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 one names the predatory pattern precisely: a program whose real business is charging you thousands to build your website... Anthill Magazine Article · 6 min read Three Red Flags to Watch Out for in an Incubator Tilda Yeow
  2. The scheme's own about page: under SISFS the government routed money through DPIIT-recognised incubators as a grant of up to 20... Startup India (Seed Fund portal) Tool · portal About the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) DPIIT, Government of India
  3. This is written by a VC that sits on the other side of demo day, so the questions are the ones investors wish founders asked:... Sierra Ventures Article · 15 min read Startup Accelerators: How to Choose, With Side-by-Side Terms for 13 Top Programs Sierra Ventures (Ascend)
  4. When a program can't or won't name its raise rate, this is the number to hold them to: across 8,580 companies in 408... Knowledge at Wharton Article · 8 min read Do Accelerators Improve Startup Success Rates? Valentina Assenova and Raffi Amit (Wharton)
  5. This is the closest thing to an audited scorecard for accelerators, run by three former founders turned academics who collect... MIT Sloan Article · 6 min read Seed Accelerator Rankings Project: How Programs Are Actually Measured Yael Hochberg, Susan Cohen, Daniel Fehder
  6. This is the clearest breakdown of WHY a corporate accelerator behaves differently from an independent one: it spells out that... Elev X! Article · 10 min read Corporate Accelerators: How They Work and Why Enterprises Run Them Elev X! editorial team
  7. When you decide to grab credits from a corporate program, this tells you which of the big three to pick and why, with real 2026... guptadeepak.com Article · 14 min read AWS Activate vs Microsoft for Startups vs Google for Startups (2026): Who Each One Is Actually For Deepak Gupta
  8. This is the India-specific route into corporate credits: NASSCOM 10000 Startups is an approved AWS Activate provider, takes... GrowthGurukul Article · 12 min read NASSCOM 10,000 Startups: India's Tech Launchpad Founders Shouldn't Ignore (2026 Guide) GrowthGurukul editorial team
  9. A founder logs a Techstars batch day by day: Week 1 KPI workshop and kickoff, a brutal seven-day 'mentor madness' of... austinhenley.com Article · 15 min read My startup diary: Techstars Austin Z. Henley
  10. Written by a Techstars Mentor in Residence who has sat across from 350+ startups, so it is the advice from the other side of... landonhowell.com Article · 8 min read Founder advice for Techstars Mentor Madness Landon Howell
  11. The failure mode our answer warns about has a name: mentor whiplash, where smart people give you opposite advice until you no... jag.eu Article · 6 min read Mentor whiplash, and working through it Jag Singh
  12. Instead of abstract advice, this dissects the actual DoorDash demo day pitch that turned a 2 minute slot into a $2.4M seed... Slidebean Article · 10 min read DoorDash's YC Demo Day Pitch, Broken Down Slide by Slide Slidebean
  13. This is the concrete India reality behind the in-person question, with real numbers. Indian and Southeast Asian startups in a... TechCrunch Article · 6 min read Y Combinator and India are drifting apart Manish Singh
  14. This is the government's own live map of 73 BIRAC-backed bioincubators, the exact specialized programs a biotech, healthtech,... BIRAC (Government of India) Tool · browse BIRAC BioNEST: Directory of India's Bioincubators Biotechnology Industry Research Assistance Council (BIRAC)
  15. This is the clearest India-specific case for why hard tech needs a specialized door, told through IISc's SID incubator (Mynvax,... Inc42 Article · 10 min read IISc-Backed SID On Turning Deep Science R&D Into Viable Deeptech Startups Inc42 Staff
  16. Once you know you want a specialized program, this is where you filter for it: a live India directory of accelerators and... Startup Grants India Tool · browse Startup Grants India: Accelerator and Incubator Directory by Sector Startup Grants India
  17. This is the worked example your question demands: two post-money SAFEs (one at an 8M cap, one at a 12M cap) that each look like... Capwave.ai Article · 14 min read Post-money SAFE stacking in 2026: the dilution math 83% of founders get wrong Capwave.ai
  18. This is the horse's-mouth map of how a batch actually runs, and it names the two levers you should grab in week one: your group... Y Combinator Article · 8 min read What Happens at YC Y Combinator
  19. Most YC content is about getting in; this piece is refreshingly about what to do once you are in, and it backs our whole... HubSpot Article · 15 min read Getting Into Y Combinator and Succeeding HubSpot for Startups
  20. Our answer says get your data room started early so Demo Day is not a scramble, and this is the concrete checklist to do it,... FounderFirst (Spotlight Insights) Article · 12 min read Fundraising Data Room Checklist: Structure, Templates and What Investors Actually Look For FounderFirst
  21. This is the guide that tells you which tenders you can actually win on merit instead of on price. It lays out the QCBS 70:30... Tata Nexarc Blog Article · 10 min read QCBS in Tenders: An MSME Guide to Scoring and Selection Tata Nexarc editorial team
  22. This explains the policy shift that makes chasing QCBS a real option rather than wishful thinking. It documents the October... ThePrint Article · 8 min read Lowest cost or 'L1' no longer the only way to select bidders: why Modi govt revised policy ThePrint
  23. This is the cost breakdown that tells you exactly what a Performance BG will drain before you earn a rupee. It spells out that... Karbon Card Article · 12 min read Bank Guarantee Charges in India: Best Banks, Fees and Calculation Karbon Card
  24. This is the practical bridge between the rule and the actual bid: it explains EMD as the 2 to 5 percent deposit that locks up... Tata nexarc Article · 10 min read EMD Exemption for MSMEs and Startups in Government Tenders Tata nexarc

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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