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 actual application that got Basedash into YC (S20), question by question, with the founder's own annotation on why... Basedash Article · 15 min read How to write a successful YC application (with the real answers that got Basedash in) Max Musing
  2. The clearest breakdown of what the founder video is actually for: not a pitch deck read aloud, but proof that you and your... Pilot Article · 8 min read How to Prepare for Your YC Application Video Pilot team
  3. Written by someone who volunteer-reviewed thousands of YC applications, so it tells you how a form actually gets read: fast, by... TechCrunch Article · 10 min read You can't hack your YC application, but here's what to avoid Christopher Morton
  4. This is the clearest 'what changed between attempts' story you will read. Waqas Ali's Markhor was rejected by YC in 2012 with... Startup.pk Article · 12 min read From Okara to Y Combinator: The Founders Who Got Rejected, Came Back, and Got In Alina Atta
  5. Fourteen YC-accepted founders on the record, and the headline finding answers the reapply question directly: most of them got... GrowthMentor Article · 18 min read How to Get Into Y Combinator (According to the Founders That Did Get In) Foti Panagiotakopoulos
  6. This is your actual question sheet: it tells you to interview program leadership about founder EXITS (not the staff's own... Entrepreneur Article · 7 min read Due Diligence on Accelerators: What Entrepreneurs Need to Know Wiley Larsen
  7. This one names the predatory pattern precisely: a program whose real business is charging you thousands to build your website... Anthill Magazine Article · 6 min read Three Red Flags to Watch Out for in an Incubator Tilda Yeow
  8. This is written by a VC that sits on the other side of demo day, so the questions are the ones investors wish founders asked:... Sierra Ventures Article · 15 min read Startup Accelerators: How to Choose, With Side-by-Side Terms for 13 Top Programs Sierra Ventures (Ascend)
  9. When a program can't or won't name its raise rate, this is the number to hold them to: across 8,580 companies in 408... Knowledge at Wharton Article · 8 min read Do Accelerators Improve Startup Success Rates? Valentina Assenova and Raffi Amit (Wharton)
  10. This is the closest thing to an audited scorecard for accelerators, run by three former founders turned academics who collect... MIT Sloan Article · 6 min read Seed Accelerator Rankings Project: How Programs Are Actually Measured Yael Hochberg, Susan Cohen, Daniel Fehder
  11. This is the clearest breakdown of WHY a corporate accelerator behaves differently from an independent one: it spells out that... Elev X! Article · 10 min read Corporate Accelerators: How They Work and Why Enterprises Run Them Elev X! editorial team
  12. When you decide to grab credits from a corporate program, this tells you which of the big three to pick and why, with real 2026... guptadeepak.com Article · 14 min read AWS Activate vs Microsoft for Startups vs Google for Startups (2026): Who Each One Is Actually For Deepak Gupta
  13. This is the India-specific route into corporate credits: NASSCOM 10000 Startups is an approved AWS Activate provider, takes... GrowthGurukul Article · 12 min read NASSCOM 10,000 Startups: India's Tech Launchpad Founders Shouldn't Ignore (2026 Guide) GrowthGurukul editorial team
  14. A founder logs a Techstars batch day by day: Week 1 KPI workshop and kickoff, a brutal seven-day 'mentor madness' of... austinhenley.com Article · 15 min read My startup diary: Techstars Austin Z. Henley
  15. Written by a Techstars Mentor in Residence who has sat across from 350+ startups, so it is the advice from the other side of... landonhowell.com Article · 8 min read Founder advice for Techstars Mentor Madness Landon Howell
  16. The failure mode our answer warns about has a name: mentor whiplash, where smart people give you opposite advice until you no... jag.eu Article · 6 min read Mentor whiplash, and working through it Jag Singh
  17. Instead of abstract advice, this dissects the actual DoorDash demo day pitch that turned a 2 minute slot into a $2.4M seed... Slidebean Article · 10 min read DoorDash's YC Demo Day Pitch, Broken Down Slide by Slide Slidebean
  18. This is the source of truth, not a blog's guess about it. YC says plainly that the batch is in-person in San Francisco with a... Y Combinator Article · 10 min read Frequently Asked Questions (Y Combinator) Y Combinator
  19. This is the concrete India reality behind the in-person question, with real numbers. Indian and Southeast Asian startups in a... TechCrunch Article · 6 min read Y Combinator and India are drifting apart Manish Singh
  20. This is the clearest India-specific case for why hard tech needs a specialized door, told through IISc's SID incubator (Mynvax,... Inc42 Article · 10 min read IISc-Backed SID On Turning Deep Science R&D Into Viable Deeptech Startups Inc42 Staff
  21. This is the worked example your question demands: two post-money SAFEs (one at an 8M cap, one at a 12M cap) that each look like... Capwave.ai Article · 14 min read Post-money SAFE stacking in 2026: the dilution math 83% of founders get wrong Capwave.ai
  22. This is the primary source, not a blog paraphrase, on the cheapest capital an Indian founder can get. SISFS gives up to 20 lakh... Startup India (startupindia.gov.in) Article · 14-page PDF Guidelines for Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT)
  23. This is the clean-cap-table companion to the dilution math: it names the six specific things that scare a first lead investor,... StartupBOS.org Article · 8 min read Cap Table Mistakes to Avoid When Preparing to Raise Your Next Round StartupBoston
  24. This is the horse's-mouth map of how a batch actually runs, and it names the two levers you should grab in week one: your group... Y Combinator Article · 8 min read What Happens at YC Y Combinator

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 →