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 the honest-framing playbook the answer describes. It tells you to target people who want to learn and grow with a... First Round Review Article · 18 min read A Primer for Startups and Job Seekers to BOTH Win the Talent War First Round Review In 2 answers
  2. The discipline half of the answer. When cash is tight the reflex is to over-give equity to close the gap, and this piece pushes... First Round Review Article · 20 min read What Early Stage Founders Should Know About Comp: The Rules To Break (And A Few You Should Actually Follow) Kaitlyn Knopp (Pequity), via First Round Review In 2 answers
  3. Written by PostHog's operations lead, this is the sharpest piece on hiring for judgment over resume. Its core claim, attributes... PostHog Article · 10 min read Making your first startup ops hire: what founders should look for Charles Cook In 2 answers
  4. The answer says over-invest in one in-person offsite early to build the trust Slack can't, and this is the concrete agenda for... First Round Review Article · 18 min read Use This Startup's Playbook for Running Impactful Virtual Offsites First Round Review (with the Sitka team) In 2 answers
  5. This is the legal spine for doing it cleanly under Indian rules. It spells out why parting during probation is the cleanest... India Briefing Article · 15 min read A Guide to Terminating Employment in India Dezan Shira & Associates In 2 answers
  6. Before you shop for a payroll provider, this tells you which compliance obligations that provider has to cover: PF at 20-plus... Razorpay Rize Article · 16 min read Labour Laws in India for Private Companies Razorpay Rize In 2 answers
  7. This is the Indian version of the exact spiral the question is about, in founders' own words. Purushartha Saini (IIT Bombay,... Entrepreneur India Article · 9 min read Depression, Fear, Failure & Isolation: The Other Side Of Entrepreneurship Entrepreneur India staff (with Purushartha Saini, Jyoti Agarwal, Chaitanya Ramalingegowda) In 2 answers
  8. This is the exact playbook behind our answer. Executive coach Rachel Lockett prescribes a cadence of relationship-only meetings... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read Renew Your Co-Founder Vows, and Other Tactics for Strengthening the Most Important Relationship in Your Startup Rachel Lockett (via First Round Review) In 2 answers
  9. Graham's answer to "how do I plan when I can't know what's coming" is to stop treating the future as knowable at all. He argues... paulgraham.com Essay · ~10 min read How to Be an Expert in a Changing World Paul Graham In 2 answers
  10. This is the honest first-hand account, not a tactical post-mortem. Munson describes meditating in the corner of his office... Matt Munson (CEO, Twenty20) Essay · 12 min read My Journey Through Founder Depression Matt Munson In 2 answers
  11. Newport takes Graham's idea and turns it into a schedule you can actually run. He lays out the moderate version (block... calnewport.com Article · 8 min read Why Are Maker Schedules So Rare? Cal Newport In 2 answers
  12. A founder who ran Y Combinator and now OpenAI says it plainly: the first few hours of his morning are his most productive and... Sam Altman's blog Essay · 15 min read Productivity Sam Altman In 2 answers
  13. This is the one guide to read before you touch any automation. It teaches the whole model in two words, trigger and action,... Zapier Article · 15 min read Get started with Zapier: the beginner's guide to automation Elena Alston In 2 answers
  14. The CEO of Buffer wrote this in the first person after he actually crashed: co-founder split, layoffs, a CTO departure, all... Buffer Essay · 6 min read My Experience with Burnout as a Startup Founder Joel Gascoigne In 2 answers
  15. Three founders describe, in their own words, exactly how they handled investors through a pivot, and the contrast is the... Mercury blog Article · 12 min read 3 founders on their experience pivoting their companies Mercury (Meghan Gunn), featuring Dave Rogenmoser (Jasper), Andres Klaric (Fuse), Hillary Lin (Curio) In 2 answers
  16. Bentinck ran a talent investor and watched founders wave signed LOIs as proof, then watched those same customers walk. Her... Entrepreneurs First Essay · 7 min read The Letter of Intent Fallacy Alice Bentinck In 2 answers
  17. A solo founder does not need a hundred contacts, they need four or five people they can be candid with and a repeatable way to... First Round Review Article · ~3,500 words, 15 min read Advice is More Important, and Overwhelming, Than Ever. Here's How Founders Can Cut Through the Noise First Round Review In 2 answers
  18. This is the exact trial-before-you-quit framework your answer prescribes, written by someone who ran it: Lin dated six... First Round Review Article · 20 min read The Founder Dating Playbook: The Process I Used to Find My Co-Founder Gloria Lin In 2 answers
  19. Graham dismantles the exact objection you are facing: the fear that quitting is reckless. His move is to treat your family's... paulgraham.com Essay · 25 min read Why to Not Not Start a Startup Paul Graham In 2 answers
  20. This is the government's own checklist, so it settles the entity question straight: Pvt Ltd if you plan to raise (investors... Startup India Article · 12 min read Legal and Regulatory Checklist for Startups in India Startup India (DPIIT, Ministry of Commerce and Industry) In 2 answers
  21. The clearest single-page explainer of the SISFS mechanics that trip founders up: you never apply to DPIIT directly, you apply... Startup Grants India Article · 12 min read Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS): Programs, Cohorts & Eligibility Startup Grants India In 2 answers
  22. Our advice about protecting yourself with clean renewal and termination terms only works if the paper is right, and Indian... Bhavya Sharma and Associates Article · 15 min read SaaS Customer Contract Checklist for Indian Founders: MSA, Payment Terms, Renewal and Termination Bhavya Sharma and Associates In 2 answers
  23. This is the plain-English India explainer that maps exactly to your problem: it walks through Section 17(c) (employees vest in... Khurana & Khurana Article · 10 min read Copyright Ownership in Employment and Freelance Contracts: Key Legal Insights Khurana & Khurana, Advocates and IP Attorneys In 2 answers
  24. This is the mechanics behind our answer: a global investor cannot warm-intro someone they have never heard of, so you make... Failory Article · 18 min read How to Build in Public as a Founder (+20 Examples) Failory In 2 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
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