Toolkit

Essays

• Paul Graham's essaysThe full index. Start with the startup ones and wander from there.paulgraham.com (opens in a new tab)
• How to Get Startup IdeasNotice problems in your own life instead of brainstorming ideas cold.paulgraham.com (opens in a new tab)
• Do Things That Don't ScaleRecruit the first users by hand. The manual work is the point.paulgraham.com (opens in a new tab)
• Maker's Schedule, Manager's ScheduleWhy one meeting in the middle of the afternoon can cost the whole afternoon.paulgraham.com (opens in a new tab)
• Startup Advice, BrieflyA page of one-line rules from Sam Altman. Fast to read, slow to follow.blog.samaltman.com (opens in a new tab)
• #define CTOGreg Brockman working out what the CTO job meant at early Stripe.blog.gregbrockman.com (opens in a new tab)
• Retention Is KingAndrew Chen on fixing retention before you spend money on acquisition.andrewchen.com (opens in a new tab)
• 12 Things About Product-Market FitTwelve short points on how to tell whether you have fit yet.a16z.com (opens in a new tab)
• An MVP Is Not a Cheaper ProductSteve Blank on the MVP as a way to learn one thing, not a smaller launch.steveblank.com (opens in a new tab)
• Job Interviews Don't WorkUnstructured interviews predict very little. Worth reading before your first hire.fs.blog (opens in a new tab)
• YC Startup LibraryEverything Y Combinator has published, searchable by topic.ycombinator.com (opens in a new tab)
• Hamel Husain's blogPractical writing on LLM evals, error analysis and looking at your data.hamel.dev (opens in a new tab)
• Eugene Yan's writingLong, careful posts on building ML and LLM systems that run in production.eugeneyan.com (opens in a new tab)
• Awesome CTOA long, opinionated list of reading for technical leaders.github.com (opens in a new tab)

Listen & watch

• AcquiredMulti-hour histories of single companies. Good company on a long drive.acquired.fm (opens in a new tab)
• a16z podcastsFounders and investors on markets, technology and building companies.a16z.com (opens in a new tab)
• Masters of ScaleReid Hoffman interviews founders about the moments they had to grow up fast.mastersofscale.com (opens in a new tab)
• How to Build a StartupSteve Blank's Lean LaunchPad course on customer development.udacity.com (opens in a new tab)
• Mind the ProductTalks and articles from people who run product teams for a living.mindtheproduct.com (opens in a new tab)

• Hugging FaceOpen models, datasets and demos. The first stop for anything open weights.huggingface.co (opens in a new tab)
• LangfuseOpen source tracing, prompt management and evals for LLM apps.langfuse.com (opens in a new tab)
• OpenRouterOne API across many model providers. Handy for side by side tests and fallbacks.openrouter.ai (opens in a new tab)
• OllamaRun open models on your own laptop with a single command.ollama.com (opens in a new tab)
• ModalServerless GPUs driven from Python. Good for batch jobs and model serving.modal.com (opens in a new tab)
• LiveKitRealtime audio and video infrastructure with an agents framework for voice.livekit.com (opens in a new tab)

Backend & automation

• SupabasePostgres with auth, storage and realtime. A quick way to get a real backend.supabase.com (opens in a new tab)
• FirebaseGoogle's app backend: auth, database, hosting and crash reports in one console.firebase.google.com (opens in a new tab)
• AirtableA spreadsheet that behaves like a database. Fine for internal tools and ops.airtable.com (opens in a new tab)
• n8nOpen source workflow automation you can host yourself.n8n.io (opens in a new tab)
• ZapierGlue between SaaS tools for the jobs that are not worth writing code for.zapier.com (opens in a new tab)

