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.

This is a genuinely one-page template you can fill in the same afternoon, in Word, PowerPoint, Google Slides, or PDF, so no... Smartsheet Template · One page, fill in the same day One-Page Brand Guidelines Template (Free) Smartsheet
The email signature is the brand touchpoint a B2B founder hits dozens of times a day and almost always neglects, which is odd... HubSpot Template · ~5 min to set up Free Email Signature Generator HubSpot
A missing or stretched favicon is one of the smallest details that quietly makes a new startup look unfinished, and this tool... RealFaviconGenerator Tool RealFaviconGenerator RealFaviconGenerator
The safest place to pick fonts you can actually ship: everything is free, open source, and licensed for commercial use (logos,... Google Fonts Tool Google Fonts Google
A pretty palette that no one can read reads as careless, and this is the fastest way to catch that before it ships. Paste a... WebAIM Tool WebAIM Contrast Checker WebAIM
The messiest part of staying on-brand across a website, app, LinkedIn, and event booths is that the person making a WhatsApp... Canva Tool · Product page plus setup docs, ~30 min to set up your first kit Canva Brand Kit (Canva Pro) Canva
Day-to-day posts are where a brand quietly falls apart, because each one gets rebuilt from scratch in a slightly different... Canva Template · Template library, pick and reuse in minutes Free and customizable social media (social graphic) templates Canva
The article walks a four step method and then hands you an editable Google Doc you can fill in, which is what you actually need... Semrush Template How to Define Your Brand's Tone of Voice (with free template) Eugenia Verbina
This is a free, browsable library of real SaaS landing pages (ConvertKit, Loom, Gumroad, and more) with the actual hero copy... swipefile.com Tool · Browsable gallery, dozens of real pages SaaS Landing Page Examples (Swipefile) swipefile.com
Before you worry about whether your copy is persuasive, this catches whether it will even reach the inbox. It is genuinely free... Mailmeteor Tool · ~2 min per check Free Email Spam Checker Mailmeteor
When you are the only writer, the fix is not more discipline, it is one short document you actually reuse. This free fill-in... Big Bang Copy Template · Fill-in Google Slides template, roughly 30 to 45 minutes to draft a first pass Brand Tone of Voice Template (free, fill-in) Big Bang Copy
When you are staring at a blank button or a lonely empty state, the fastest unblock is seeing how good products actually... goodmicrocopy.com Tool · Browsable gallery, dozens of entries Good Microcopy Sam Hulick
When you don't have the traffic to A/B test, a five-second test is the practical substitute: show your copy to a handful of... Maze Tool Five-Second Test Template Maze
You cannot fix indexing mistakes you cannot see, and this free tool from Google shows you exactly which of your pages are... Google Search Console Help Tool Page Indexing report (Google Search Console) Google
AlsoAsked pulls Google's live People Also Ask questions and maps them into a branching diagram, so you see the actual questions... AlsoAsked Tool · free tier with limited daily searches, paid plans for volume AlsoAsked: People Also Ask keyword research tool Mark Williams-Cook
Before you spend weeks writing in Hindi, spend ten minutes checking whether your actual buyers search that way. Google Trends... Google Trends Tool · Free web tool, a few minutes per check Google Trends (Explore and Compare) Google
When nobody has heard of you, a real quote in a journalist's story is one of the few ways to earn a genuine press link from a... HARO (helpareporter.com) Tool · Ongoing (daily email queries you respond to) Help a Reporter Out (HARO) Featured.com
This is Google's own explanation of the three numbers that actually tell you if your content is getting found: impressions,... Google Search Console Help Tool Impressions, clicks, and position in Google Search Console (official docs) Google Search Central
Once you have decided that signups and leads are what count, GA4 is the free tool that connects a content visit to that action.... Google Analytics Help Tool About key events (conversions) in Google Analytics 4 (official docs) Google Analytics team
The GaryVee model tells you what to do, this gives you a reusable sheet so you do it the same way every week without re... writerzen.net Template · about a 10 step checklist Content Repurposing Checklist (Google Sheets) WriterZen
If you do decide a waitlist earns its place, this is a clean, concrete way to run one well without building it yourself: a... LaunchList Tool LaunchList: Viral Pre-Launch Waitlist Software with Referrals LaunchList
Clay is the tool most outbound teams reach for when they want research-driven personalization instead of name placeholders. It... Clay Tool Clay Clay Labs, Inc.
Sometimes your emails are not ignored, they never reach the inbox, and no amount of copy editing fixes a deliverability... instantly.ai Tool · Web app Instantly Cold Email Outreach and Deliverability Instantly
If you decide to run WhatsApp at any real scale, you cannot do it from the plain WhatsApp Business app: you need a... AiSensy Tool · Free plan, paid tiers from about 1,395 rupees per month AiSensy: WhatsApp Business API Platform AiSensy Communications Private Limited

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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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