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 canonical slide-by-slide template from the person who has read more pre-traction decks than almost anyone. Seibel's... Y Combinator Article · 12 min read How to Build Your Seed Round Pitch Deck Michael Seibel
  2. This is the how-to for the exact 'proof of demand you actually gathered' your answer calls for. It gives you the five things a... Alchemist Accelerator Article · 10 min read Using Pilots, POCs, and LOIs to Build Trust and Scale Alchemist Accelerator
  3. This is the guide that argues your exact answer: stop stapling a Stanford and a Tesla logo under your name and instead show why... TechCrunch Article · 8 min read The team slide is the most important slide in a startup pitch deck Haje Jan Kamps
  4. Kevin Hale's rule for a non-designer is three words: legible, simple, obvious. He argues an investor should grasp a slide's... Y Combinator Article · 12 min read How to design a better pitch deck Kevin Hale
  5. This is the canonical takedown of the 2x2 you conveniently sit atop, written by a VC who screens decks for a living. It hands... Dreamit Ventures Article · 8 min read How to Create a Killer Competition Slide (Hint: Don't Use a Magic Quadrant!) Jack Kaufman
  6. Short and blunt, straight from a working seed VC. Walk's one question, 'what would your competitors say about this slide?', is... Homebrew (hunterwalk.com) Essay · 4 min read If Your Pitch Deck Has a Competitive 2x2, I'm Going to Ask You This Question Hunter Walk
  7. The India native counterpart, written for founders pitching Blume, Accel India and Lightspeed, where 'no competition' still... YourStory Article · 10 min read Pitch deck playbook: How to create a pitch that gets funded YourStory Team
  8. This is the sharpest framing of why your ask is really a bet on the next valuation step. It introduces 'accretive milestones'... The Holloway Guide to Raising Venture Capital Article · 15 min read Determining How Much to Raise Holloway (Andy Sparks et al.)
  9. The cleanest milestone-based runway framework we found: raise for 18 to 24 months because fundraising itself burns about 6... NYU Entrepreneurship Article · 10 min read The Runway Equation: How Much to Raise and When to Spend It NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
  10. This is the most direct answer to the question: it argues you should ditch the intro and open like a movie cold open, and it... Feel the Boot Article · 9 min read Cold Start Your Startup Pitch: Hook Investors from the First Second Lance Cottrell
  11. This is the mechanical playbook for the 'send to 15 who actually invest, not 50' point: build a long list from Crunchbase,... Mercury Article · 12 min read Creating a target investor list for your seed round Mercury
  12. This is what 'research the fund before you send' looks like for an Indian founder: a single fund broken down into its actual... Superscout Article · 8 min read Blume Ventures: The Early Stage Founder's Guide Superscout
  13. This nails the core idea that you keep one story and change what it is asked to prove: adjust the problem framing, swap in the... Viktori Article · 10 min read How To Tailor Your Pitch Deck For Different Investors Viktori
  14. This is the worked walkthrough the question demands, not theory. It runs the exact scenario you fear: two SAFEs at different... Kruze Consulting Article · 18 min read How SAFE Notes Impact Founder Dilution and Startup Equity Kruze Consulting
  15. Written by an India-based cap table platform, so the modeling assumptions match how Indian founders actually raise. It walks a... EquityList Article · 12 min read Modeling Post-Money SAFEs in Your Cap Table: Tools and Mistakes to Avoid EquityList
  16. This is the side-by-side numbers piece: three investors each putting in $1M at a $10M cap end up owning exactly 30% of you... Avisen Legal Article · 10 min read Pre-money vs. Post-money SAFEs: The Dilution Math Founders Miss Avisen Legal
  17. This is the current RBI convertible note rulebook in one place, and it reflects the 2023 FEMA amendment that most older... TaxTMI Article · 11 min read Convertible Notes for Foreign Investors in Indian Startups: The 2026 Rules Explained TaxTMI editorial
  18. When your investor insists on a SAFE, this is the piece that shows how the Indian version actually gets built: iSAFE lives as... Vinod Kothari Consultants Article · 14 min read The iSAFE Option to Startup Funding: Legality and Taxation Vinod Kothari Consultants
  19. Written by a SEBI-registered Indian pre-seed fund, so the worked example is in the deal shapes you will actually see here, and... Eximius Ventures Article · 8 min read Breakdown of the Term Sheet: Liquidation Preference Raunak Bhiwal
  20. This is the cleanest decision framework we found because it draws the line by cheque size, not vibes: under 1M and 1M to 2M go... CRV (Charles River Ventures) Article · 10 min read Priced Round vs. SAFE: How Founders Choose at Each Stage CRV
  21. This is the cost and dilution receipt to go with the CRV framework: SAFEs run 2k to 5k in legal and close in a week, priced... Causo Hub Article · 12 min read SAFE vs priced round at seed: which, when, and the dilution math Causo
  22. This is the piece that makes the SAFE-vs-priced question concrete for an Indian founder, where a US SAFE has no legal standing... Dealplexus Article · 14 min read Convertible Notes vs SAFE vs Equity: Which Instrument Fits Indian Seed Rounds Dealplexus
  23. This is the piece that names the exact failure mode in your question: when your early investors all take their pro-rata, they... CRV Article · 12 min read Pro Rata Rights: A Founder's Guide to Term Sheets CRV
  24. Where Graham gives the principle, Lemkin gives the honest tradeoff table so you can actually decide. He lays out both sides (a... SaaStr Article · 8 min read 5 Pros, and 5 Cons, to Taking a VC Round at a Very High Valuation Jason Lemkin

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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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