diff --git a/README.md b/README.md index 6294ee5..e0581a6 100644 --- a/README.md +++ b/README.md @@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ Drop your pitch deck, market research, business plan, competitor notes and call > Every company, customer, metric and transcript used as an example in this repo is invented. Nothing here is drawn from any real client engagement. -[**New to working with AI**](docs/ai-basics.md) · [**What the words mean**](docs/what-things-are.md) · [**The infographics**](docs/infographics.md) · [**The method**](docs/method.md) · [**Build the knowledge base**](docs/knowledge-base.md) · [**Prompt library**](prompts/INDEX.md) · [**For coaches**](docs/for-coaches.md) · [**For programmes**](docs/for-portfolios.md) · [**Quickstart**](QUICKSTART.md) +[**New to working with AI**](docs/ai-basics.md) · [**What the words mean**](docs/what-things-are.md) · [**The infographics**](docs/infographics.md) · [**Startup resources**](docs/resources.md) · [**The method**](docs/method.md) · [**Build the knowledge base**](docs/knowledge-base.md) · [**Prompt library**](prompts/INDEX.md) · [**For coaches**](docs/for-coaches.md) · [**For programmes**](docs/for-portfolios.md) · [**Quickstart**](QUICKSTART.md) [![Read it as a site](https://img.shields.io/badge/read%20it%20as%20a%20site-fritzhand.github.io%2Fstartup--stack-0b5a86?style=flat-square)](https://fritzhand.github.io/startup-stack/) ![No code required](https://img.shields.io/badge/code%20required-none-0E6B63?style=flat-square) @@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ Drop your pitch deck, market research, business plan, competitor notes and call
-**10** knowledge-base sections · **19** prompts · **10** worksheets · **30** infographics · **18** pages of method · a portfolio layer for programmes · a published site, generated from these files +**10** knowledge-base sections · **19** prompts · **10** worksheets · **30** infographics · **92** indexed external resources · **24** pages of method · a portfolio layer for programmes · a published site, generated from these files @@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ There is a second reader, and the repo now serves them too: the **programme** ru | [`stack/`](stack/) | **The templates.** Ten numbered sections — company, customer, market, product, GTM, operations, money, capital, brand, pulse — one markdown file each, with front matter. [`stack/INDEX.md`](stack/INDEX.md) is the router an AI reads first, and [`stack/CONTEXT.md`](stack/CONTEXT.md) is the one-pager it reads next. This *becomes* your knowledge base; you fill it in, you do not copy it out. | | [`prompts/`](prompts/INDEX.md) | **The prompt library.** 19 prompts: bootstrap, gap scan, competitive intelligence, unit economics, the list of 100, the pitch deck, fundraise readiness, the weekly recap, meeting-to-actions, and the adversarial review that tells you what an investor will attack. Each opens with a `Requires:` line and stops if what it needs is missing. Most want a filled-in stack; [`00`](prompts/00-bootstrap-the-stack.md), [`14`](prompts/14-meeting-to-actions.md) and [`15`](prompts/15-scrape-a-site.md) run against an empty one, which is how a stack starts to fill. The last three belong to `portfolio/` and never touch a founder's stack. | | [`worksheets/`](worksheets/) | **The repeatable artifacts.** Fill-in files you produce over and over: startup-prep, customer interview, competitor profile, two-week experiment, SOP entry, trade/order sheet, advisor scope letter, one-pager, list of 100, weekly recap. | -| [`docs/`](docs/) | **The method, in eighteen pages.** New to any of this: [AI basics](docs/ai-basics.md) and [what the words mean](docs/what-things-are.md) — the terminal, an editor, Git, GitHub, connectors, model tiers — each in plain language with a diagram. The method: [why it works](docs/method.md), [building the knowledge base](docs/knowledge-base.md), [the front-matter schema](docs/front-matter.md), [getting your material in](docs/getting-material-in.md) source by source, and [website to inbox](docs/scraping.md). Running it: [the weekly recap](docs/weekly-recap.md), [for coaches](docs/for-coaches.md), [the safety rules](docs/safety.md) for giving an AI access to your files, and [on a schedule](docs/automation.md) — recipes for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack, and none of them. Two are for programmes only: [for programmes](docs/for-portfolios.md) and [the exchange folder](docs/exchange.md). And [the infographics](docs/infographics.md) — thirty pictures across four pages, covering [what AI is](docs/infographics-ai.md), [the tools](docs/infographics-tools.md), [the method](docs/infographics-method.md) and [running a portfolio](docs/infographics-portfolio.md); take them for a workshop. | +| [`docs/`](docs/) | **The method, in twenty-four pages.