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. If a developer already built your code in their own account, this is the official step-by-step for moving the repository to... GitHub Docs Tool Transferring a Repository GitHub
  2. A free, editable IP assignment template you can adapt as a starting point rather than facing a blank page. Use it to see the... Contractbook Template Intellectual Property (IP) Assignment Template Contractbook
  3. A ready starting point for the job post you will need the day you commit to hiring, so you are not staring at a blank page. It... Yardstick Template · template Founding Engineer Job Description Template Yardstick
  4. A free, dead-simple Kanban board is often all a small offshore team needs to make work-in-progress visible to everyone at once.... Trello (Atlassian) Tool Trello (shared Kanban board) Trello (Atlassian)
  5. A concrete, copyable pattern for the written weekly update that replaces the status meeting, straight from a team that lives by... The GitLab Handbook Template · Short reference page Weekly Async Updates GitLab
  6. A paid trial task only works if the task itself is well scoped, and this is a practical guide to writing one. It covers... DevSkills Template How to Create a Great Take-Home Coding Test Anton Fenske
  7. Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) is a startup focused pond where developers who want to work at early companies actually... Wellfound Tool Wellfound (post a job and hire startup talent) Wellfound
  8. This is the structured checklist an investor's technical reviewer runs, covering architecture, code quality, key-person risk,... CTO on Demand Template · checklist Technical Due Diligence Checklist (2026): What Investors Actually Examine CTO on Demand
  9. This is a ready-to-run template for exactly the question you are asking: who is the single decider, and who merely contributes.... Atlassian Team Playbook Template · 10 min read DACI: A Decision-Making Framework Atlassian
  10. A free video series from a designer who spent years teaching developers, walking you from fundamentals to real screens over... DesignCourse (YouTube) Course · Multi-video playlist Learn UI/UX in 30 Days Gary Simon
  11. Instead of guessing hex codes, you pick text, background, primary, and accent colors and see them applied to a realistic... realtimecolors.com Tool · Free web tool Realtime Colors Juxtopposed
  12. Mismatched, blown-up, or clashing icons make a product look amateur fast. Heroicons gives you one consistent, professionally... heroicons.com Tool · Free icon set Heroicons Steve Schoger and the Tailwind Labs team
  13. Give it one accent color and it generates a full range of shades, from very light to very dark, that stay balanced across the... uicolors.app Tool · Free web tool UI Colors: Tailwind CSS Color Generator UI Colors
  14. This is the free hub the short answer points you to. It walks you through frames, shapes, text, and prototyping by building one... Figma Learn Course · Approx. 2 to 3 hours, self-paced Figma Design for beginners (official course) Figma
  15. This turns a written description of your flow into an interactive prototype you can click through and refine. For a founder who... Figma Tool · Tool Figma Make (prompt to prototype) Figma
  16. An India-focused program on going from an idea to a working prototype using AI and modern tools. It is aimed at founders here... Google for Startups Course · Short program, self-paced Startup School: Prompt to Prototype (India) Google for Startups
  17. A running library of design patterns that have actually been A/B tested to lift conversion, with the evidence attached. Instead... Jakub Linowski Tool · Pattern library GoodUI: Design Patterns for Higher Conversion Jakub Linowski
  18. A crisp reference on the research finding that people perceive attractive products as more usable and forgive their small... Laws of UX Tool · 5 min read plus reference library Aesthetic-Usability Effect Jon Yablonski
  19. A searchable library of the biases and principles behind user behavior, each with a short example. It goes wider than the core... Growth.Design Tool · Browse as needed 106 Cognitive Biases and Principles That Affect Your UX Growth.Design
  20. Free, ready-to-use scripts (including a mobile-app version), observer instructions, and a form for noting the top three... Sensible (Steve Krug) Template Usability Testing Scripts, Observer Forms, and Checklists (Downloads) Steve Krug
  21. A ready to use script for running your own usability test, from Krug's book. You do not have to invent how to phrase tasks or... Steve Krug (sensible.com) Template · PDF, a few pages Usability Test Script (from Rocket Surgery Made Easy) Steve Krug
  22. A catalogue of common interface patterns (registration, pricing tables, search, empty states, and more) with several real... UI-Patterns.com Tool · reference library UI-Patterns.com UI-Patterns.com
  23. A free, structured course that takes you from the basics of why pages are slow through images, fonts, JavaScript, and lazy... web.dev (Google) Course · Multi module course Learn Performance Google Chrome team
  24. This runs your site on real devices from real locations at set connection speeds, including Slow 3G, so you get an honest... WebPageTest (Catchpoint) Tool · Web tool WebPageTest WebPageTest

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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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