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. Amazon's trick is to write the customer facing press release and FAQ before building anything, which forces you to describe the... Working Backwards (Colin Bryar and Bill Carr) Article · 12 min read The Amazon Working Backwards PR/FAQ Process Colin Bryar and Bill Carr In 3 answers
  2. Once you have described a feature, acceptance criteria is how you say what done means so you and the developer agree before... Atlassian Article · 9 min read What is Acceptance Criteria? Definition, Examples, and Tips Atlassian In 3 answers
  3. The companion conversation, focused on how Zerodha actually built its engineering team in the Indian market, from first hires... Software Misadventures Podcast · 1 hr 15 min Kailash Nadh on Building the Tech Team at Zerodha Software Misadventures In 3 answers
  4. Video · 44 min Refactoring UI (CSS Day 2019 talk) Steve Schoger In 3 answers
  5. 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
  6. The practical answer to a crowded screen: show the few things most people need first, and tuck the advanced options behind a... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 8 min read Progressive Disclosure Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
  7. Interactive comic style teardowns of real products like Airbnb, Duolingo, and Spotify that show UX and psychology principles in... Growth.Design Tool · browsable, ~5 min each Growth.Design Case Studies Growth.Design In 3 answers
  8. This is the technique that turns watching into understanding. Ask users to narrate their thoughts while they work, and their... Nielsen Norman Group Article · ~6 min read Thinking Aloud: The #1 Usability Tool Jakob Nielsen In 3 answers
  9. Video · 18 minutes Design for Startups (Part 1) Garry Tan In 3 answers
  10. Zerodha built one of India's most used products with a tiny team and a stubborn focus on simplicity over polish. Kamath's view... Inc42 Article · 15 minute read Instincts, People and Vision: Nithin Kamath on Zerodha's Product Secrets Inc42 In 3 answers
  11. A crisp, opinionated set of principles for building software: work in cycles, say no to busy work, keep momentum, and let the... Linear Tool · Reference site Linear Method: Practices for building Linear In 3 answers
  12. The Basecamp founders make the case that yes is cheap in the moment and expensive for years, so no should be your default... REWORK (37signals) Podcast · 24 min Say No by Default Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson In 3 answers
  13. Chopra bootstrapped Wingify to a large exit from India after first failing by building an everything tool nobody asked for. He... The Neon Show Podcast · 60 min How To Build A Successful Startup In India ft Paras Chopra Siddhartha Ahluwalia and Paras Chopra In 3 answers
  14. This is the concrete how-to for collecting problems on purpose. It walks through Amy Hoy's Sales Safari method, where you... O'Reilly (Scott Hurff) Article · About 12 min read How to Create Products People Want (Sales Safari) Scott Hurff In 3 answers
  15. The Zerodha co-founder picks an industry, then asks the most basic first-principles questions until you understand how it... Nikhil Kamath Podcast · 60 to 120 min episodes WTF is with Nikhil Kamath Nikhil Kamath In 3 answers
  16. Intercom's Jobs-to-be-Done writing shows how to ask what customers are hiring your product to do, which forces you to describe... Intercom Article · ~short book, free Understanding Jobs-to-be-Done Des Traynor, Intercom In 3 answers
  17. Shapiro gives you five specific things to monitor (technology, behavior, environment, regulation, distribution) so your... Julian Shapiro (Startup Handbook) Essay · 20 min read Finding Startup Ideas through Market Timing Julian Shapiro 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. Written from an early-stage investor's chair, this walks the calculation with examples and is blunt that a bottom-up build... Antler Article TAM, SAM and SOM: How to Calculate the Size of Your Market Akshat Agarwal In 3 answers
  20. This one focuses squarely on the method your short answer champions, building TAM up from real customer counts and pricing... Qubit Capital Article Bottom-Up Market Sizing for Startups Qubit Capital In 3 answers
  21. A follow up that applies the idea maze to a wave many of you are riding right now. It shows how founders repeatedly chased the... cdixon.org Essay · 5 min read The idea maze for AI startups Chris Dixon In 3 answers
  22. Video · 12 min How VCs Evaluate Startup Timing, featuring Pete Flint at NFX Pete Flint, NFX In 3 answers
  23. Podcast · ~40 min Mastering Startup Math: TAM, CAC, Churn, LTV and more Shripati Acharya and Amit Somani, Prime Venture Partners In 3 answers
  24. Perez shows that real technological revolutions run on 50 year cycles with a predictable frenzy, a crash, and then a long... Goodreads Book · 224 pages Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital Carlota Perez In 3 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

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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