** New to any of this: [AI basics](docs/ai-basics.md) and [what the words mean](docs/what-things-are.md) — the terminal, an editor, Git, GitHub, connectors, model tiers — each in plain language with a diagram. The method: [why it works](docs/method.md), [building the knowledge base](docs/knowledge-base.md), [the front-matter schema](docs/front-matter.md), [getting your material in](docs/getting-material-in.md) source by source, and [website to inbox](docs/scraping.md). Running it: [the weekly recap](docs/weekly-recap.md), [for coaches](docs/for-coaches.md), [the safety rules](docs/safety.md) for giving an AI access to your files, and [on a schedule](docs/automation.md) — recipes for Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, Zoom, Slack, and none of them. Two are for programmes only: [for programmes](docs/for-portfolios.md) and [the exchange folder](docs/exchange.md). And [the infographics](docs/infographics.md) — thirty pictures across four pages, covering [what AI is](docs/infographics-ai.md), [the tools](docs/infographics-tools.md), [the method](docs/infographics-method.md) and [running a portfolio](docs/infographics-portfolio.md); take them for a workshop. Last, [startup resources](docs/resources.md) — 92 external articles, templates and videos worth reading, credited to their publishers and grouped across six pages. | | [`portfolio/`](portfolio/) | **Optional — for a programme, not a founder.** The templates an incubator, accelerator or studio uses to run this across many companies: a router, a 1-to-5 maturity rubric per function, the cross-company theme scan, and a company folder to copy. Delete it if you are a founder. See [docs/for-portfolios.md](docs/for-portfolios.md). | | [`_inbox/`](_inbox/) | Where raw material lands before it is processed. Git-ignored by default. | | [`tools/`](tools/) | **Optional.** [`scrape-site.mjs`](tools/scrape-site.mjs) turns a website into citable markdown in `_inbox/` — you never need it, it saves an hour of copy-and-paste ([docs/scraping.md](docs/scraping.md)). [`make-og.mjs`](tools/make-og.mjs) redraws the social card at the top of this page; run it if you fork and rename. A third tool lives in its own repository: [**site2deck**](https://github.com/fritzhand/site2deck) samples a company's colours, fonts and logo off its website and builds a branded, offline, single-file slide deck — the object to put in front of a room once [prompt 10](prompts/10-pitch-deck.md) has written what goes in it. Same habits as this repo: zero dependencies, Node only, unknowns marked loudly rather than filled in, and a `--public` build that strips anything tagged internal and refuses to ship if one survives. | diff --git a/docs/resources-climate.md b/docs/resources-climate.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..274052e --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-climate.md @@ -0,0 +1,16 @@ +# Climate and policy + +The climate and energy material specific to this collection, which was assembled by three climate organisations. Emissions tooling, policy reference and energy transition research. + +4 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +- **[GhG Evaluation Tool](https://cranetool.org/)** · CRANE — CRANE tool for estimating greenhouse gas emissions reductions. +- **[Next Power Capital Workshop on Project Finance](https://nextpowercapital.com/)** · Next Power Capital — Workshop on project finance structuring and modelling. +- **[Policy Hub For Climate and Energy Solutions](https://www.c2es.org/category/policy-hub/)** · Center for Climate and Energy Solutions — C2ES reference hub on climate and energy policy. +- **[Roadmap to Navigate Energy Transition](https://www.oxfordenergy.org/wpcms/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/A-road-map-to-navigate-the-energy-transition-Insight-59.pdf)** · Oxford Institute for Energy Studies — Oxford institute research on energy transition pathways and sector shifts. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources-customers.md b/docs/resources-customers.