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.

A well curated reference for what good type looks like in the wild, with recommended fonts and pairings. When you are unsure... Typewolf Tool Typewolf Jeremiah Shoaf
This is a ready-made, accessible pattern for error messages with real wording examples you can adapt (it even shows the... GOV.UK Design System Template · reference Error message component GOV.UK / Government Digital Service
Professionally designed, ready to drop in UI blocks and page templates from the makers of Tailwind CSS. It lets you assemble a... Tailwind CSS Tool Tailwind Plus (Tailwind UI) Tailwind CSS
Google's open design system with detailed guidance on layout, color, type, and components, plus ready implementations.... Google Tool Material Design 3 Google
One of the most complete free Figma UI kits, with a large library of components and page examples you can adapt. If you want a... Untitled UI Template Untitled UI (Free Figma UI Kit) Untitled UI
This is the cheapest way to catch translation problems before you have any translations. Pseudolocalization swaps your text for... Android Developers Tool · 10 min read Test Your App with Pseudolocales Google Android
If your Hindi or Tamil text renders as boxes or looks broken, it is usually a font problem, and Noto solves it for free across... Google Fonts Tool · font family Noto Fonts Google
When you want to show a trend or a comparison instead of a raw figure, this poster tells you which chart fits the relationship... Financial Times Visual Journalism Team Tool · Interactive poster FT Visual Vocabulary Financial Times
A free tool with an excellent how-to library that teaches clean chart and dashboard building as you go. It nudges you toward... Datawrapper Tool · How-to library Datawrapper Academy Datawrapper
Once you understand RICE, you still need somewhere to actually score your ideas, and this free Notion template gives you the... Notion Marketplace Template · Ready to use template RICE Prioritization Worksheet (Notion template) Notion Marketplace
If you want to actually run a Now-Next-Later roadmap rather than just read about it, this is the tool built for it by the... ProdPad Tool · software, free trial ProdPad (Now-Next-Later roadmap tool) Janna Bastow, Simon Cast
If reading is not enough and you want to drill the skill, this is Torres's own course on running interviews as an ongoing... Product Talk Academy Course Continuous Interviewing (course) Teresa Torres
GV's free step by step playbook for finding your bullseye customer and running interviews, including the recruiting scripts and... GV / Michael Margolis Template Learn More Faster (GV Bullseye Customer playbook) Michael Margolis
A ready made doc that lays out planning, review, and communication rituals across weekly, monthly, and quarterly horizons,... Phil Farhi, Coda Template · Interactive doc Product Operating Rhythm Phil Farhi
Amazon's method of writing the outcome in plain language before any code exists, which forces you to make a request someone... Working Backwards (Bryar & Carr) Template · template + guide Working Backwards PR/FAQ template and instructions Working Backwards (Bryar & Carr)
This is a ready made, minimal workflow you can adopt as is on your first hire: branch, open a pull request, review, merge,... GitHub Docs Template · 10 min read GitHub Flow GitHub
An open source, self hostable feature flag service that gives you gradual rollouts and instant kill switches without building... Unleash Tool · Tool Unleash (open source feature flags) Unleash
The free home of the four delivery metrics plus a quick check that tells you where your team stands, so you can judge process... dora.dev Tool · Reference and quick check DORA (DevOps Research and Assessment) DORA
A ready made now, next, later template plus guidance so you can build a date free roadmap today instead of starting from a... ProdPad Template The Ultimate Product Roadmap Template and How to Use It ProdPad
A dead simple paper tool for the exact habit this question needs: give every part of your day a job before it starts, including... Cal Newport Tool · Physical daily planner The Time-Block Planner Cal Newport
A daily planner built specifically for timeboxing, so you drag tasks (including your fixed support and sales windows) onto the... Sunsama Tool · Daily planning app Sunsama Sunsama
A ready made place to write each idea as a one line problem and score it on the criteria that matter to you. Putting all your... Notion Marketplace Template · Template Idea Rating Scorecard (Notion template) Notion Marketplace
This is the simple artifact your answer describes: list the three or four criteria you both care about, weight them, and score... Smartsheet Template · template Weighted Decision Matrix Templates Smartsheet
A tool that scans forums, search trends, and communities to surface pre-researched idea candidates, with a free idea of the... IdeaBrowser (Greg Isenberg) Tool · Web tool IdeaBrowser Greg Isenberg

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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