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. When you want to know why Google is not showing your pages, the most honest answer comes straight from Google, not from a blog... Google Search Central (Documentation) Article Troubleshoot Google Search crawling errors Google Search Central
  2. This is the clearest explanation of the one move a small site has against incumbents: stop fighting for the head term everyone... Backlinko Essay · about 15 min read Long Tail Keywords: How to Find & Use Them Effectively Brian Dean
  3. Deciding to write in Hindi is the easy part; getting Google to actually index and rank it correctly is where founders trip up.... gauravtiwari.org Article · Long-form guide, about 20 minute read SEO for Regional Languages in India: Hindi, Tamil and Vernacular Content Guide Gaurav Tiwari
  4. This is the honest starting point when you have zero links and nobody knows you yet. Tim Soulo walks through a phased approach:... Ahrefs Essay · Long read, about 30 to 40 minutes Link Building for SEO: The Beginner's Guide Tim Soulo
  5. The most durable way to get links without an audience is to build something people actually want to cite, and this article... Search Engine Journal Article · Medium read, about 15 minutes A Guide To Linkable Assets For Effective Link Building Kevin Rowe
  6. This is the source everyone else is paraphrasing, straight from Google, so you can stop worrying about a penalty that does not... Google Search Central Blog Article Google Search's guidance about AI-generated content Google Search Central
  7. Joe Fylan is a working content strategist with over a decade of writing behind him, and he makes the honest case that generic... joecanwrite.com Essay Is AI Content Bad for SEO? What Actually Gets Penalized Joe Fylan
  8. This piece makes the exact shift you are asking about: from "did people read it" to "did it drive business results". It argues... Kissmetrics Article Content Marketing Metrics: Measuring Content That Drives Pipeline Kissmetrics Editorial
  9. On day one you do not need a growth strategy, you need to not miss anything basic, and this checklist is built exactly for... Ahrefs Article · about 25 min read The Only SEO Checklist You Need (Incl. Template) Joshua Hardwick
  10. This essay reframes the question you are actually asking. Chen argues that a startup needs two separate insights, one about the... andrewchen.com Essay · about a 10 minute read Startups need dual theories on distribution and product/market fit. One is not enough Andrew Chen
  11. If LinkedIn is genuinely where your buyers are, this is a concrete India-aware playbook for working it, not a follower-count... socialpill.in Article · about a 12 minute read LinkedIn Marketing for B2B Brands in India: Build Pipeline, Not Just Followers Social Pill
  12. This is the source essay everyone else is summarizing, written by Gary Vaynerchuk himself, so you get the model straight... garyvaynerchuk.com Essay · about a 15 minute read The GaryVee Content Strategy: How to Grow and Distribute Your Brand's Social Media Content Gary Vaynerchuk
  13. This is the clearest plain-language explainer of what GEO actually means: getting your content cited when ChatGPT, Perplexity,... Backlinko Article · ~20 min read Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): How to Win in AI Search Asif Ali
  14. If the GEO article gets you excited, read this one right after to stay grounded. Heitzman, who runs an SEO agency, shows that... Search Engine Land Essay · ~10 min read AI hype vs. SEO reality: What actually drives leads and revenue Adam Heitzman
  15. This is the plainest, most credible list of the traps that keep founders from their first customers, written by the people who... Y Combinator Startup Library Article Biggest mistakes first-time founders make Y Combinator (Michael Seibel)
  16. This is the practical companion to the mindset stuff: it walks through actually turning an interested prospect into a paying... close.com Article Founder's Guide to Startup Sales: How to Build, Operate & Scale a Founder-Led Sales Process Nick Persico
  17. Founders selling their own product almost always price too low, because they see every flaw in what they built and undercharge... Kalzumeus Essay · Long-form essay plus transcript, ~30 min read Ramit Sethi and Patrick McKenzie On Why Your Customers Would Be Happier If You Charged More Patrick McKenzie (patio11)
  18. Most enterprise sales advice assumes you already have a brand and a sales team, and this guide is written for the opposite... WorkOS Blog Article A Guide to Enterprise Sales for Early-stage Founders WorkOS
  19. Ash Rust invests at pre-seed and has watched dozens of founders let a friendly pilot drift into a free forever engagement. His... Medium (Sterling Road) Essay · 8 min read Startup Sales: How to Get Pilot Customers to Pay Ash Rust
  20. The YC essay tells you the rules; this shows you real founders following (and bending) them. These are 13 actual cold emails... OpenVC Blog Article · 12 min read 13 Cold Email Examples Sent to VC Investors OpenVC
  21. This is the one guide that walks the full technical stack in plain language: SPF, DKIM, DMARC, domain warmup timelines, and the... Smartlead Article Email Deliverability Guide: SPF, DKIM, Warmup and Everything That Gets You to the Inbox Satwick Ghosh (Smartlead)
  22. Andrew Chen ran growth at Uber and a16z, and his core idea here, the Law of Shitty Clickthroughs, is exactly why a channel that... andrewchen.substack.com Article Every Marketing Channel Sucks Right Now Andrew Chen
  23. Batko is a two-time founder and former Startmate CEO who has received thousands of cold emails, so he writes from the receiving... batko.ai Article · 15 min read Cold Email Templates for Founders: 5 Templates That Get Replies Michael Batko
  24. This is the piece that separates organic word of mouth from an engineered viral loop, and shows you how to actually design one.... andrewchen.com Essay · Long essay, about 15 minute read What's Your Viral Loop? Understanding the Engine of Adoption Andrew Chen

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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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