Sites & docs

• FramerDesign and publish a marketing site from the same canvas.framer.com (opens in a new tab)
• CarrdOne-page sites for a few dollars a year. Enough for a waitlist.carrd.co (opens in a new tab)
• HugoStatic site generator written in Go, with very fast builds.gohugo.io (opens in a new tab)
• DocusaurusDocumentation sites from Markdown, with versioning built in.docusaurus.io (opens in a new tab)
• SwaggerWrite, render and test OpenAPI specs for your API.swagger.io (opens in a new tab)
• FormspreeForm backend for static sites. Point a form at it and get the email.formspree.io (opens in a new tab)
• MetatagsPreview how a link looks when shared, then copy the tags that fix it.metatags.io (opens in a new tab)

Payments & email

• StripePayments, subscriptions and invoices, with docs other companies copy.stripe.com (opens in a new tab)
• PostmarkTransactional email with fast delivery and clear logs when it fails.postmarkapp.com (opens in a new tab)

Reliability

• SentryError tracking with stack traces tied to the release that caused them.sentry.io (opens in a new tab)
• DatadogMetrics, logs and traces in one place. Priced like it, so watch the bill.datadoghq.com (opens in a new tab)
• UptimeRobotFree uptime checks every five minutes, with alerts by email or chat.uptimerobot.com (opens in a new tab)

Sketch & diagram

• FigmaWhere most product design happens now, from wireframes to handoff.figma.com (opens in a new tab)
• ExcalidrawHand-drawn style diagrams in the browser. No account needed.excalidraw.com (opens in a new tab)
• WhimsicalFlowcharts, wireframes and docs in an editor that stays out of the way.whimsical.com (opens in a new tab)
• MiroAn infinite whiteboard for workshops, retros and planning sessions.miro.com (opens in a new tab)

Patterns to study

• MobbinScreenshots of real app flows, searchable by screen and pattern.mobbin.com (opens in a new tab)
• Page FlowsRecorded flows from real products, like onboarding, checkout and cancel.pageflows.com (opens in a new tab)
• SaaS PagesLanding page sections from SaaS sites, sorted by section type.saaspages.xyz (opens in a new tab)

Assets

• The Noun ProjectIcons for nearly any idea, in styles consistent enough to mix.thenounproject.com (opens in a new tab)
• unDrawOpen source illustrations you can recolor to match your brand.undraw.co (opens in a new tab)
• LottieFilesLightweight animations that ship as JSON instead of video.lottiefiles.com (opens in a new tab)
• RiveInteractive animations with state machines built in.rive.app (opens in a new tab)
• PexelsFree stock photos and video that do not look like stock.pexels.com (opens in a new tab)
• remove.bgRemoves the background from an image in a few seconds.remove.bg (opens in a new tab)

Product analytics

• PostHogAnalytics, session replay, feature flags and experiments in one open source tool.posthog.com (opens in a new tab)
• AmplitudeEvent analytics built around funnels, cohorts and retention.amplitude.com (opens in a new tab)
• MixpanelEvent analytics with a free tier that covers most early products.mixpanel.com (opens in a new tab)
• SegmentCollect events once and send them to every other tool.segment.com (opens in a new tab)
• Microsoft ClarityFree heatmaps and session recordings. Watch five sessions before redesigning.clarity.microsoft.com (opens in a new tab)
• Simple AnalyticsPage analytics without cookies or a consent banner.simpleanalytics.com (opens in a new tab)

Data & revenue

• MetabaseOpen source dashboards and SQL questions on top of your own database.metabase.com (opens in a new tab)
• ChartMogulSubscription metrics like MRR, churn and expansion, straight from billing.chartmogul.com (opens in a new tab)
• AirbyteOpen source connectors that move data from apps into a warehouse.airbyte.com (opens in a new tab)
• Google TrendsHow interest in a search term moves over time and across countries.trends.google.com (opens in a new tab)

Listening to users

• The Mom TestHow to ask customers questions they can't politely lie about.momtestbook.com (opens in a new tab)
• CannyCollect feature requests in one place and let users vote on them.canny.io (opens in a new tab)
• TestimonialCollect video and text testimonials and embed them on your site.testimonial.to (opens in a new tab)

