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.

When analyst reports do not exist, MCA filings are one of the few honest data points you can actually get in India, and Tofler... Tofler Tool Tofler: Indian Company Financials and Filings TWS Systems Private Limited In 2 answers
If you decide to learn the tool yourself, this is the structured on-ramp: Bubble's own free academy takes a complete beginner... Bubble Course · Self-paced (several hours of video lessons and guided builds) Bubble Academy: Free Courses to Build Real Apps Bubble In 2 answers
Maze is a cheap way to run remote, unmoderated tests when you cannot get people into a room, which is most of the time when you... maze.co Tool · Free plan, paid plans start around 99 USD per month Maze Maze In 2 answers
You cannot cut the right step until you know which step is the real cliff, and a funnel chart shows you exactly that. Amplitude... Amplitude Tool · Product guide plus free tier Funnel Analysis: Find Drop-offs and Boost Conversion Amplitude In 2 answers
Before you get attached to a name, you want one screen that tells you if the handle is free everywhere at once. Namechk checks... namechk.com Tool Namechk: Username and Domain Availability Checker Namechk In 2 answers
Most registrars hook you with a cheap first year and quietly triple the renewal, which is exactly the trap a bootstrapped... Cloudflare Tool Cloudflare Registrar Cloudflare In 2 answers
This is the official, source of truth for turning a page button into a real conversation, no third party sitting between you... WhatsApp Help Center Tool · 5 min read WhatsApp click to chat (wa.me links) WhatsApp (Meta) In 2 answers
Images are the single biggest reason landing pages crawl on a slow 4G connection, and Squoosh fixes that in your browser with... Google Chrome Labs Tool · A few minutes per image Squoosh Google Chrome Labs In 2 answers
If you just want to know how many people showed up and how long they stayed, without slowing your page or bolting on a cookie... plausible.io Tool Plausible Analytics Plausible Insights In 2 answers
When you just need a first draft on the page so a gateway or a signup form will work, a generator like Termly gets you a... Termly Tool · ~10 min to generate Free Privacy Policy Generator Termly In 2 answers
Figma's free plan is genuinely enough to design, tweak, and export a full logo set (SVG for print, PNG for the web) without... Figma Tool · Ongoing tool Figma (free plan) Figma In 2 answers
When you have a name and a company but no address, Hunter is the default first stop: type the person and the domain, and it... hunter.io Tool Hunter Email Finder Hunter In 2 answers
This is the platform a founder graduates to once a free WhatsApp or Discord group starts breaking down and they need courses,... circle.so Tool · Pricing page, quick scan Circle Pricing Circle In 2 answers
Before you touch live traffic, the cheapest way to read price sensitivity is to just ask people, and the Van Westendorp method... OpinionX Tool Van Westendorp for Pricing Research: A Survey Guide Daniel Kyne In 2 answers
Once you accept that the spreadsheet lied about your cash, this template makes the timing gap concrete: you enter your real... The Startup Project Tool · Downloadable spreadsheet, 15 to 30 minutes to fill in Startup Runway Calculator Template (Excel and Google Sheets) The Startup Project In 2 answers
When you need a one-time cash injection without giving up equity, this is an actual India-based platform you can approach,... Recur Club Tool · Platform, application-based Recur Club (revenue-based financing and debt for Indian founders) Recur Club In 2 answers
A free, no-signup calculator that forces you and your co-founder to actually weigh the inputs (idea, roles, who is full time,... Foundrs Tool · ~10 minutes to work through Foundrs Co-Founder Equity Calculator Foundrs In 2 answers
This is the one term sheet to benchmark your own against. YC wrote out the fairest single-page term sheet they could from... Y Combinator Template · 20 min read + Word template A Standard and Clean Series A Term Sheet (with downloadable template) Jason Kwon and Aaron Harris In 2 answers
A friendly form tool for running the interviews, waitlists, and fake door signups that power a no code MVP. You can gauge... typeform.com Tool Typeform typeform.com In 2 answers
Your short answer names the LOI as a real B2B validation signal, and this is a clean, lawyer-built template made for exactly... Common Paper Template · 1 to 2 page template Free Letter of Intent Template Common Paper In 2 answers
When your manual matching works and you finally do need software, this guide plus its no code builder lets you stand up a real... Sharetribe Academy Tool · ~40 min read Create a Marketplace: Build Your Platform in 10 Steps Sharetribe In 2 answers
When you need to reach the active or influential people in your niche cold, this helps you build a targeted list and find their... Apollo.io Tool Apollo.io Apollo.io In 2 answers
Your short answer says to track outreach like a funnel, and this gives you a free spreadsheet to do it. Log every contact as... Close.com Template · Downloadable templates Sales Pipeline Templates (Excel and Google Sheets) Close.com In 2 answers
A ready made structure for running and logging customer interviews the Mom Test way, so your manual research is captured... Notion Marketplace (GrowthHacking.World) Template · Notion template Problem-Solution Navigator: A Mom Test Based Interview Template GrowthHacking.World In 2 answers

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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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