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. Netlify's plans for deploying sites from Git, AI tools or an API: a Free plan that stays free, Personal at $9 a month and Pro... netlify.com Tool · Pricing page Netlify pricing Netlify
  2. Vercel's plans: Hobby is free but, as the FAQ says, for personal, non-commercial use; Pro is $20 a month with $20 of included... vercel.com Tool · Pricing page Vercel pricing Vercel
  3. Porkbun's calculator of first-year price plus four renewals for a .com across Cloudflare, Porkbun, Namecheap and GoDaddy, with... porkbun.com Tool · Calculator What a .com domain really costs over five years Porkbun
  4. Porkbun's .in page: an everyday price of $7.83 with free WHOIS privacy, SSL and DNS. A .in through an accredited registrar with... porkbun.com Tool · Pricing page .IN domains at Porkbun Porkbun
  5. The official list of registrars accredited to sell .in domains, from the .IN Registry run under NIXI. Use it to check that... registry.in Article · Reference list .IN Registry: accredited registrars .IN Registry (NIXI)
  6. Hotjar's pricing page now lives on Contentsquare, which owns it. It shows a free plan and a paid tier with zone-based heatmaps,... contentsquare.com Tool · Pricing page Hotjar and Contentsquare pricing Contentsquare
  7. Mouseflow records sessions and draws click, scroll and geo heatmaps. Its free plan covers 1 website and 500 sessions a month;... mouseflow.com Tool · Pricing page Mouseflow pricing Mouseflow
  8. Lucky Orange bundles heatmaps, recordings and live chat on every plan. Build is $32 a month paid annually for up to 3,500... luckyorange.com Tool · Pricing page Lucky Orange pricing Lucky Orange
  9. Video · 3 min How to Use Heatmaps in Microsoft Clarity Microsoft Clarity
  10. Mixpanel's pricing page. The free plan covers up to 1M events a month, 10K session replays and unlimited seats; Growth is... mixpanel.com Tool · Pricing page Mixpanel pricing Mixpanel
  11. Amplitude's pricing page. The Free plan gives 2M events a month with session replay, experiments and unlimited seats and no... amplitude.com Tool · Pricing page Amplitude pricing Amplitude
  12. Video · 29 min PostHog vs Mixpanel: Stop Wasting Time (and Money) on The Wrong Tool Ruben Ugarte
  13. Google's free dashboard tool, sold as Looker Studio for a few years and now called Data Studio again. It connects to Google... datastudio.google.com Tool · Product page Data Studio (formerly Looker Studio) Google
  14. Google Cloud's page for Data Studio states the self-service tier is at no cost and Data Studio Pro is $9 per user per project a... cloud.google.com Tool · Product and pricing page Data Studio pricing on Google Cloud Google Cloud
  15. Microsoft's India pricing for Power BI: a free account to build reports, Power BI Pro at ₹1,165 per user a month paid yearly to... microsoft.com Tool · Pricing page Power BI pricing (India) Microsoft
  16. Metabase is open-source business intelligence: the self-hosted edition is free with unlimited users and dashboards, and the... metabase.com Tool · Pricing page Metabase pricing Metabase
  17. Video · 25 min Data Studio Tutorial 2026: From Beginner to Pro in 20 Mins Two Minute Reports
  18. Google's Meet page. Anyone with a Google account can host up to 100 people for up to 60 minutes per meeting at no cost, with no... workspace.google.com Tool · Product page Google Meet Google
  19. Microsoft's India comparison of Teams plans: Teams Essentials at ₹115 a user a month and Microsoft 365 Business Basic with... microsoft.com Tool · Pricing page Compare Microsoft Teams business options (India) Microsoft
  20. Zoho Meeting, from the Indian software company Zoho. Its free plan allows up to 100 participants for up to 60 minutes per... zoho.com Tool · Pricing page Zoho Meeting pricing Zoho
  21. Zapier's tested comparison of the main video call apps, updated November 2025, with what each does best and where its free plan... zapier.com Article · 15 min read The best video conferencing software in 2026 Zapier
  22. Apple India's own comparison of every Mac with its starting price: MacBook Neo from ₹79,900, MacBook Air from ₹1,49,900 and... apple.com Tool · Comparison page Compare Mac models (India) Apple
  23. Apple India's store page for the MacBook Neo, its lowest-priced laptop: ₹79,900 with 256GB and ₹89,900 with 512GB, built on the... apple.com Tool · Store page Buy MacBook Neo (India) Apple
  24. Apple India's store page for the MacBook Air with the M5 chip in 13-inch and 15-inch sizes, every model with 16GB or 24GB of... apple.com Tool · Store page Buy MacBook Air (India) Apple

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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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