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a450ed --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-customers.md @@ -0,0 +1,28 @@ +# Customers and discovery + +The largest group here, and the work most founders skip. Interview technique, ideal customer profiles, validating that the problem is real, and finding the first people who will pay for the answer. + +16 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +- **[95 Ways to Find Your First Customers for Customer Development or Your First Sale](https://jasonevanish.com/2013/08/11/95-ways-to-find-your-first-customers-for-customer-development-or-your-first-sale/?ref=refind)** · Jason Evanish — Tactics for finding early customers and customer development conversations. +- **[Acquiring your first 100 customers](https://suhaild.medium.com/acquiring-your-first-100-customers-5499866d10fb)** — Approaches to winning the first hundred customers. +- **[Case Study: How 3 Startups Built Their Customer Discovery Practice](https://jeffgothelf.com/blog/how-3-startups-built-their-customer-discovery-practice/)** · Jeff Gothelf — Three worked examples of startups running continuous customer discovery. +- **[How Startups Should Do Customer Discovery](https://thinkgrowth.org/how-startups-should-do-customer-discovery-51b151724a01)** — Method for interviewing customers and validating the problem. +- **[How to Get From Big Idea to a Validated Business Case: An Overview of the Testing Process](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DVKKMte3M4)** — Video walkthrough of experiments that validate an idea's business case. +- **[How to Identify Your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)](https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-identify-your-ideal-customer)** · Lenny's Newsletter — Newsletter method for defining and narrowing an ideal customer profile. +- **[How to Know if Your Idea’s the Right One — A Founder’s Guide for Successful Early-Stage Customer Discovery](https://review.firstround.com/how-to-know-if-your-ideas-the-right-one-a-founders-guide-for-successful-early-stage-customer-discovery/)** · First Round Review — Founder guide to early-stage customer conversations that test an idea. +- **[How to Talk to Users](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/Iq-how-to-talk-to-users)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator talk on running user interviews about problems. +- **[Ideal customer profile battlecard](https://www.mykpono.com/ideal-customer-profile-icp-how-to-create-a-comprehensive-customer-profile/)** — One-page card capturing ideal customer profile criteria and segments. +- **[Never Ask What They Want — 3 Better Questions to Ask in User Interviews](https://medium.com/user-research/never-ask-what-they-want-3-better-questions-to-ask-in-user-interviews-aeddd2a2101e)** — Article proposing three question types for user research interviews. +- **[Steve Blank's Customer Development](https://steveblank.com/2010/04/29/teaching-customer-development-and-the-lean-startup-%E2%80%93-topological-homeomorphism/)** · Steve Blank — Blank's customer development method for testing assumptions with buyers. +- **[Talking With Humans (full PDF)](https://s3.amazonaws.com/TalkingtoHumans/Talking+to+Humans.pdf)** — Constable and Rimalovski book on customer interviews, full PDF. +- **[The Mini-Guide to Talking to Your Customers](https://medium.com/@isabelle.ilyia/the-mini-guide-to-talking-to-your-customers-02e582c7d4eb)** — Short guide to running customer conversations and interview questions. +- **[The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick [Actionable Summary]](https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/the-mom-test/)** · Ivaylo Durmonski — Summary of Fitzpatrick's method for unbiased customer interviews. +- **[Understand Your Customers](https://toolkit.techstars.com/understand-your-customers)** · Techstars — Techstars module on researching and understanding target customers. +- **[Your Job Is Not to Make Every Customer Happy](https://thinkgrowth.org/your-job-is-not-to-make-every-possible-customer-happy-f59a59595af)** — Argues for serving a defined customer segment rather than everyone. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources-money.md b/docs/resources-money.