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. The clearest distillation of Naval's philosophy on wealth, leverage, and, crucially, inner peace. Free to read online, it... navalmanack.com Book · medium The Almanack of Naval Ravikant: A Guide to Wealth and Happiness Eric Jorgenson (curating Naval Ravikant) In 4 answers
  2. The definitive case that undistracted, focused work is both increasingly rare and increasingly valuable, a direct competitive... calnewport.com Book · long Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World Cal Newport In 4 answers
  3. A thoughtful investor-authored take on the real risks of solo founding, isolation and the echo chamber, and how to engineer the... newsletter.angularventures.com Article · medium Solo Founder Syndrome (Even If You're Not Alone) Angular Ventures (The Angle) In 4 answers
  4. A YC partner who has read thousands of applications tells you plainly what separates the founders who get in from the ones who... YC Startup Library Essay · Long-form essay / talk How to Apply and Succeed at Y Combinator Dalton Caldwell In 4 answers
  5. A 25-year-old, university-anchored incubator that runs distinct tracks by stage and by founder type, including strong... NSRCEL / IIM Bangalore Article · Program directory site NSRCEL, Incubation Centre, IIM Bangalore NSRCEL, IIM Bangalore In 4 answers
  6. The official explainer of the concrete money DPIIT-recognised startups get on IP, an 80% patent-fee rebate, 50% trademark-fee... Government of India (startupindia.gov.in) Article · ~10 min read Startup India, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Benefits & SIPP Scheme DPIIT / Startup India In 4 answers
  7. The definitive research-backed case for 'give before you ask', Grant shows that generous givers, not takers, build the biggest... adamgrant.net Book · long Give and Take: Why Helping Others Drives Our Success Adam Grant In 4 answers
  8. The uncomfortable truth of enterprise sales in one line: the shorter the sales cycle, the likelier the win, and this piece... First Round Review Article · ~20 min read The Most Surefire Way I've Found to Win Enterprise Deals Anand Chopra-McGowan In 4 answers
  9. A VC and HBS lecturer takes on the belief that you must be a domain insider to win, and he is honest about both sides: the... Jeff Bussgang (Flybridge, Harvard Business School) Essay · ~10 min read The Outsiders: Defying the Myth of Founder-Market Fit Jeff Bussgang In 4 answers
  10. Aulet turns beachhead selection into an explicit, sequenced process (market segmentation, then picking one beachhead, then... Wiley Book Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup Bill Aulet In 4 answers
  11. Ash Maurya, author of Running Lean, argues you can always find how a customer solves a job today, and that existing workaround... LEANFoundry Article · About a 10 minute read Find Better Problems Worth Solving with the Customer Forces Canvas Ash Maurya In 4 answers
  12. This is the short, practical manual for actually doing a test yourself, no training required. Krug walks you through running a... Steve Krug (New Riders) Book · About 168 pages Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems Steve Krug In 4 answers
  13. This is the canonical framing for exactly your question: not all messy code is the same. Fowler splits debt on two axes,... martinfowler.com Essay · About a 5 minute read Technical Debt Quadrant Martin Fowler In 4 answers
  14. Shapiro gives you a concrete framework you can apply the same afternoon: write a header that is fully descriptive of what you... julian.com Article · Long read, about 30 minutes Startup Handbook: Landing Page Copywriting Julian Shapiro In 4 answers
  15. This is the reference everyone quietly copies when they first try to write down their brand voice, and it is public, free, and... Mailchimp Content Style Guide Article Voice and Tone, Mailchimp Content Style Guide Mailchimp In 4 answers
  16. This is the piece nearly every other CAC explainer is quoting from, so go to the source. Skok walks through how CAC, lifetime... For Entrepreneurs Essay SaaS Metrics 2.0: A Guide to Measuring and Improving What Matters David Skok In 4 answers
  17. This is the canonical a16z reference that defines the marketplace vocabulary you actually need before you build a model: GMV vs... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Essay 13 Metrics Every Marketplace Company Should Track Jeff Jordan, Li Jin, D'Arcy Coolican, Andrew Chen (a16z) In 4 answers
  18. If a US fund pushes you toward a Delaware structure, this is the India-specific legal and tax manual for what you are actually... Treelife Article · 20 min read Flip Structure for Indian Startups: A Complete Guide Treelife In 4 answers
  19. A practising senior partner spells out exactly why a raw US SAFE is dangerous for an Indian entity: it can be treated as a... Bar & Bench Article · 10 min read Convertible Notes and SAFE Notes in India: The Dilemma Madhavan Srivatsan In 4 answers
  20. Once you have negotiated the pool size, this is the guide that stops the pool from becoming a tax trap for the very employees... Treelife Article · 25 min read ESOP Taxation in India: Complete Guide for Founders and Startups Treelife In 4 answers
  21. This is the operating manual behind the answer's core rule: don't run a remote team on vibes. GitLab runs 1,600+ people across... The GitLab Handbook Article · 25 min read Asynchronous communication for remote work GitLab In 4 answers
  22. Blank invented customer development, and this manifesto boils it into a short set of rules, starting with the idea that there... Steve Blank Essay · 12 min read Nail the Customer Development Manifesto to the Wall Steve Blank In 4 answers
  23. Jackson breaks fit into levels and asks how acute the problem is, how reachable the audience is, and how differentiated your... Lenny's Newsletter Article · about 20 min read A Framework for Finding Product-Market Fit Todd Jackson (First Round Capital) In 4 answers
  24. A step by step process for taking an idea to something people want without building the wrong product first. Maurya's mantra,... Ash Maurya (O'Reilly) Book · ~336 pages Running Lean (3rd Edition) Ash Maurya 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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