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. Essential reading for anyone sizing an Indian market. Pai shows that India's billion people are not one payable market: roughly... Sajith Pai Essay India1, Avocado Startups, and Finding Product Market Fit Sajith Pai In 5 answers
  2. A clean definition of the three market layers with the key distinction spelled out: TAM is the whole opportunity, SAM is what... Forum Ventures Article Market Sizing for Startups: TAM, SAM, SOM Explained Forum Ventures In 5 answers
  3. Andreessen's 2011 essay is a masterclass in spotting a durable secular shift early and betting on it before it is obvious to... Andreessen Horowitz Essay Why Software Is Eating the World Marc Andreessen In 5 answers
  4. A short, sharp counterpoint to the instinct to try to reach everyone before you launch: Godin argues you should aim for the... Seth's Blog Essay · 3 min read The smallest viable audience Seth Godin In 5 answers
  5. Braun's four-sentence formula (proof you did your homework, the specific problem you think they have, a sliver of social proof,... Josh Braun Article · 8 min read How To Get A 35% Cold Email Response Rate Without Selling Your Soul Josh Braun In 5 answers
  6. A tight five-part framework (short, personalized, credible, valuable, clear ask) with real examples of emails that led to... The Curiosity Chronicle Essay · 10 min read The Cold Email Guide Sahil Bloom In 5 answers
  7. Steli Efti built his sales career on the belief that unanswered outreach is a maybe, and a maybe is what kills deals. This... Close Article The Winning Cold Email Follow-up Plan for Sales Teams Steli Efti In 5 answers
  8. A UX-research leader (ex-Uber Eats, BetterUp) gives founders a concrete three-step discovery process, including how to recruit... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read A founder-friendly playbook for early customer discovery First Round Review (Jeanette Mellinger) In 4 answers
  9. A clear, operator-written guide from a respected SaaS-analytics company on defining and using an ICP to focus scarce startup... ChartMogul Blog Article · ~12 min read Without an ideal customer profile (ICP), your growth is just guesswork ChartMogul In 4 answers
  10. One of the few pieces that clearly untangles ICP vs persona vs JTBD without jargon, so founders stop conflating them. Useful as... netretention.io Article · ~14 min read Ideal Customer Profiles (ICPs), ABM, JTBD and Personas: knowing your customer Net Retention In 4 answers
  11. The most practitioner-friendly deep dive into JTBD, with interviews and case studies on applying it to real products. Free to... jtbd.info / alanklement.com Book · ~230 pages When Coffee and Kale Compete: Become great at making products people will buy Alan Klement In 4 answers
  12. YC is the canonical authority on early-stage team formation, and this is their direct playbook for the exact problem a... YC Startup Library Article · ~12 min read How to Find a Technical Co-Founder Y Combinator In 4 answers
  13. Paul Graham's short, opinionated take on naming from someone who has seen thousands of startups, canonical, no-fluff, and free. paulgraham.com Article · 8 min read Startup Names Paul Graham In 4 answers
  14. Julian Shapiro's deeply practical framework for landing pages, including the desire-minus-friction conversion model, a... julian.com Article · 25 min read How to build a landing page (Startup Handbook) Julian Shapiro In 4 answers
  15. Harry Dry's core copywriting rules distilled with dozens of real examples, the fastest way to level up your writing from vague... Marketing Examples Article · 8 min read How to write copy that sells (three rules) Harry Dry In 4 answers
  16. The definitive beginner walkthrough of finding and prioritising keywords, from the tool most SEOs actually use, authoritative... Ahrefs Article · 25 min read Keyword Research: The Beginner's Guide by Ahrefs Sam Oh (Ahrefs) In 4 answers
  17. Based on studying 100+ consumer companies, Lenny shows that lasting growth comes from becoming world-class at one growth... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read The Growth Engine: Kickstarting & Scaling a Consumer Business (Step 6) Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  18. Concrete retention benchmarks and cohort-analysis methods gathered from dozens of top companies, so you can tell a healthy... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read How the Best Companies Measure and Improve Retention Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  19. The definitive framework for building products people return to without paid nudges, the Hook Model, backed by a million-plus... Portfolio / Penguin (nirandfar.com) Book · Book (~256 pages) Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products Nir Eyal (with Ryan Hoover) In 4 answers
  20. Battle-tested referral advice from the person who turned Airbnb's host referral program into its biggest driver of supply... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read Building a Referrals Program Lenny Rachitsky In 4 answers
  21. A primary-source, founder-written account of how India's largest and most profitable brokerage actually makes money and thinks... zerodha.com Article · blog post Z-Connect: Business Updates & Why We Do What We Do Nithin Kamath In 4 answers
  22. Stripe's founder guides are clean, trustworthy primers on the core financial concepts every founder must track, burn, runway,... stripe.com Article · guide library Startup Financials: Burn Rate & Runway, Stripe / Founder Guides Stripe In 4 answers
  23. A behavioral, dead-simple cash-management system used by over a million businesses to stay permanently profitable. Perfect for... mikemichalowicz.com Book · book (~224 pages) Profit First: Transform Your Business from a Cash-Eating Monster Mike Michalowicz In 4 answers
  24. A clear, vendor-agnostic explainer of why the Delaware C-corp is the default for high-growth, investor-backed startups and how... stripe.com/resources Article · Guide How to form a Delaware corporation (C corp), Stripe guide Stripe In 4 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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