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..2b757cf --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-money.md @@ -0,0 +1,39 @@ +# Money and fundraising + +Two opposed routes in one place on purpose. Bootstrapping and reaching profitability without outside money, and raising it: equity splits, SAFEs, accelerators and what investors are reading. + +22 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +## Bootstrapping and money + +- **[10 Highly Successful Bootstrapped Startups](https://robwalling.com/2011/09/01/ten-highly-successful-bootstrapped-startups/)** · Rob Walling — Examples of companies grown without outside investment. +- **[11 bootstrapping entrepreneurs share how they found business success without funding](https://foundr.com/articles/building-a-business/finance/bootstrapping-entrepreneur)** · Foundr — Founder accounts of building businesses without outside funding. +- **[A founder’s perspective on bootstrapping over raising venture capital](https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2023/04/19/a-founders-perspective-on-bootstrapping-over-raising-venture-capital/?sh=265e88716525)** · Forbes — Opinion piece comparing self-funding with raising venture capital. +- **[Go ahead and start a business – but don’t quit your day job.](https://hbr.org/2020/04/go-ahead-and-start-a-business-but-dont-quit-your-day-job)** · Harvard Business Review — Case for starting while employed rather than self-funding full-time. +- **[How to Become Profitable as a Bootstrapped SaaS](https://youtu.be/w2tOGPsqh34?si=BYY0t5Pluciqa7mG)** — Reaching profitability in a self-funded SaaS business. +- **[Intro: Bootstrapping vs Venture Capital – Why Bootstrapping Is Better](https://ewebinar.com/podcast/episodes/bootstrapping-vs-venture-capital)** · eWebinar — Argues for self-funding over venture capital; compares the two routes. +- **[LTV Calculation Spreadsheet](https://www.d-eship.com/articles/ltv-calculation-spreadsheet/)** · Disciplined Entrepreneurship — Spreadsheet template for calculating customer lifetime value. +- **[Start Small, Stay Small – A Developer’s Guide to Launching a Startup. Chapter 1](https://startsmall.com/s/StartSmall-Chapter1.pdf)** — Opening chapter of Rob Walling's book on self-funded software startups. + +## Investors and accelerators + +- **[100 Accelerators & Incubators](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1YRV7aMkVK2MJMT6urVpxeRBFGsU1AlkvzuZQv2j9cV4/edit#gid=1005365711)** — Spreadsheet listing one hundred accelerator and incubator programmes. +- **[Build Your investor Pipeline](https://toolkit.techstars.com/build-your-investor-pipeline)** · Techstars — Techstars module on building and tracking an investor pipeline. +- **[How to Pitch Your Startup](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6q-how-to-pitch-your-startup)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator talk on structuring a pitch for investors. +- **[How to Split Equity Among Co-Founders](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/5x-how-to-split-equity-among-co-founders)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator guidance on dividing founding equity between co-founders. +- **[List of investors, accelerators, and resources supporting underrepresented founders](https://airtable.com/shrZmTWQJyzoyLPE3/tblh1zfntgoR4i9Eu)** — Airtable directory of investors and accelerators backing underrepresented founders. +- **[Ryan's Seqoia inspired deck](https://medium.com/@kushykush/do-not-not-use-this-pitch-format-874b4b40aa9b)** — A worked investor pitch deck following the Sequoia template. +- **[The Best Startup Accelerators & Incubators Around the World](https://medium.com/@AvyLorenCohen/top-20-startup-accelerators-and-incubators-around-the-world-85d9a53aa6cd)** — Listing and comparison of accelerator and incubator programmes worldwide. +- **[The Truth About Y Combinator](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/IU-dalton-michael-the-truth-about-y-combinator)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator's account of what its accelerator programme does. +- **[Understanding SAFEs and Priced Equity Rounds](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6m-understanding-safes-and-priced-equity-rounds)** · Y Combinator — Explains SAFE notes versus priced equity rounds and mechanics. +- **[Universal Pitch Deck](https://startupscience.com/universal-pitch-deck/)** — Template deck structure, presumed aimed at investor presentations. +- **[Y Combinator and 500 Startups – A Founders Comparison](https://medium.com/@milanthakor/y-combinator-and-500-startups-a-founders-comparison-ae47bf218c0e)** — Founder's side-by-side comparison of two accelerator programmes. +- **[Y Combinator Application Breakdown and Guide](https://medium.com/@nickraushenbush/y-combinator-application-breakdown-and-guide-15dff765aece)** — Walkthrough of the Y Combinator application questions and answers. +- **[Y Combinator vs Techstars: Accelerators Comparison by a Three-Time Alumni](https://www.codementor.io/startups/tutorial/y-combinator-vs-techstars-alum-comparison)** · Codementor — Alumni comparison of Y Combinator and Techstars accelerator programmes. +- **[Y Combinator: Application & Interview Advice From a Winter ’18 Alumni](https://medium.com/@deepakchhugani/y-combinator-application-interview-advice-from-a-winter-18-alumni-b53a6d85fc48)** — Alumni advice on the YC application and interview stages. