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. The government's botnet cleaning centre lists free bot removal tools for Windows from Indian vendors including K7, Quick Heal... csk.gov.in Tool · Tools page Cyber Swachhta Kendra security tools CERT-In, Government of India
  2. Zoho's contract lifecycle software in Standard, Professional and Premium plans, with Zoho Sign included at no extra cost and a... zoho.com Tool · Pricing page Zoho Contracts pricing Zoho
  3. PandaDoc's own plans for proposals, quotes and contracts: a free plan, Starter at $19 a seat a month and Business at $49 a seat... pandadoc.com Tool · Pricing page PandaDoc pricing PandaDoc
  4. SpotDraft is a contract lifecycle platform for in-house legal teams: templates, approvals, e-signatures, a searchable... spotdraft.com Tool · Pricing page SpotDraft pricing SpotDraft
  5. Ironclad's own pricing page: an AI contract lifecycle platform sold by custom quote, built for larger legal and procurement teams. ironcladapp.com Tool · Pricing page Ironclad pricing Ironclad
  6. Spellbook drafts and reviews contracts with AI inside Microsoft Word, plus a multi-document agent called Associate; plans are... spellbook.com Tool · Pricing page Spellbook pricing Spellbook
  7. An Indian platform that gives a coaching institute or teacher its own branded app for live classes, tests and fees, sold on the... classplusapp.com Tool · Product site Classplus Classplus
  8. The official SPICe+ e-form on the MCA V3 portal, which is what every platform and CA files on your behalf. Open it to see... mca.gov.in Tool · Web form SPICe+ form: reserve a name and incorporate a new company (MCA) Ministry of Corporate Affairs
  9. Razorpay's incorporation service, priced at Rs 1,499 plus government fee for a Private Limited Company, an LLP or an OPC on its... razorpay.com Tool · Product page Razorpay Rize: register a Private Limited, LLP or OPC Razorpay
  10. One of the largest Indian filing platforms. Its Starter plan for a Private Limited Company is Rs 999 plus government fee and... vakilsearch.com Tool · Product page Vakilsearch: company registration in India Vakilsearch
  11. An Indian filing platform whose page starts Private Limited registration at Rs 2,999 plus government fees and lays out, in one... legalwiz.in Tool · Product page LegalWiz: Private Limited Company registration LegalWiz.in
  12. IndiaFilings' trademark service, starting from Rs 1,899 for a lawyer-assisted search and filing of the application. indiafilings.com Tool · Product page IndiaFilings: trademark search and filing IndiaFilings
  13. LegalWiz starts trademark registration at Rs 1,999 plus government fees, and its FAQ spells out the official fee plainly: Rs... legalwiz.in Tool · Product page LegalWiz: trademark registration LegalWiz.in
  14. Guy Kawasaki's short, famous rule from his years hearing pitches as a venture capitalist: ten slides, no more than twenty... guykawasaki.com Essay · 5 min read The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint Guy Kawasaki
  15. A gallery of presentation templates, pitch decks among them, built in Pitch, a slide tool made for teams that share and track... pitch.com Template · Template gallery Pitch: presentation templates Pitch
  16. Pitch's own pricing: Free at EUR 0 forever with 100 AI credits that do not renew, Plus at EUR 10 a month paid yearly with 500... pitch.com Tool · Pricing page Pitch: plans and pricing Pitch
  17. Gamma drafts a presentation from a prompt or an outline. Its pricing page: Free with 400 credits at signup and up to 10 slides... gamma.app Tool · Pricing page Gamma: plans and pricing Gamma
  18. Y Combinator co-founder Jessica Livingston's interviews with the founders of Apple, PayPal, Excite and others about their first... foundersatwork.com Book · Book Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days Jessica Livingston
  19. Investigative journalist Mihir Dalal's account of how Sachin and Binny Bansal built Flipkart from a Bangalore apartment into a... panmacmillan.co.in Book · Book Big Billion Startup: The Untold Flipkart Story Mihir Dalal
  20. The author's own page listing her books, starting with Stay Hungry Stay Foolish (2008), profiles of Indian MBA graduates who... rashmibansal.in Book · Author page Rashmi Bansal: books (Stay Hungry Stay Foolish and others) Rashmi Bansal
  21. YC's own channel: startup advice and founder stories, including the Startup School talks on ideas, launching and fundraising... youtube.com Video · Channel Y Combinator (YouTube channel) Y Combinator
  22. Lenny Rachitsky's interviews with product leaders and growth experts, built to get concrete, tactical advice on building,... youtube.com Video · Channel Lenny's Podcast (YouTube channel) Lenny's Podcast
  23. The video edition of the Acquired podcast, which tells the full story of how the world's great companies were built, from first... youtube.com Video · Channel Acquired (YouTube channel) Acquired
  24. Andreessen Horowitz's channel: weekly videos on technology trends and on building companies, from the firm's partners and the... youtube.com Video · Channel a16z (YouTube channel) a16z

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

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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