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.

Justin Jackson built this course specifically for technical founders who are good at shipping but go quiet on marketing right... justinjackson.ca Course · self-paced course Marketing for Developers Justin Jackson
Our answer's second half is about treating sales as a repeatable pipeline, not one-off calls, and that needs somewhere to write... HubSpot Tool HubSpot Pipeline Management HubSpot
When you need the actual words for the same-day recap email, this gives you five ready structures for different types of calls,... HubSpot Template · 8 min read 5 Recap Email Templates to Use After Connect, Discovery, and Demo Calls HubSpot
Once you find your champion, the deal usually stalls on a security questionnaire, and do you have a SOC 2 report is often the... Vanta Tool An actionable guide to SOC 2 compliance for startups Vanta
If you are registered as an MSME and a customer sits on your invoice past 45 days, this government portal is the actual legal... Ministry of MSME, Government of India Tool MSME SAMADHAAN - Delayed Payment Monitoring System Ministry of MSME, Government of India
UPI Autopay lets you set up a recurring mandate on a customer's account so a subscription or installment debits automatically... Razorpay Tool UPI Autopay | Razorpay Razorpay
A free, plain-language contract template built specifically for running a paid pilot, with the scope, fee, and success criteria... Common Paper Template Pilot Agreement Common Paper
When a spreadsheet finally starts to strain, this is the most common next step: unlimited contacts, deal tracking, and email... HubSpot Tool Free CRM for Small Business HubSpot
Built by an Indian company and free for up to three users, this is the CRM a lot of early Indian B2B founders reach for because... Zoho Tool Zoho CRM Free Edition Zoho
A free grab-bag of the actual artifacts (email templates, qualification checklists, call scripts) you need to run consistent... Close Template · 9 email templates, 3 checklists, 2 scripts, 5 books The Startup Sales Resource Bundle Close / Steli Efti
A plug-and-play spreadsheet for calculating win rate, average deal size, and churn from your own numbers. Use it to actually... HubSpot Tool · spreadsheet tool Sales Metrics Calculator HubSpot
A US buyer deciding whether to trust an unfamiliar Indian vendor reads your contract as closely as your product. YC's free,... Y Combinator Template YC Standard Sales Agreement Template Y Combinator
The cheapest way to bridge a twelve hour timezone gap is to stop scheduling a live call for everything. Loom lets you record a... Loom Tool Loom for Sales Loom
When your short answer says follow up on the date whether or not they replied, eventually you reach the point where you need a... HubSpot Template The Power of Breakup Emails: 7 Templates To Close the Loop HubSpot
A CRM built specifically around follow-up: it reminds you to send that recap, flags the date you promised to circle back, and... Close Tool Close Close
Hunter built its business around helping people find and email the right person, so this guide doubles as both a practical... Hunter.io Tool A Complete Guide to Cold Email Outreach Hunter.io
Once your email is well written, the next problem is knowing whether it was even opened, and Streak sits directly inside Gmail... Streak Tool Email Tracking from Gmail Streak
The single biggest reason founders under follow-up isn't strategy, it's forgetting. This tool auto-reminds you (or auto-sends a... Boomerang for Gmail Tool Boomerang for Gmail: Email Follow-Up Reminders Boomerang for Gmail
A practical library of short LinkedIn opening messages organized by scenario, which you can adapt instead of guessing at tone... Sales Bread Template 37 Best LinkedIn Cold Message Templates That Get Replies Sales Bread
A free five-day email course covering the whole cold email process end to end: defining who to target, finding accurate contact... Hunter.io Course · 5 days Hunter's Cold Email Course Hunter.io
A tool built specifically around sequencing cold email and LinkedIn touches together, which matches the exact combine-them... lemlist.com Tool lemlist lemlist.com
This guide's central argument matches our answer exactly: most prospect lists fail at definition, not sourcing, so precision... Clay Tool · Guide + tool How to Build a Targeted Prospect List Clay
LinkedIn is where most B2B founders will actually find the named individuals who match their ICP, and Sales Navigator's filters... LinkedIn Tool LinkedIn Sales Navigator LinkedIn
Close is the CRM named directly in this hub's own advice, and for good reason. It is built specifically for founders and small... Close Tool Close CRM for Startups Close

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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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