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources-product-growth.md b/docs/resources-product-growth.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..405e45d --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-product-growth.md @@ -0,0 +1,40 @@ +# Product and growth + +Building the thing, then getting it in front of people. No-code tooling and technical material for non-technical founders, then pricing, launch, press, partnerships and brand. + +23 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +## Product and building + +- **[A Path to the Minimum Viable Product](https://medium.com/@sgblank/a-path-to-the-minimum-viable-product-d54d5a500baf)** — Steps for scoping and building a minimum viable product. +- **[Building a Tech Business as a Non-tech Founder: My Advice.](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/building-tech-business-non-tech-founder-my-advice-roei-samuel/)** — Advice on building a software business without a technical background. +- **[Building New Products/Product Strategy](https://www.weskao.com/product-strategy-articles)** · Wes Kao — How to develop new products and set product strategy. +- **[Curious Language Model Limitations](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/curious-language-model-limitations-mario-schlosser-s3nae/?trackingId=9vrX%2BA22Q72bRrs8PmpsYA%3D%3D)** — Observations on where large language models fail. +- **[If Product Is Great, It Doesn't Have to Be Good](http://paulbuchheit.blogspot.com/2010/02/if-your-product-is-great-it-doesnt-need.html)** · Paul Buchheit — Blog post arguing products win on strengths despite obvious flaws. +- **[Product Development Cycles Fundamentals](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4e-product-development-cycle-fundamentals)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator material on build-measure-learn product development cycles. +- **[The Startup Founder’s Guide to Tech Stacks](https://develocraft.com/blog-posts/the-startup-founders-guide-to-tech-stacks)** · Develocraft — Guide to choosing a technology stack for a startup. +- **[What Is ChatGPT Doing … and Why Does It Work?](https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2023/02/what-is-chatgpt-doing-and-why-does-it-work/)** · Stephen Wolfram — Long explainer on how large language models generate text. + +## Sales, marketing and growth + +- **[End to End Marketing](https://www.weskao.com/marketing-articles/#fundamentals)** · Wes Kao — Marketing across the full funnel, from awareness to conversion. +- **[Getting Press For Your Startup](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/4c-getting-press-for-your-startup)** · Y Combinator — How to approach journalists and earn media coverage. +- **[Give Your Elevator Pitch](https://toolkit.techstars.com/give-your-elevator-pitch)** · Techstars — Structuring and delivering a short verbal pitch. +- **[Growth for Startups (market fit)](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6k-growth-for-startups)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator talk on startup growth and product-market fit. +- **[How To Build Your Brand](https://toolkit.techstars.com/brand-your-business)** · Techstars — Defining brand positioning, voice and visual identity. +- **[How to Improve Conversion Rates](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6l-how-to-improve-conversion-rates)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator guidance on lifting conversion across the funnel. +- **[How To Launch](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6i-how-to-launch-again-and-again)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator guidance on planning and running a launch. +- **[Launching and Scaling](https://ecademycourse.teachable.com/p/ecademy-the-entrepreneurship-course)** — Course module on launching a product and scaling afterwards. +- **[Master Your Elevator Pitch](https://toolkit.techstars.com/master-your-pitch)** · Techstars — Techstars exercise on