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. A crisp, visual reference of the psychology principles behind good UX, perfect for a founder who wants the 'why' without a... lawsofux.com Article · reference site Laws of UX Jon Yablonski In 3 answers
  2. A tight, example-driven breakdown of naming approaches from one of the best practical marketing writers online, memorable and... Marketing Examples Article · 5 min read Four (not boring) ways to name a new product Harry Dry In 3 answers
  3. Fifty-plus recent YC founders answer the exact question every early founder asks. The pattern across their answers is the lesson. YC Startup Library Article · ~10 min read Founder FAQ: How did you get your first customer? Y Combinator (50+ founders) In 3 answers
  4. The canonical explanation of why linear funnels break and self-reinforcing growth loops compound, from the team that trains... Reforge Blog Article · ~15 min read Growth Loops Are the New Funnels Brian Balfour & Reforge team In 3 answers
  5. The canonical book on making community a competitive advantage, from someone who trained community teams at Facebook, Airbnb,... Wiley Book · Book (~256 pages) The Business of Belonging David Spinks In 3 answers
  6. YC's Startup Library is the canonical, no-fluff reference on how startups actually make money, curated from partners who've... ycombinator.com Article · browsable library Business Models & Metrics, Y Combinator Startup Library Y Combinator In 3 answers
  7. The strongest articulate case for NOT raising, from the 37signals co-founder who built a massively profitable business with... Lenny's Podcast / Lenny's Newsletter Podcast · 90 min Jason Fried challenges your thinking on fundraising, goals, and growth Lenny Rachitsky (host), Jason Fried (guest) In 3 answers
  8. A practical India-specific guide to term sheets and iSAFEs, written by working Indian VCs and startup lawyers (3one4 Capital,... Inc42 Article · 30 min read (guide) Decoding Term Sheets for Early-Stage Startups Siddarth Pai, Roma Priya, Yagnesh Sanghrajka In 3 answers
  9. Turns the a16z metrics framework into a concrete, reportable template so your investor updates carry the numbers investors... Visible.vc Tool · template a16z Startup Metrics Template (for updates and reporting) Visible.vc (based on a16z metrics) In 3 answers
  10. A concrete, tactical guide to presenting yourself well to potential co-founders, useful whether or not you use YC's platform.... YC Startup Library Article · Short read How to make your co-founder matching profile stand out Y Combinator In 3 answers
  11. The attorney-favourite platform for clean, fundable startup paperwork, run by startup lawyers obsessed with avoiding... clerky.com Tool · Legal paperwork platform + founder handbooks Clerky: Startup Legal Paperwork & Delaware Incorporation Clerky In 3 answers
  12. A clear, vendor-agnostic explainer of why the Delaware C-corp is the default for high-growth, investor-backed startups and how... stripe.com/resources Article · Guide How to form a Delaware corporation (C corp), Stripe guide Stripe In 3 answers
  13. Graham argues determination, not brilliance, is the top predictor of founder success, and breaks it into components you can... paulgraham.com Article · medium The Anatomy of Determination Paul Graham In 3 answers
  14. A concise checklist of the five founder qualities that matter most, useful for calibrating your own mindset and spotting where... paulgraham.com Article · short What We Look for in Founders Paul Graham In 3 answers
  15. Written by YC's first Batch Director who coached nearly a thousand early-stage founders, this is a practitioner's library of... thefoundercoach.com Article · medium The User Manual for Founder Psychology (Scale Yourself) Amy Buechler In 3 answers
  16. Graham surveyed 100+ founders on what surprised them most about starting up, an honest, de-romanticized picture of the... paulgraham.com Article · medium What Startups Are Really Like Paul Graham In 3 answers
  17. A clinical psychologist and a solo founder talk candidly about the mechanics of burnout and recovery, practical, specific, and... thebootstrappedfounder.com Podcast · medium The Reality of Burnout for Entrepreneurs (Bootstrapped Founder ep.) Arvid Kahl & Dr. Sherry Walling In 3 answers
  18. A candid founder post-mortem, republished by Inc42, that captures the emotional reality of shutting down, including the line... inc42.com Article · medium Postmortem of a Venture-Backed Startup: Lessons from Sonar Inc42 In 3 answers
  19. WEP is the official government front door for women founders, a single platform aggregating incubation, mentorship, funding... Women Entrepreneurship Platform (wep.gov.in) Tool · Platform + directory Women Entrepreneurship Platform (WEP), NITI Aayog NITI Aayog, Government of India In 3 answers
  20. This is the canonical, primary source for how the world's most influential accelerator actually works, deadlines, batch... Y Combinator Article · Application page + FAQ Apply to Y Combinator Y Combinator In 3 answers
  21. India's most prominent early-stage cohort investor and the pioneer of the founder-friendly India SAFE (iSAFE) note, a clean... 100X.VC Article · Program / portfolio site 100X.VC, Funding Simplified, Mentoring Unlimited 100X.VC In 3 answers
  22. A globally-branded accelerator with an India-based program, giving founders a clear, concrete reference point for the classic... Techstars Article · Program page Techstars Bangalore Accelerator Techstars In 3 answers
  23. A crisp, practical counterweight to NDA paranoia that lays out when a confidentiality agreement is genuinely useful versus when... LinkedIn Article · ~6 min read Startups don't need NDAs: why nobody will steal your idea Startup community (LinkedIn) In 3 answers
  24. A brutally honest primary account of taking the VC 'go big or go home' leap and the freedom of choosing a leaner path instead,... sahillavingia.com Essay · ~4,500 words Reflecting on My Failure to Build a Billion-Dollar Company Sahil Lavingia In 3 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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