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. If you are selling to companies rather than consumers, this is the specific playbook. Four concrete ways founders got signal... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~12 min read How to Validate Your B2B Startup Idea Lenny Rachitsky In 11 answers
  2. Gmail, Meet, Drive and Docs on your own domain, priced in rupees. The page lists Base at ₹99 per user a month for up to 20... workspace.google.com Tool Google Workspace pricing (India) Google In 11 answers
  3. Accounting software made in India with GST invoicing; it produces the profit and loss statement from your entries. There is a... zoho.com Tool · Pricing page Zoho Books plans and pricing (India) Zoho In 11 answers
  4. The four MUDRA loan bands for a micro business, given through banks and NBFCs: Shishu up to Rs 50,000, Kishore up to Rs 5 lakh,... mudra.org.in Article · Official page Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana: offerings MUDRA In 11 answers
  5. Design tactics written specifically for developers and non-designers who need to ship good-looking UI without a design... refactoringui.com Book · ~250 pages Refactoring UI Adam Wathan & Steve Schoger In 10 answers
  6. Julian Shapiro's growth handbook frames brand and messaging as downstream of who you're for and what you replace, practical... julian.com Article · 20 min read Positioning (Startup Handbook: brand and marketing foundations) Julian Shapiro In 10 answers
  7. The research-backed classic on consultative selling, the antidote to 'pushy salesperson' instincts. Its... McGraw-Hill Book · book (~200 pages) SPIN Selling Neil Rackham In 10 answers
  8. The definitive, brutally honest account of 'The Struggle', the emotional and operational reality of running a company when... HarperBusiness Book · long The Hard Thing About Hard Things Ben Horowitz In 10 answers
  9. Written by a clinical psychologist married to a serial entrepreneur, it pairs real psychological expertise with lived founder... sherrywalling.com Book · long The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your Sh*t Together Dr. Sherry Walling & Rob Walling In 10 answers
  10. The official explainer of the concrete money DPIIT-recognised startups get on IP, an 80% patent-fee rebate, 50% trademark-fee... Government of India (startupindia.gov.in) Article · ~10 min read Startup India, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Benefits & SIPP Scheme DPIIT / Startup India In 10 answers
  11. Before you spend a weekend guessing, Google Trends gives you a real, free read on whether interest in your idea is rising,... Google Tool Google Trends Google In 10 answers
  12. Currier's whole argument is that founder-market fit is more than the one line on a resume that says 'domain expert'. He breaks... NFX Article · ~12 min read The 4 Signs of Founder-Market Fit James Currier In 10 answers
  13. This is the canonical piece that put jobs to be done on the map, written by the people who coined it. It uses the famous... Harvard Business Review Article · ~20 min read Know Your Customers' Jobs to Be Done Clayton Christensen et al. In 10 answers
  14. Video · About 26 minutes How to Succeed with a Startup Sam Altman (Y Combinator) In 10 answers
  15. Video Startup Pricing 101 Kevin Hale In 10 answers
  16. A one page template that forces you to write down the problem, the customer, and why you are placed to solve it, all on a... leanfoundry.com Template · one page Lean Canvas Ash Maurya In 10 answers
  17. The book that coined get out of the building and launched the customer development movement. Blank's core claim is that a... Wiley Book The Four Steps to the Epiphany Steve Blank In 10 answers
  18. Your first filter is whether this is a problem you understand, and this short essay is the clearest statement of why that... cdixon.org Essay · ~5 min read Founder/Market Fit Chris Dixon In 10 answers
  19. An employer's guide, from an Indian payroll company, to the four Labour Codes that took effect on 21 November 2025 and replaced... greytHR Article · 15 min read Labour Codes 2025: A Practical Guide for HR Leaders Prachi S In 10 answers
  20. India's most used payment gateway for small businesses, taking UPI, cards and netbanking. The pricing page lists a standard fee... razorpay.com Tool Razorpay pricing Razorpay In 10 answers
  21. The official description of Mudra loans for non-farm micro enterprises in manufacturing, trading and services: loans up to Rs... myscheme.gov.in Article · Scheme page Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY) Ministry of Finance, on myScheme In 10 answers
  22. The GST portal's registration entry point, where a new taxpayer applies online for a GSTIN, tracks the application and finds... gst.gov.in Tool GST Registration (official GST portal) GSTN In 10 answers
  23. The primary-source telling of the milkshake story, the single most memorable illustration of Jobs to Be Done, straight from... HBS Working Knowledge Article · ~8 min read Clay Christensen's Milkshake Marketing Clayton Christensen (via Harvard Business School) In 9 answers
  24. A candid founder conversation on building India's largest brokerage entirely on customer money, with no external capital. The... blume.vc Podcast · podcast episode Bootstrapping his way to build the largest online brokerage in India (Nithin Kamath) Blume Ventures Podcast (with Nithin Kamath) In 9 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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