Starting Up

The resources founders actually use.

Every essay, video, podcast, book and tool behind 1,327 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. Context on how Indian founders are actually using no-code to launch without engineering teams, with real examples. It is useful... KrASIA Article Indian Founders Say Yes to No-Code Tools Shreya Asopa In 4 answers
  2. A free, fast preview of the Refactoring UI mindset that you can apply this afternoon. It gives you seven fixes (use more white... Refactoring UI (Medium) Article · 10 min read 7 Practical Tips for Cheating at Design Adam Wathan and Steve Schoger In 4 answers
  3. 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 4 answers
  4. A simple, repeatable four-step method for making hiring decisions instead of going on gut feel, which is where costly mis-hires... Geoff Smart and Randy Street Book · Book, around 200 pages Who: The A Method for Hiring Geoff Smart and Randy Street In 4 answers
  5. A venture firm's field guide to engineering hiring for founders, covering the full arc from defining the role to sourcing,... CRV Article · Long read How to Hire Engineers: A Guide for Founders CRV In 4 answers
  6. A free, no signup whiteboard with a deliberately hand drawn look, ideal for sketching screens and flows without falling into... Excalidraw Tool Excalidraw Excalidraw In 4 answers
  7. Zerodha, India's largest broker, built almost everything in house with a famously small team, and its CTO explains why owning... Software at Scale Podcast · 1 hr Building Zerodha with Kailash Nadh Utsav Shah In 4 answers
  8. A clean primer if you have never run a test. It defines the three pieces that matter (a facilitator who does not lead,... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~12 min read Usability Testing 101 Kate Moran In 4 answers
  9. A tight distillation of what YC drills into every batch, with launch quickly and iterate as a core plank. It is the checklist... Michael Seibel (michaelseibel.com) Article · 10 min read YC's Essential Startup Advice Geoff Ralston, Michael Seibel In 4 answers
  10. If launching is a repeated habit rather than one event, you need a low-stakes place to keep launching, and Product Hunt is the... Product Hunt Tool · Web platform Product Hunt Product Hunt In 4 answers
  11. A transcript of a real switch interview so you can hear what a great customer conversation actually sounds like. Reading it... Jobs to be Done Radio Article The Jobs to be Done Mattress Interview Jobs to be Done Radio In 4 answers
  12. Cagan argues your job is to deliver outcomes, not to maintain a prioritized list of everyone's requests. That is the backbone... Silicon Valley Product Group (Marty Cagan) Essay · 10 min read Product Roadmaps Marty Cagan In 4 answers
  13. A living list of problem areas YC actively wants founders to tackle, useful as raw material and as a way to spot where the... Y Combinator Tool · Browse Requests for Startups Y Combinator In 4 answers
  14. A counterweight for when you overcorrect into safe, small, derivative ideas. Graham describes why the biggest ideas often feel... Paul Graham (paulgraham.com) Essay · ~12 min read Frighteningly Ambitious Startup Ideas Paul Graham In 4 answers
  15. This is the original Sequoia template that put "Why now" on the map as a named slide investors expect. It states the test... Sequoia Capital Template · 10 min read Writing a Business Plan Sequoia Capital In 4 answers
  16. A side-by-side of both methods that makes clear why you use bottom-up as your primary number and top-down only as a rough... Waveup Article · 14 min read Top-Down vs Bottom-Up Market Size Calculation Waveup In 4 answers
  17. The hype cycle names the exact trap in your question: the peak of inflated expectations, the trough of disillusionment, then... Gartner Article · 10 min read Gartner Hype Cycle Research Methodology Gartner In 4 answers
  18. Kelly's argument is that some technological directions carry their own momentum, so you can reason about where things are... Kevin Kelly (kk.org) Book · 336 pages The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 Technological Forces That Will Shape Our Future Kevin Kelly In 4 answers
  19. Twice a year Evans publishes a free deck reading the macro and strategic shifts in tech, strong on second order effects, not... ben-evans.com Article · 90+ slides Benedict Evans: annual tech trend presentations Benedict Evans In 4 answers
  20. Press is one of the easiest excuses to relaunch that founders under-use, and this guide teaches you to treat it as ongoing... Y Combinator (YC Startup Library) Article Getting press for your startup Y Combinator In 4 answers
  21. 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 In 4 answers
  22. This is the book that made outbound prospecting a repeatable discipline instead of a guessing game, built on the Salesforce.com... predictablerevenue.com Book · ~250 pages Predictable Revenue Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler In 4 answers
  23. 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 4 answers
  24. This guide breaks an ICP into demographic, psychographic, and position attributes, then walks through a real worked example,... Reforge Guides Article · 15 min read Define the ideal customer profile Reforge Guides In 4 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

What are good startup ideas in India right now? The ideas Indian investors are backing in 2026 sit in a few places: AI built into one industry's daily work (vertical AI for B2B, where software fu... Beginner 5 resources → How do I find product-market fit? Narrow until a small group cannot do without you, then widen. Pick the segment where usage is strongest, talk to those people every week, and chang... Intermediate 9 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 → How do I build an MVP for my startup, step by step? Write down the one assumption that kills the idea if it is wrong, then build the cheapest thing that tests it and get it to real users within weeks... Beginner 9 resources → Which tool should I use to analyse qualitative data like interview notes? For a founder with a dozen interviews, Gemini Notebook, which is free, or Claude, free or $20 a month on Pro: load the transcripts, ask for the rec... Beginner 6 resources → How do I get my first client as a freelancer? Your first client is most likely someone who already knows you or someone they know, so start there before marketplaces. 1) Pick one service for on... Beginner 6 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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