Most of startup advice is horseshit.
Here’s a list of foundational articles about building a company:
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1/ Fundamentals
Your startup is a cult. You have to convert your team, investors, customers, and friends to be your evangelists.
on how to form a movement and build a generational company.
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2/ Betting on the right idea
Most of startups fail, but founders spend many years trying to win. Make sure you bet on the right idea.
on how to evaluate startup ideas
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3/ Hiring
Your team is the ultimate MOAT. If you hire the right people, you’ll tackle tough times, build a differentiated product, and grow consistently.
on how to hire blog.samaltman.com/how-to-hire
on how to build the initial team andrewchen.com/building-the-i
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5/ Product building
(former president of YC and founder of Twitch) on how to build a product users love
youtube.com/watch?v=C27RVi
I wish I had spent at least 20 hours in the YC library before building my first product ycombinator.com/library?catego
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6/ Product/market fit.
PMF is like being cool. If you think you have it, you don’t have it.
A $5B startup founder told me they felt PMF when they could not cope with growth and had to hire engineers and support staff to keep up
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7/ Getting your first users
You have to start with things that don’t scale paulgraham.com/ds.html
Amazing guide by stripe.com/en-in/guides/a
advice is great:
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1/ Getting my first 100 customers always felt like a puzzle. The next 1000 seemed unreachable. Besides, how can you get feedback to make the product better w/o users? After many years, we ended up w/ 6,000+ paying customers. It was a grind to get there.
Here's what I Iearned...
Here's what I Iearned...Show this thread
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8/ Landing pages
Well writted landing page will help you bring more customers. did has build an easy to implement guide on landing pages.
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9/ Finding distribution advantages
walks you through the strategy to “get to your target market more cheaply and quickly than your competition.”
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10) Narrow your focus
You’ll have 1000s of tasks demanding your attention, but if you want to grow, focus and improve the main metrics.
on how to choose your north star metric
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11/ Product design
Jony Ive (who designed iPhone, iPad, iMac, AirPods, etc.) on how to design products realisedesign.co.uk/uk-product-des
Julie Zhuo (former design VP at Facebook) on how to use data and design to build an unstoppable product
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My co-founder Chandra Narayanan's quote has become something of a product-builder's mantra for us: Diagnose with data and treat with design.
There is so much packed into those sentences! Thread going deeper 
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12/ Product pricing
Find the sweet spot: Neither leave $$s on the table nor charge too much that users don't buy from you.
Here’s Sequoia’s guide to nail pricing
articles.sequoiacap.com/pricing-your-p
Related: YC on startup pricing 101 ycombinator.com/library/6h-sta
GitLab:
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13/ GTM playbook
Drift and Clari share the playbook to grow your revenue from 0 to millions
drift.com/wp-content/upl
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14/ Sales
Sales is the lifeline of a company. Yet, only a few founders know how to do it well.
on how to sell:
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15/ Storytelling
Storytelling helps you build a cult.
James Vincent (who helped Steve Jobs and Apple tell better stories) on startup storytelling: youtube.com/watch?v=L5YYQt
Rory Sutherland's TED talk on Perspective:
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16/ Writing
Every founder needs to learn how to write well. Writing shapes your thinking and helps you communicate your ideas to the team, customers, investors and public.
guide to writing:
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17/ Legal templates
I did a thread on the must-have legal document templates without spending $$$s on big lawyers
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Early-stage companies shouldn’t need to spend big $$ on lawyers for basic documents.
Here are the templates every startup can use:
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18/ How to be an effective executive
As you scale, you’ll have to learn to lead, focus on high-leverage activities, and ensure high output.
explains how: delian.io/lessons-3
onhow to manage yourself as a CEO: growth.eladgil.com/book/the-role-
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19/ Culture building
Your culture can make or break your company. So, building the right culture should be your priority from day 1.
Here’s a16z’s guide on how to do it
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20/ Self-care for founders
's firm on self-care:
medium.com/initialized-ca
Matt Mochary on overcoming fear and imposter syndrome:
youtube.com/watch?v=tBimI7
on managing stress
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21/ Marketplaces
is the best resource to learn about network effects. If you are building a marketplace or a social network, you should go down this rabbit hole.
nfx.com/post/network-e
Also, Andrew Chen gathered best essays on marketplaces andrewchen.com/marketplace-st
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That's a wrap!
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Most of startup advice is horseshit.
Here’s a list of foundational articles about building a company:
Show this thread
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