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. Named founders (Shara Senderoff, Allyson Downey, Katie Stack and others) who ran the trial run for real: they kept the paycheck... Entrepreneur Article · 8 min read 7 Lessons From Entrepreneurs Who Kept Their Day Jobs While Starting Their Businesses Lisa Evans
  2. If your manager will not grant a sabbatical, the notice period is your fallback runway, and in India that is a contract... Business Today Article · 7 min read Did you quit your job without serving notice period? Here's what the Indian law says Business Today Desk
  3. This is the golden-handcuffs essay written by someone who actually walked: a senior engineer who left half a million a year... Michael Lin Writes (Substack) Essay · 12 min read Why I Quit a $450k Engineering Job at Netflix Michael Lin
  4. Before you let unvested RSUs decide your life, you need to actually understand what you are walking away from, and this is the... Holloway Article · 20 min read Vesting and Cliffs (The Holloway Guide to Equity Compensation) Andy Rachleff, Joshua Levy, and contributors
  5. This is the India-specific number you need to calibrate your founder budget: real founders here run on ₹50,000 to a few lakh a... Storyboard18 Article · 6 min read Gurgaon VC Questions Founder Poverty Culture After Bengaluru CEO Draws ₹50,000 Salary Despite ₹5 Crore Runway Storyboard18 Staff
  6. Your answer tells her to plug into women-founder capital early, and this is a named, ticket-sized shortlist of exactly who... Inc42 Article · 12 min read 22 Inspiring Women Investors In The Indian Startup Ecosystem Inc42 Staff
  7. This is the leap your answer describes, lived out: Richa Kar came from a conservative Jamshedpur family, spent months failing... rGenie Article · 9 min read Richa Kar and Zivame: Overcoming Family Opposition to Build a Lingerie Empire rGenie Editorial
  8. This is the study that ends the argument, not another opinion piece. Two MIT economists plus the U.S. Census Bureau looked at... Harvard Business Review Article · 9 min read Research: The Average Age of a Successful Startup Founder Is 45 Pierre Azoulay, Benjamin F. Jones, J. Daniel Kim, Javier Miranda
  9. A real Indian founder's field notes on the money math the glossy posts skip: your expenses will run 2x to 3x what you plan, so... Inc42 Article · 10 min read My Learning While Building A Bootstrap Startup In India Pushkar Gaikwad
  10. This is the side-by-side you actually need before you write a single application: 30+ Indian schemes with ticket size,... Backrr Article · 15 min read Government Grants for Early-Stage Indian Startups in 2026 Backrr
  11. The official BIG page, not a blog paraphrase: up to 50 lakh grant-in-aid over 18 months, calls opening 1 January and 1 July... BIRAC (Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council) Article · 10 min read Biotechnology Ignition Grant Scheme (BIG) BIRAC
  12. A named Chandigarh founder puts real numbers on the gap between the promised 60-day SISFS disbursal and the actual 4 to 5... Startupro News Article · 7 min read Unwanted Paperwork, Delays and Opaque Process: A Founder Exposes the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme Startupro News (featuring founder Sunil Kumar Poonia)
  13. This is the practical explainer that shows the money arriving in four milestone-tied tranches (business plan approved,... Patron Accounting Article · 10 min read Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS): Grant, Tranches and How Disbursement Actually Works Patron Accounting (CA firm)
  14. This gets under the hood of the single document that gates your next tranche: the utilization certificate. It walks through... CAclubindia Article · 8 min read Audit / Certificate on Utilization of Govt Grant / Aid / Funds CAclubindia contributor
  15. This is the rare India-specific piece that puts real numbers on the true cost of chasing grants: it names SISFS (up to Rs 20... Swimming With Sharks Article · 20 min read Alternative Funding Strategies: Grants, Debt, and Non-Dilutive Capital in the Indian Ecosystem Swimming With Sharks (The Founder's Guide to Startup Funding)
  16. Jeryes co-founded Maqsam and says he never lost a pitch competition he entered, then states plainly that the wins made almost... Medium Essay · 10 min read How To Win Every Pitch Competition, And Why It Doesn't Matter Fouad Jeryes
  17. The equity math lands differently in India, and this piece shows why. Because Indian startups raise at lower valuations than US... Inc42 Article · 8 min read YC's 500K standard deal: what it means for Indian founders Inc42 Staff
  18. Most credit posts stop at 'here is the amount.' This one (published March 2026) is about the moves: concrete stacking combos... Northflank Article · 15 min read How to get free AWS credits for your startup (stacking and sequencing playbook) Northflank
  19. A clean, India-framed explainer of the mechanics with a worked example in rupees: at Rs 50 lakh monthly revenue you repay Rs 4... Recur Club Article · 10 min read Understanding Revenue-Based Financing and How It Works Recur Club
  20. This maps the second layer of R&D support to your build stage exactly the way you should think about it: NIDHI-PRAYAS and TIDE... IncorpX Article · 14 min read Deep tech and AI startup grants: DSIR, BIRAC and the R&D funding ladder IncorpX editorial team
  21. This is the state-by-state comparison that proves the point: it names concrete numbers you can act on, Kerala's INR 2500 Cr... Inc42 Article · 14 min read Startup Policies: Karnataka, Telangana, Rajasthan And Kerala Lead The Charge Inc42 Staff
  22. This is the hands-on walkthrough the two government pages skip: it gives you the exact GeM navigation (My Account, My Profile,... Bidz365 Article · 12 min read How Startup India Registered Companies Can Benefit on GeM Bidz365
  23. This is the policy that forces the 10,000-plus AICTE institutions to build pre-incubation support (IICs, EDCs, campus TBIs) for... AICTE, Government of India Article · policy document National Innovation and Startup Policy for Students and Faculty (AICTE / MoE) All India Council for Technical Education (Ministry of Education)
  24. The practical step-by-step the official page leaves implicit: incorporate, register on the portal, submit entity details and an... IndiaFilings Article · 12 min read DPIIT Certificate of Recognition for Startups: Process, Benefits and Criteria IndiaFilings

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
eChai Partner Brands The partnership →