building and delivering a short verbal pitch. +- **[Startup Pricing](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6h-startup-pricing-101)** · Y Combinator — Y Combinator talk on setting and changing early-stage pricing. +- **[Startup=Growth](http://www.paulgraham.com/growth.html)** · Paul Graham — Paul Graham essay defining startups by their rate of growth. +- **[The Complete Guide to Partnerships for Startups and Corporations](https://www.valuer.ai/blog/startup-corporation-partnership-infographic)** · Valuer — Guide to forming and running startup and corporate partnerships. +- **[The Sales and Partnerships Playbook: Your Guide to Early Growth](https://fi.co/insight/the-sales-and-partnerships-playbook-your-guide-to-early-growth)** · Founder Institute — Playbook on early sales process and partnership channels. +- **[This is How You Build Partnerships to Make Your Startup Better, Faster, Stronger](https://firstround.com/review/What-to-Learn-from-This-Restaurant-Startup-That-Turned-Strong-Partnerships-into-a-Better-Product/)** · First Round Review — Article on forming and running corporate partnerships as a startup. +- **[Winning Together A Guide To Successful Corporate Startup Collaborations](https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/43-nesta-winning-together-guidestartupcollab.pdf)** · European Commission — EU guide to structuring corporate-startup collaborations and partnership models. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources-starting-out.md b/docs/resources-starting-out.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..397d686 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-starting-out.md @@ -0,0 +1,31 @@ +# Starting out and strategy + +Frameworks for someone with an idea and not much else, and the canvases and positioning work that comes next. Read the first group in week one and the second when you are trying to write down what the business actually is. + +14 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +## Starting out + +- **[21 Ways to Blow Up Company](https://toolkit.techstars.com/blow-up-your-company)** · Techstars — Techstars list of common mistakes that kill early companies. +- **[Complete Startup Science Toolkit: Includes: Lifecycle tracker, Now Next Long, Golden Circle, #MASSIVE Canvas, Pixar Canvas, Lean Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas, Business Model Canvas, Mission Model Canvas, Value Chain Canvas, Target Customer, Interview Context Planner, Interview Questions, Interview Discussion Planner, Interview Notes, Jobs to be Done, Problem as a Comic, Solution as a Comic, Doodle – Me in 5 Years, Risk Reward Equilibrium, Team Audit, Team Canvas, Culture Canvas, Team Alignment, The Pie, Mentor Group, Gaddy Pitch, Storytelling Purpose, Twitter Pitch, Why Now, Story Elements, Universal Pitch Deck, Ask, Networking Targets, Sales Targets, Jobs, Build and Measure, Daily Standup, Lessons Learned.](https://startupscience.com/startup-science-toolkit/)** — Bundle of general founder tools: lifecycle tracker, Golden Circle, others. +- **[Resources on entrepreneurship broadly](https://www.effectuation.org/?page_id=1738)** — Effectuation.org collection of general entrepreneurship reading and tools. +- **[What We Look for in Founders](https://www.paulgraham.com/founders.html)** · Paul Graham — Essay on founder qualities: determination, flexibility, imagination, naughtiness. + +## Strategy and business models + +- **[Build Your Lean Canvas](https://toolkit.techstars.com/build-your-lean-canvas)** · Techstars — Techstars module on completing the Lean Canvas. +- **[Building a Bulletproof Startup: Business Model Canvas vs Lean Startup vs Disciplined Entrepreneurship](https://medium.com/disciplined-entrepreneurship/building-a-bulletproof-startup-business-model-canvas-vs-lean-startup-vs-disciplined-464b317c927b)** — Compares Business Model Canvas, Lean Startup and Disciplined Entrepreneurship. +- **[Check Your Progress](https://toolkit.techstars.com/check-your-progress)** · Techstars — Techstars exercise for tracking progress against stated goals. +- **[Create New Markets with Category Design](https://toolkit.techstars.com/create-new-markets-category-design)** · Techstars — Category design method for defining and claiming a new market. +- **[Grow Your Business with KPIS](https://toolkit.techstars.com/grow-your-business)** · Techstars — Choosing and tracking key performance indicators. +- **[Position Your Product](https://toolkit.techstars.com/position-your-product)** · Techstars — Techstars exercise on product positioning and market framing. +- **[The Business Model Canvas](https://seedfund.nsf.gov/assets/files/awardees/the-business-model-canvas.pdf)** · US National Science Foundation — NSF explanation of the nine business model canvas blocks. +- **[The Problem Statement Canvas](https://www.metabeta.com/blog/process/problem-statement-canvas/)** — Canvas for framing the customer problem being addressed. +- **[The Problem Statement Canvas](https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PSVtth0kZXQ9doPAU3l5ZKZ6w14ekxRAa0x0WLn_sBE/copy)** — Google Docs version of the problem statement canvas. +- **[Understand Category Design](https://toolkit.techstars.com/understand-category-design)** · Techstars — Techstars module on defining and designing a market category. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources-team-legal.md b/docs/resources-team-legal.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3e855ea --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources-team-legal.md @@ -0,0 +1,30 @@ +# Team and legal + +The people side and the paperwork side. Co-founders, culture, hiring, productivity and founder health, then the legal templates, company structures and privacy obligations you meet before you sign anything. + +13 resources, each credited to whoever published it. Every link was reachable when this page was generated. + +--- + +## Team, culture and the founder + +- **[A Practical Guide To Diversity and Inclusion in Startups](https://diversityq.com/a-practical-guide-to-diversity-and-inclusion-in-startups-1510036/)** · DiversityQ — Practices for diversity and inclusion within startup teams. +- **[Build A Diverse Workforce](https://toolkit.techstars.com/build-a-diverse-workforce)** · Techstars — Techstars module on hiring for a diverse workforce. +- **[Building Culture](https://www.ycombinator.com/library/6r-building-culture)** · Y Combinator — Guidance on setting and holding company culture as headcount grows. +- **[Enrepeneurship and Mental Health](https://toolkit.techstars.com/entrepreneurship-mental-health)** · Techstars — Founder mental health pressures and practices for managing them. +- **[EQ For Entrepeneurs](https://toolkit.techstars.com/eq-for-entrepreneurs)** · Techstars — Emotional intelligence for founders: self-awareness, empathy, working with people. +- **[How to Build Culture of Rigorous Thinking (podcast)](https://www.weskao.com/podcasts)** · Wes Kao — Podcast on building team culture around rigorous thinking. +- **[How To Get More Done](https://toolkit.techstars.com/get-more-done)** · Techstars — Techstars module on founder productivity habits and time management. +- **[Navigate Cofounder Relationships](https://toolkit.techstars.com/navigate-cofounder-relationships)** · Techstars — Techstars guidance on working through co-founder dynamics and disagreements. +- **[Strategic Leadership](https://www.weskao.com/leadership-articles)** · Wes Kao — Wes Kao material on leading and managing teams strategically. + +## Legal, IP and privacy + +- **[Cooley Go Legal Documents and Resources](https://www.cooleygo.com/documents/)** · Cooley GO — Law firm library of startup legal templates and explanatory notes. +- **[Entrepeneurs Guide To Going B-Corp](https://cbey.yale.edu/research/an-entrepreneurs-guide-to-going-b)** · Yale Center for Business and the Environment — Guide to B-Corp certification and benefit corporation legal structure. +- **[How to manage, monitor and validate third-party data sharing](https://iapp.org/news/a/how-to-manage-monitor-and-validate-third-party-data-sharing/)** · IAPP — Privacy guidance on governing and auditing third-party data sharing. +- **[Top 7 Legal Documents for Any Startup](https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/253997)** · Entrepreneur — Overview of seven legal documents startups commonly need. + +--- + +Back to [all the resources](resources.md). diff --git a/docs/resources.md b/docs/resources.