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. Video · ~5 min Clay Christensen: The Jobs to be Done Theory (the milkshake example) Clayton Christensen (HubSpot Marketing) In 4 answers
  2. Video · About 25 minutes Building Product Michael Seibel In 4 answers
  3. Video · about 30 minutes How to Sell Tyler Bosmeny In 4 answers
  4. Video · 6 min watch How To Cold Email Investors Michael Seibel In 4 answers
  5. Tom Blomfield's practical framework for pricing when you sell to businesses, including why to charge from the start and how to... Y Combinator Startup Library Video How to Price for B2B (Tom Blomfield, Y Combinator) Tom Blomfield In 4 answers
  6. Video · ~15 min Companies That Grow Without Ads (Delta-4 Theory) Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED) In 3 answers
  7. A concise video lecture that walks through the key concepts and mechanics of running a fundraising process, from a YC partner... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · 40 min Fundraising Fundamentals (Startup School) Geoff Ralston In 3 answers
  8. Video · ~30 min Fall in Love with the Problem, Not the Solution Uri Levine In 3 answers
  9. Gross ranked hundreds of startups (his own and others') across five factors, and timing came out on top, ahead of team, idea,... TED Video · ~7 min The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed Bill Gross In 3 answers
  10. Reading about the switch interview is one thing, watching one run live is another. Bob Moesta and Chris Spiek interview an... Business of Software Video Uncovering the Jobs to Be Done (with a live switch interview) Bob Moesta and Chris Spiek In 3 answers
  11. Video · Talk, roughly 30 minutes David Rusenko: How To Find Product Market Fit David Rusenko (Weebly co-founder) In 3 answers
  12. Video · ~4 min The Original Dropbox Demo Video (MVP) Drew Houston In 3 answers
  13. Video · 48 min How to Build Products Users Love Kevin Hale In 3 answers
  14. YC partner Harj Taggar walks through where co-founders actually come from, when to bring one on, and how to run the search... Y Combinator Startup Library (Harj Taggar) Video · 20 min How to Find the Right Co-Founder Harj Taggar In 3 answers
  15. Video · 44 min Refactoring UI (CSS Day 2019 talk) Steve Schoger In 3 answers
  16. A two minute explanation of one of the most practical rules for founders: users spend nearly all their time on other apps, so... Nielsen Norman Group Video · 2 min Jakob's Law of Internet User Experience (video) Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
  17. Video · 18 minutes Design for Startups (Part 1) Garry Tan In 3 answers
  18. Johnson shows that most breakthroughs are slow hunches that sit half-formed for years and combine with other fragments, which... TED (Steven Johnson) Video · 18 min Where good ideas come from Steven Johnson In 3 answers
  19. Video · 12 min How VCs Evaluate Startup Timing, featuring Pete Flint at NFX Pete Flint, NFX In 3 answers
  20. Migicovsky built Pebble on hundreds of these conversations, and this lecture is the specific playbook: how to find your first... Y Combinator Library Video · ~50 min How to Start a Startup: Talking to Users Eric Migicovsky In 3 answers
  21. Video · ~20 min Customer Discovery: What Do You Ask Justin Wilcox In 3 answers
  22. A widely followed Indian founder-educator (ex-CEO Groupon India / nearbuy) who speaks directly to the Indian salaried... ankurwarikoo.com Video · Short-form video series Ankur Warikoo, Entrepreneurship Ankur Warikoo In 2 answers
  23. A seasoned enterprise sales leader gives a crash course on selling into complex organizations like the Fortune 500, including... Andreessen Horowitz (a16z) Video · ~45 min Go-to-Market Boot Camp for Startups: Field Sales Mark Cranney In 2 answers
  24. Video · ~30 min Enterprise Sales | Startup School Pete Koomen In 2 answers

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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