This is a never ending thread of the very best online content and resources for early stage startups.
Relevant for both self-funded/bootstrapped and venture backed pre-seed/seed stage companies.
Relevant for both self-funded/bootstrapped and venture backed pre-seed/seed stage companies.
The blog posts from 2008 on @ericries’ blog are a must-read for startup founders. They describe the basics for building online businesses. Timeless and useful content, regardless of your opinion about lean startup. http://www.startuplessonslearned.com/2008/
This video on “How to Operate” by @rabois should be required for every startup founder to watch and internalize. Especially useful for founders who are new to management.
Trying to understand product/market fit? Start here. This is a copy of @pmarca’s original timeless 2007 blog post about product/market fit. https://pmarchive.com/guide_to_startups_part4.html
Startups need early believers. In 2009, @sparker wrote this email to @eldsjal and @shak. There isn’t a better example of an early startup believer. Sean believed because of what the original @spotify team was able to create and ship to the world. https://www.scribd.com/doc/67465758/Sean-Parker-s-Email-to-Spotify-s-Daniel-Ek
This timeless article from 2018 by @ashleymayer explains exactly how startups should be thinking about PR and communications. She worked at @box for 6 years during @levie’s rise to becoming twitter famous as an enterprise founder/ceo. https://medium.com/@ashleymayer/its-okay-that-your-startup-doesn-t-have-a-communications-strategy-e92f3016c4d9
If you can set aside your opinion about what Facebook is today and watch this interview you’ll see an example of a founder with a growth mindset. In particular, @finkd’s comments at the end about focusing intensely on customer experience are instructive.
Strategy is critical at the earliest stages of a business. The three tasks that @joulee recommends to do more of describes exactly what an early stage startup team should be doing to be strategic. https://medium.com/the-year-of-the-looking-glass/how-to-be-strategic-f6630a44f86b
Also, her book on management is
https://amzn.to/2PRwCyW
Also, her book on management is

Working on a SaaS business? Avoiding the
in the room? The P word? Pricing. This is your savior: @Patticus and @lennysan teamed up to create this step-by-step paint-by-numbers how to guide to put an end to all those pricing fears and debates. Forever. https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/saas-pricing-strategy

I often hear early stage startup teams say they have done “no marketing.” That’s not accurate. Startups are marketing, even when they think they aren’t. Here’s an explanation by @steli about what marketing actually means. Let’s set the record straight. https://blog.close.com/killing-the-startup-myth-we-never-marketed-our-product/
Bookmark this for when you’re looking for a co-founder. @eriktorenberg breaks the whole process down in this step-by-step how to guide: https://eriktorenberg.substack.com/p/how-to-find-a-co-founder
When you're trying to figure out the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for a B2B company, this deck by @carolinedclark is exactly what you need. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1M_j0F-IuqgaGfHPfvOh1ssBudpA_Wyp6VoHA46uOr80/edit?usp=sharing