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. The cleanest milestone-based runway framework we found: raise for 18 to 24 months because fundraising itself burns about 6... NYU Entrepreneurship Article · 10 min read The Runway Equation: How Much to Raise and When to Spend It NYU Entrepreneurial Institute
  2. This is the mechanical playbook for the 'send to 15 who actually invest, not 50' point: build a long list from Crunchbase,... Mercury Article · 12 min read Creating a target investor list for your seed round Mercury
  3. This is what 'research the fund before you send' looks like for an Indian founder: a single fund broken down into its actual... Superscout Article · 8 min read Blume Ventures: The Early Stage Founder's Guide Superscout
  4. This nails the core idea that you keep one story and change what it is asked to prove: adjust the problem framing, swap in the... Viktori Article · 10 min read How To Tailor Your Pitch Deck For Different Investors Viktori
  5. This is the modeling tool to actually stack your conversions before you sign, which is the whole opinionated answer. You enter... Carta Tool · free tool SAFE and Convertible Note Calculator Carta
  6. Written by an India-based cap table platform, so the modeling assumptions match how Indian founders actually raise. It walks a... EquityList Article · 12 min read Modeling Post-Money SAFEs in Your Cap Table: Tools and Mistakes to Avoid EquityList
  7. This is the side-by-side numbers piece: three investors each putting in $1M at a $10M cap end up owning exactly 30% of you... Avisen Legal Article · 10 min read Pre-money vs. Post-money SAFEs: The Dilution Math Founders Miss Avisen Legal
  8. This is the current RBI convertible note rulebook in one place, and it reflects the 2023 FEMA amendment that most older... TaxTMI Article · 11 min read Convertible Notes for Foreign Investors in Indian Startups: The 2026 Rules Explained TaxTMI editorial
  9. When your investor insists on a SAFE, this is the piece that shows how the Indian version actually gets built: iSAFE lives as... Vinod Kothari Consultants Article · 14 min read The iSAFE Option to Startup Funding: Legality and Taxation Vinod Kothari Consultants
  10. Written by a SEBI-registered Indian pre-seed fund, so the worked example is in the deal shapes you will actually see here, and... Eximius Ventures Article · 8 min read Breakdown of the Term Sheet: Liquidation Preference Raunak Bhiwal
  11. This is the cost and dilution receipt to go with the CRV framework: SAFEs run 2k to 5k in legal and close in a week, priced... Causo Hub Article · 12 min read SAFE vs priced round at seed: which, when, and the dilution math Causo
  12. This is the piece that makes the SAFE-vs-priced question concrete for an Indian founder, where a US SAFE has no legal standing... Dealplexus Article · 14 min read Convertible Notes vs SAFE vs Equity: Which Instrument Fits Indian Seed Rounds Dealplexus
  13. This is the piece that names the exact failure mode in your question: when your early investors all take their pro-rata, they... CRV Article · 12 min read Pro Rata Rights: A Founder's Guide to Term Sheets CRV
  14. This is the actual term sheet most Indian angels and seed funds put in front of you, hosted on the official Startup India... Startup India (Government of India portal) Template · term sheet PDF LetsVenture Standard CCPS Term Sheet Template (India), Pre-emptive Rights clause LetsVenture
  15. Where Graham gives the principle, Lemkin gives the honest tradeoff table so you can actually decide. He lays out both sides (a... SaaStr Article · 8 min read 5 Pros, and 5 Cons, to Taking a VC Round at a Very High Valuation Jason Lemkin
  16. This is the number you need to sanity-check the offer in front of you, from a real Indian seed VC rather than US Carta data. It... Kae Capital Article · 12 min read How to Raise Your Seed Round in India Kae Capital
  17. Iskold does the board control math out loud with a worked example: two 40% founders sell 20% to an investor, and the investor... Startup Hacks (2048 Ventures) Article · 12 min read Understanding Startup Board Control Alex Iskold
  18. This is the canonical piece that named the option pool shuffle, and it shows the exact trick with numbers: an $8M pre-money... Venture Hacks Essay · 20 min read The Option Pool Shuffle Nivi and Naval Ravikant
  19. This is the one piece that does both jobs you need. It runs the exact worked backward-repricing case (three angels on no-cap... Value Add VC Article · 10 min read Most Favored Nation (MFN) Clauses in SAFEs: Why They Matter More Than Founders Think Value Add VC
  20. Kruze does startup finance and cap tables for a living, so this is the operator's take rather than a lawyer's summary. It shows... Kruze Consulting Article · 8 min read Most Favored Nation (MFN) SAFEs: What Startup Founders Need to Know Kruze Consulting
  21. EquityList runs cap tables and ESOP admin for Indian startups, so this places MFN inside the instrument choices an Indian... EquityList Article · 12 min read SAFEs vs. Convertible Notes EquityList
  22. This is the founder-side reference that draws the exact line you need: it says outright that not every seed investor takes a... The Holloway Guide to Raising Venture Capital Article · 15 min read Board Seat Holloway (with Alex MacCaw and startup counsel)
  23. A lawyer-written plain-English breakdown of the three rights an investor bundles into one ask, so you can unbundle them at the... Built In Article · 10 min read Founder Cheatsheet: Information, Inspection and Observer Rights in a Venture Financing Becky Mancero
  24. This is the tool-comparison you actually need before wiring up a broadcast to 40 angels: it draws the clean line between... Visible.vc Article · 12 min read DocSend vs. Visible: A Comparison for Startup Founders Visible.vc editorial team

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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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