoding Term Sheets for Early-Stage Startups Siddarth Pai, Roma Priya, Yagnesh Sanghrajka In 2 answers
  18. The official Indian government primer on structuring ESOPs for startups, a primary source on the rules that most blog posts... startupindia.gov.in Article · Official primer Employee Stock Options for Startups (Startup India) Startup India / DPIIT In 2 answers
  19. Data-backed reporting that normalizes founder burnout with real numbers, proof you're not uniquely broken, plus context on why... sifted.eu Article · medium More Than Half of Founders Experienced Burnout Last Year Sifted In 2 answers
  20. From the startup world's most in-demand executive coach, this book makes the case that radical self-inquiry, examining the... HarperBusiness Book · long Reboot: Leadership and the Art of Growing Up Jerry Colonna In 2 answers
  21. A structured breakdown of specific Indian startup failures with the concrete reasons behind each, a pattern library of what... failory.com Article · medium 17 Failed Indian Startups & Analyses on Why They Failed Failory In 2 answers
  22. The complete, tactical playbook for building a bootstrapped one-person business from first customer to acquisition, based on... zerotosold.com Book · long Zero to Sold: How to Start, Run, and Sell a Bootstrapped Business Arvid Kahl In 2 answers
  23. This is the canonical, primary source for how the world's most influential accelerator actually works, deadlines, batch... Y Combinator Article · Application page + FAQ Apply to Y Combinator Y Combinator In 2 answers
  24. India's most prominent early-stage cohort investor and the pioneer of the founder-friendly India SAFE (iSAFE) note, a clean... 100X.VC Article · Program / portfolio site 100X.VC, Funding Simplified, Mentoring Unlimited 100X.VC In 2 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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