Email & social

• ButtondownSmall, simple newsletters written in Markdown.buttondown.com (opens in a new tab)
• SubstackNewsletter publishing with discovery and paid subscriptions built in.substack.com (opens in a new tab)
• Customer.ioLifecycle email and messages triggered by what users do in the product.customer.io (opens in a new tab)
• Really Good EmailsA gallery of well made emails to borrow structure from.reallygoodemails.com (opens in a new tab)
• BufferSchedule posts across social networks from one queue.buffer.com (opens in a new tab)

• LinearIssue tracking fast enough that people stop avoiding it.linear.app (opens in a new tab)
• SlackTeam chat. Keep the channel count low and write decisions down.slack.com (opens in a new tab)
• NotionDocs, wikis and light databases for a team that writes things down.notion.com (opens in a new tab)
• LoomRecord your screen and send it instead of booking a meeting.loom.com (opens in a new tab)
• CalendlyLet people book time without five emails back and forth.calendly.com (opens in a new tab)
• TodoistA plain personal task list that syncs across every device.todoist.com (opens in a new tab)
• Mochary MethodMatt Mochary's founder curriculum on managing people and running a company.mocharymethod.com (opens in a new tab)

Raising

• A Guide to Seed FundraisingYC's plain walkthrough of a seed round, from the first meeting to closing.ycombinator.com (opens in a new tab)
• How to Raise MoneyPaul Graham on how investors decide, and why you should raise quickly and stop.paulgraham.com (opens in a new tab)
• Venture DealsThe book on term sheets. Read it before you sign your first one.venturedeals.com (opens in a new tab)
• NFX SignalSearch investors by stage and sector, and see who backs what.signal.nfx.com (opens in a new tab)

Startup credits

• AWS for StartupsAWS Activate credits, plus support and credits from partner programs.aws.amazon.com (opens in a new tab)
• Google Cloud for StartupsGoogle Cloud credits, with larger packages for AI startups.cloud.google.com (opens in a new tab)
• Microsoft for StartupsAzure credits and access to partner tools for early teams.microsoft.com (opens in a new tab)
• DigitalOcean StartupsInfrastructure credits for early stage teams on DigitalOcean.digitalocean.com (opens in a new tab)
• MongoDB for StartupsAtlas credits and time with MongoDB engineers.mongodb.com (opens in a new tab)
• PostHog for StartupsPostHog credits for early stage teams, on top of the free tier.posthog.com (opens in a new tab)
• Mixpanel for StartupsA free year of Mixpanel for eligible early stage startups.mixpanel.com (opens in a new tab)
• Intercom Early StageSteep first-year discounts on Intercom for early stage companies.intercom.com (opens in a new tab)
• HubSpot for StartupsDiscounts on HubSpot's CRM, sales and marketing tools.hubspot.com (opens in a new tab)

Launch

• Show HNRead the rules first. Show HN is for things people can try right now.news.ycombinator.com (opens in a new tab)
• Product HuntA day of launch traffic and early feedback, if you prepare for it.producthunt.com (opens in a new tab)
• BetaListLists early startups to people who like trying things before launch.betalist.com (opens in a new tab)
• SaaSHubGet listed as an alternative next to the bigger products you compete with.saashub.com (opens in a new tab)
• AlternativeToWhere people go looking for a replacement for a tool they dislike.alternativeto.net (opens in a new tab)

Communities

• Hacker NewsTech news with long comment threads. Harsh, useful, and fast to judge.news.ycombinator.com (opens in a new tab)
• LobstersA smaller, invite only link site with careful technical discussion.lobste.rs (opens in a new tab)
• Indie HackersFounders sharing revenue numbers and what they learned getting there.indiehackers.com (opens in a new tab)
• r/startupsQuestions and feedback threads from founders at every stage.reddit.com (opens in a new tab)
• r/SideProjectA friendly place to post something small you built.reddit.com (opens in a new tab)

Writing

• DEV CommunityDeveloper blogging with an audience already in place.dev.to (opens in a new tab)
• HashnodeA developer blog on your own domain, with a community feed on top.hashnode.com (opens in a new tab)