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 definitive beginner walkthrough of finding and prioritising keywords, from the tool most SEOs actually use, authoritative... Ahrefs Article · 25 min read Keyword Research: The Beginner's Guide by Ahrefs Sam Oh (Ahrefs) In 6 answers
  2. Lenny distills how the best product teams pick a single North Star that captures real customer value and drives the whole... Lenny's Newsletter Article · ~20 min read The North Star Playbook & Choosing Your Growth Metrics Lenny Rachitsky In 6 answers
  3. David Skok's For Entrepreneurs work is the foundational, near-universally cited source on SaaS unit economics and modeling.... forentrepreneurs.com Article · long-form reference SaaS Metrics 2.0, Detailed Definitions David Skok In 6 answers
  4. 100X.VC pioneered the iSAFE, India's answer to the US SAFE, and offers the standardized document plus a plain explanation.... 100X.VC Tool · template + explainer iSAFE: The Founder-Friendly Fundraising Instrument for Early-Stage Founders 100X.VC In 6 answers
  5. A detailed, clause-by-clause drafting guide with Indian legal context, including enforceability and state-wise stamp duty, that... lawsikho.com Article · Long read Co-Founder Agreements in India 2026: A Comprehensive Drafting Guide LawSikho In 6 answers
  6. The official government overview of how to incorporate and register a startup in India, including the SPICe+ route on the MCA... startupindia.gov.in Article · Official overview Startup India Scheme (Incorporation & Registration Overview) Startup India / DPIIT In 6 answers
  7. The single most reassuring and clarifying essay for a founder on the edge of quitting, Graham's core insight that startups die... paulgraham.com Article · short How Not to Die Paul Graham In 6 answers
  8. The official SISFS portal. The scheme gave early DPIIT-recognised startups up to Rs 20 lakh as a grant for proof of concept and... Seed Fund Portal (seedfund.startupindia.gov.in) Tool · Application portal Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS), Official Portal DPIIT, Government of India In 6 answers
  9. NIDHI is the DST umbrella that funds ideas and prototypes through campus incubators, the most realistic path for student and... NIDHI, DST (nidhi.dst.gov.in) Tool · Programme directory NIDHI, DST's Umbrella for Student & Early-Stage Grants (PRAYAS, Seed Support, EIR) Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India In 6 answers
  10. The single primary source for all Indian IP filing and search, patents, trademarks, designs, and links to copyright. Skip the... Government of India (ipindia.gov.in) Tool · portal IP India, Official Portal (Patents, Trademarks, Designs, Copyright) Office of the CGPDTM In 6 answers
  11. This is the canonical, industry-standard answer to 'how much equity for an advisor', a free, ready-to-sign template used by... Founder Institute (fi.co) Tool · short The FAST Agreement (Founder / Advisor Standard Template) Founder Institute In 6 answers
  12. A living, India-first answer to 'where do I actually meet founders?', eChai has run founder meetups, dinners, demo days and... eChai Ventures Tool · short eChai Ventures, Founder Community & Events Across 25+ Cities eChai Ventures In 6 answers
  13. When you feel that something is broken but cannot name it, Christensen's Jobs-to-be-Done lens gives you a way to describe the... HarperBusiness Book · ~288 pages Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, David S. Duncan In 6 answers
  14. This is the most practical way to see search and interest trends climbing before they hit newsletters and everyone's timeline.... Exploding Topics Tool Exploding Topics Exploding Topics In 6 answers
  15. Pete Kazanjy is blunt about defining a tight ICP from real signal (who actually buys and closes) rather than from who you wish... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · About 90 minutes Founder-led sales | Pete Kazanjy (Founding Sales, Atrium) Lenny Rachitsky (host), with Pete Kazanjy In 6 answers
  16. Bob Moesta helped build the JTBD framework, and this is the most practical, founder-facing conversation on it available for... Lenny's Podcast Podcast · ~90 min The Ultimate Guide to JTBD (Bob Moesta, co-creator of the framework) Lenny Rachitsky (host), Bob Moesta (guest) In 6 answers
  17. This lays out the one fact most first-time founders get wrong: under Indian copyright law your freelancer owns the code they... iPleaders (blog.ipleaders.in) Article · ~20 min read Freelancer Agreement in India: IP, Ownership and the Clauses That Actually Bind iPleaders In 6 answers
  18. The book behind the "One Metric That Matters" discipline, which is exactly the mindset you need to judge whether a ship worked... O'Reilly / Lean Series Book · 440 pages Lean Analytics: Use Data to Build a Better Startup Faster Alistair Croll and Benjamin Yoskovitz In 6 answers
  19. This is the book most modern cold outbound advice quietly borrows from, so reading the source is worth it. Its "Cold Calling... Amazon Book · ~208 pages Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler In 6 answers
  20. This essay names the exact trap you are in: delays in launching are usually fear of being judged and excessive perfectionism... paulgraham.com Essay · ~15 min read The 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups Paul Graham In 6 answers
  21. Kahl's whole argument is that you earn an audience by embedding in a community and being useful first, then building with those... embeddedentrepreneur.com Book · ~280 pages The Embedded Entrepreneur: How to Build an Audience-Driven Business Arvid Kahl In 6 answers
  22. Before you tune CAC and take rate, this book gives you the structural picture of why marketplace economics compound: network... W. W. Norton & Company Book Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Sangeet Paul Choudary In 6 answers
  23. If a US fund pushes you toward a Delaware structure, this is the India-specific legal and tax manual for what you are actually... Treelife Article · 20 min read Flip Structure for Indian Startups: A Complete Guide Treelife In 6 answers
  24. A practising senior partner spells out exactly why a raw US SAFE is dangerous for an Indian entity: it can be treated as a... Bar & Bench Article · 10 min read Convertible Notes and SAFE Notes in India: The Dilemma Madhavan Srivatsan In 6 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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