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. This piece pushes on the part founders skip: figuring out exactly which gaps a co-founder should fill before you go looking,... First Round Review Article · 15 min read Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: How to Find a Co-Founder Steve Blank In 2 answers
  2. Antler runs full-time residencies (including a large India program in Bengaluru) that put dozens of vetted potential... Antler Tool How Antler Facilitates Co-Founder Matching Antler In 2 answers
  3. The ready-to-use questionnaire from the Founder Dating Playbook, covering roles, values, money, commitment, and how you each... First Round Review Template 50 Questions to Explore With a Potential Co-Founder Gloria Lin In 2 answers
  4. Video · 50 min How to Start a Startup, Lecture 2: Team and Execution Sam Altman In 2 answers
  5. Cohen, who bootstrapped two unicorns, argues that every line of code is a liability you will have to maintain and change, which... A Smart Bear Essay · medium read The Code is Your Enemy Jason Cohen In 2 answers
  6. A Startup School talk with a YC partner and Triplebyte's co-founder on finding and hiring key engineers from scratch.... Y Combinator Startup Library Video · Around 45 minutes Building an engineering team Harj Taggar and Ammon Bartram In 2 answers
  7. A free calculator that turns the benchmarks into concrete grant sizes for a specific role, level, and stage. Plug in your early... Index Ventures Tool · interactive tool OptionPlan by Index Ventures Index Ventures In 2 answers
  8. A clean, practical checklist from an accelerator that has seen thousands of teams: how to run the split conversation, why equal... Techstars Article · 9 min read How to Split Co-Founder Equity (The Right Way) Techstars In 2 answers
  9. This backs up the sketch the flows part of our answer. Design the screens before anyone writes code, because a paper sketch is... Getting Real (37signals) Essay · 5 min read Interface First 37signals In 2 answers
  10. Cagan, the most cited voice in product management, makes the case that a clickable prototype communicates intent better than a... Silicon Valley Product Group Essay · 8 min read Revisiting the Product Spec Marty Cagan In 2 answers
  11. A plain, practical guide to the as a user, I want, so that format that lets you describe features without a shred of technical... Atlassian Agile Coach Article · 10 min read User Stories with Examples and a Template Atlassian In 2 answers
  12. This one is written for engineers, and reading it tells you what your developer will want that a pure product spec does not... Stack Overflow Blog Article · 12 min read A practical guide to writing technical specs Zara Cooper In 2 answers
  13. Blank is the origin of get out of the building and customer development, the discipline that a no-code MVP is meant to serve.... Steve Blank (steveblank.com) Article · 12 min read No Business Plan Survives First Contact With A Customer Steve Blank In 2 answers
  14. Explains that without a written assignment, the agency, not you, may own the code you paid for. It covers present tense... Horizon Labs Article Code Ownership and IP Assignment for Contractors: 2026 Guide Horizon Labs In 2 answers
  15. A lawyer's note on the exact wording that actually transfers code ownership in a development agreement. It is short and... Willcox Savage Article Use the Magic Words: Ownership of Code Developed under a Software Development Agreement Joseph B. Allen In 2 answers
  16. A focused guide to the milestone payment clause itself: how to tie amounts to deliverables, set review periods, and handle... fynk Article Milestone Payment Schedule: Essential Contract Clause Guide fynk In 2 answers
  17. When a developer needs to walk you through a feature but you are twelve hours apart, a short recorded screen video does what a... Loom (Atlassian) Tool Loom (asynchronous video updates) Loom (Atlassian) In 2 answers
  18. This is a ready-to-use set of lightweight templates for recording why technical decisions were made, so the reasoning survives... GitHub (joelparkerhenderson) Template · Repo with templates Architecture Decision Records: Templates and Examples Joel Parker Henderson In 2 answers
  19. Wellfound (formerly AngelList Talent) is a startup focused pond where developers who want to work at early companies actually... Wellfound Tool Wellfound (post a job and hire startup talent) Wellfound In 2 answers
  20. The classic on what professional, maintainable code and habits look like, the standard your reviewer is measuring against. Even... The Pragmatic Bookshelf Book · 352 pages The Pragmatic Programmer: Your Journey to Mastery Andrew Hunt and David Thomas In 2 answers
  21. A short, illustrated checklist of rules that are safe to follow when you have no design intuition yet. Never use pure black or... anthonyhobday.com Article · 15 min read Visual design rules you can safely follow every time Anthony Hobday In 2 answers
  22. Forms are where most products lose users, whether it is signup, checkout, or onboarding. This is the definitive guide to label... Luke Wroblewski (Rosenfeld Media) Book · ~226 pages Web Form Design: Filling in the Blanks Luke Wroblewski In 2 answers
  23. Human short term memory is tiny, so making people remember things across screens is a hidden tax on your product. This explains... Nielsen Norman Group Article · 7 min read Memory Recognition and Recall in User Interfaces Raluca Budiu In 2 answers
  24. Video · ~24 min Usability Test Demo by Steve Krug Steve Krug In 2 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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