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 practical, India-specific checklist of what a bank actually asks a private limited company for once you are incorporated:... IndiaFilings Article How to Open a Current Bank Account for a Private Limited Company IndiaFilings In 2 answers
  2. This is the sharpest short answer to the real fear behind the question: how do I not go broke funding this. Graham reframes the... paulgraham.com Essay · ~1,200 words, about a 6 minute read Ramen Profitable Paul Graham In 2 answers
  3. For Indian founders the cap table is where diligence most often gets messy (SAFEs, convertible notes, ESOP grants, and vesting... qapita.com Tool · SaaS platform Qapita: Cap Table & ESOP Management for Indian Startups Qapita In 2 answers
  4. When your company is in India and your customers are abroad, the practical problem is getting paid in foreign currency through... Wise Tool · Product page Wise Business: receive international payments in India Wise In 2 answers
  5. You do not want to build a three-year model from a blank sheet, and you also do not want a generic one-size template that does... Forecastr Template · 12 templates, make a copy and fill in Forecastr Free Startup Financial Model Templates (Excel and Google Sheets) Forecastr In 2 answers
  6. Video · webinar-length walkthrough Mastering Financial Models for Your Startup with Logan Burchett Logan Burchett (Co-founder, Forecastr) In 2 answers
  7. Before you touch a spreadsheet, this essay reframes what the model is even for, and it answers your exact worry: at pre-seed... Equidam Essay · long-form essay What Are Startup Financial Projections Actually For? Daniel Faloppa In 2 answers
  8. The Indian mirror to the answer: Kamath built Zerodha to India's largest broker taking zero outside capital, and he is precise... Forbes India Article · 12 min read I wonder why there are only a few businesses like us, built to generate profits and not raise venture capital: Nithin Kamath Nithin Kamath (interviewed) In 2 answers
  9. This is the plain map of the Indian investor ladder from the fund that helped build it. Blume defines a micro VC as a sub-$40M... Blume Ventures Article · 15 min read India's Micro VC Landscape: Who's Writing the First Cheque in 2026? Blume Ventures In 2 answers
  10. A tight India-specific comparison with the rupee numbers you actually need: angels write ₹10 lakh to ₹3 crore from their own... Eximius Ventures Article · 10 min read Angel Investors vs. Pre-Seed VCs: Who's The Right Fit For You Eximius Ventures In 2 answers
  11. OpenVC runs the platform millions of these emails pass through, so their rules are drawn from data, not opinion: put a... OpenVC Article · 12 min read How to Cold Email Investors (And Actually Get Replies) OpenVC Team In 2 answers
  12. This is one of the only Indian seed funds that publishes hard numbers for when they want to hear from you, so you can benchmark... Blume Ventures Article · 5 min read Blume Ventures: How to reach us (seed traction benchmarks by model) Blume Ventures In 2 answers
  13. Once you accept that the market sets the price, this piece shows you the actual methods investors reach for when there is no... Mercury Article · 12 min read How early-stage startups are valued by seed and Series A investors Mercury In 2 answers
  14. Feld (co-author of Venture Deals) does the arithmetic most founders never run: on a $5M investment for 50% and a $20M exit, a... Feld Thoughts Essay · 10 min read To Participate or Not (Participating Preferences) Brad Feld In 2 answers
  15. This is the clause-by-clause decoder written for Indian reality, not a US template retrofitted. It runs the founder-payout math... The Founder's Guide to Startup Funding (Indian Ecosystem) Article · 35 min read Term Sheet Analysis: The Most Important Document You'll Sign (The Founder's Guide to Startup Funding in the Indian Ecosystem) Niraj Kumar In 2 answers
  16. The clearest breakdown of how RBF actually prices out for an Indian startup: you repay roughly 1.10 to 1.15x the principal... Efficient Capital Labs Article · 10 min read Revenue-Based Financing in India: A Founder Guide Efficient Capital Labs In 2 answers
  17. When a term sheet lands and you are tempted to fight over the last point of valuation, this is the essay that reframes the... paulgraham.com Essay · 12 min read The Equity Equation Paul Graham In 2 answers
  18. This is the canonical case for splitting close to equal, written by a YC group partner. It arms you with the exact four reasons... Y Combinator Essay · 5 min read How to Split Equity Among Founders Michael Seibel In 2 answers
  19. This is the clearest India-specific explainer of the AIF trick that keeps your cap table clean: a SEBI Category 1 Angel AIF... Inc42 Article · 5 min read LetsVenture Launches Angel AIF, May Enable Funding Worth $135.93 Mn In Next 2 Years Inc42 Staff In 2 answers
  20. This is the receipt for 'flip later is expensive.' Groww took the standard YC Delaware C-corp in 2016, kept 100% of its revenue... Treelife Article · 12 min read How Groww's $160 Million Delaware Tax Bill Became India's Most Expensive Startup Lesson Treelife In 2 answers
  21. If you decide against VC, this is a concrete India-specific menu of non-dilutive money: it lists the actual schemes, amounts,... IncorpX Article · 18 min read Government Grants and Subsidies for Startups in India 2026 IncorpX editorial team In 2 answers
  22. This is the discipline your title slide lives or dies by: Seibel's rule is to name the company and say what it does in the... Y Combinator Article · 12 min read How to Pitch Your Company (Michael Seibel / Y Combinator) Michael Seibel In 2 answers
  23. When your market slide claims a sector is heating up, this is the citeable proof point: India's VC market hit ~$16 billion in... Bain & Company Article · 30 min read India Venture Capital Report 2026 Bain & Company and Indian Venture and Alternate Capital Association In 2 answers
  24. This is the fastest zero-budget path to a clean deck: pick one template that already fixes your font pairing, color palette,... Canva Template · quick-start Free customizable pitch deck presentation templates Canva In 2 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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