The founder playbook for building a company that lasts and stays true to why you started it. Research, case studies, and practical tools for incorporation, fundraising terms, board structure, ownership, and culture.
7 Startup Agreements That Save Companies (and Friendships) | Signus
Founder blowups and cap-table surprises are mostly preventable. A focused seven-document set—Founders Agreement, SAFE (Post-Money), Mutual NDA, Independent Contractor Agreement, Advisory Agreement, Consulting Agreement, and PIIA—closes the early gaps that orphan IP, muddle equity, and stall deals. Right-size what you send; use the subset that fits the moment. Clarity beats memory.
All Things Sales! 16 Mini-Lessons for Startup Founders | Andreessen Horowitz
As a former CEO and software engineer (Citrix, XenSource, VERITAS, etc.), board member of GitHub (recently acquired by Microsoft), and lecturer in management at the Stanford Graduate School of Busines, a16z general partner Peter Levine is constantly asked “Why sales?” by entrepreneurs and technical founders. He himself used to hold the “engineer-centric” view that if...
Putting Post Growth Theory Into Practice
The Post Growth Entrepreneurship Incubator helps founders break free from traditional business models and implement sustainable…
How To Be Successful
I’ve observed thousands of founders and thought a lot about what it takes to make a huge amount of money or to create something important. Usually, people start off wanting the former and end up...
Breaking a myth: Data shows you don't actually need a co-founder | TechCrunch
We are often told that starting a startup on your own is madness. There are thousands of articles out there that tell you that and why why you need a co-founder. Probably solid advice, but data from CrunchBase shows a different side of the story. More than half of startups with an exit did so with just a single founder. The average is 1.72 founders.
Interviews with Failed & Successful Startup Founders
+200 interviews with the brains behind shut down and active startups. Learn from their wins and their mistakes and become a better founder.
Introducing The Unusual Method
From Unusual Ventures’ inception, our mission has been clear: to redefine seed stage investing and build a firm that would provide founders with a distinct advantage through the hardest leg of a startup journey—from Idea to Product Market fit. Today we’ve taken an important step towards fulfilling our mission. We are proud to officially make available The Unusual Method and our Unusual Field Guide.
Joseph Jacks bets on open source startups, a 'paradox of philanthropy and capitalism' | TechCrunch
Joseph Jacks and OSS Capital have sought some of the earliest stage open source startups, and funded them through their formative years.
Advice for First Time Founders | Y Combinator
We operate a platform called Bookface for YC founders to connect with each other, ask questions, find intros, and share advice. Recently on Bookface Zach Dixon [https://twitter.com/zachdixongg], cofounder of the gaming company Players’ Lounge [https://playerslounge.co/] (W18), asked a great question: 1. What are some things that you should’ve known as a first-time founder but did not? 2. How did you learn them? 3. How did they help? There were so many useful answers that we’re going to share
Idea Generation
The most common question prospective startup founders ask is how to get ideas for startups. The second most common question is if you have any ideas for their startup. But giving founders an idea...
Field Guide
The Startup Field Guide provides essential tools and insights to support early-stage founders on their journey to success.
Sidecar funds, corporate vehicles, club deals: how do startup studios get financed?
As explained in The Rise of Startup Studios, a white paper published by The Global Startup Studio Network in 2019, the term “startup…
Traits of Founding Teams That Win — An IT VC’s perspective
By Christopher J. Rust, Founding Partner, Clear Ventures
RECONSIDER
About 12 years ago, I co-founded a startup called Basecamp: A simple project collaboration tool that helps people make progress together, sold on a monthly subscription. It took a part of some people’s work life and made it a little better. A little nicer than trying to manage a project over…
Financial Modeling for Startups: An Introduction | Fivecast Financial
Founders and executives of new companies, particularly those seeking to raise capital, will inevitably be confronted with the prospect of building a financial model. The goal of this guide is to give you an idea of what a financial model is, why you might want one, and how to go about building one.
The Secrets of Successful Open Source Business Models
Finding the right model for your open-source startup