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b890fcc --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/resources.md @@ -0,0 +1,54 @@ +# Startup resources + +An index of external material worth reading, organised by what you are trying to do. None of it was written here. Every entry credits whoever published it, and every link was checked before it went on the page. + +This exists because a founder asking "how do I run a customer interview" does not need another explainer. They need the three good ones that already exist, and to know which is which. + +--- + +## The six pages + +| Page | What is on it | Count | +|---|---|---| +| [Starting out and strategy](resources-starting-out.md) | Founder frameworks, then canvases, positioning and category design. | 14 | +| [Customers and discovery](resources-customers.md) | Interview technique, ideal customer profiles, problem validation, first customers. | 16 | +| [Product and growth](resources-product-growth.md) | No-code and technical material, then pricing, launch, press, partnerships, brand. | 23 | +| [Team and legal](resources-team-legal.md) | Co-founders, culture, productivity, founder health, legal templates, privacy. | 13 | +| [Money and fundraising](resources-money.md) | Bootstrapping and profitability on one side, investors and accelerators on the other. | 22 | +| [Climate and policy](resources-climate.md) | The climate and energy material specific to this collection. | 4 | + +The grouping is ours. It follows what the collection actually contains rather than the ten sections of [the stack](knowledge-base.md), because a reading list and a knowledge base are different shapes and forcing one into the other helps nobody. + +--- + +## Where it came from + +Two curated collections, merged and de-duplicated. + +The larger one is the **startup resource list assembled by [Third Derivative](https://www.third-derivative.org/), [New Energy Nexus](https://www.newenergynexus.com/) and [RMI](https://rmi.org/)** — three climate organisations who put it together for the founders in their programmes. It is the reason this index has a climate and policy section at all, and the reason the material skews towards hard tech and energy rather than software. + +The second is a university entrepreneurship reading list. Its resources appear here credited to their own publishers. + +**Credit goes to the publisher, not the collector.** A Y Combinator essay is credited to Y Combinator, not to whoever put it on a list. Where a resource sits on a platform rather than a publication — a YouTube video, a Google Doc, a Medium post — no publisher is named, because the author cannot be recovered from the link alone and guessing would credit the wrong person. + +--- + +## What was left out, and why + +The source list held 179 unique links. Ninety-two are on these pages. Here is what happened to the rest, because a resource index that quietly drops half its contents is not one you can trust. + +**Sixty-eight links pointed at two domains that no longer exist.** `playbooks.cyclotronroad.org` held 45 of them and `growth.500.co` held 23. Both fail DNS resolution outright — not a redirect, not a paywall, no server at all. Cyclotron Road's playbooks have a living successor at [Stanford Climate Ventures](https://stanfordclimateventures.org/playbooks), but the paths do not map across, so recovering them is a title-by-title job rather than a rewrite. + +**Fifty entries were the same Google Slides deck**, one row per slide. Counting a fifty-slide deck as fifty resources would have inflated the collection by a third. It is one entry. + +**Seven links returned a hard 404 or 410.** Five were Y Combinator library pages, which moved when YC restructured; the material still exists at new URLs. One of them is worth naming: the deal roadmapping template that Third Derivative wrote themselves now returns 410 Gone. It was the only resource in the collection that D3 authored rather than collected. + +Everything remaining was reachable when this index was generated. A few sit behind bot protection and refuse automated requests while working perfectly for a person — those are included, because refusing a robot is not the same as being dead. + +--- + +## Using it + +Take what is useful. These are other people's pages and the only thing this index adds is the sorting. + +Two habits worth carrying over from the rest of this repository. A link is not a citation: if something here changes how you run your business, save the page into `_inbox/` with the URL and the date so the claim can be traced later, the way [getting your material in](getting-material-in.md) describes. And a reading list goes stale the way any other document does. Sixty-eight dead links out of 179 is what four years of drift looks like on a list nobody re-checked. diff --git a/web/build.mjs b/web/build.mjs index 9bcf951..481561d 100644 --- a/web/build.mjs +++ b/web/build.mjs @@ -149,6 +149,13 @@ const DOC_PAGES = [ { src: "docs/infographics-tools.md", url: "infographics-tools.html", nav: "Infographics", short: "The tools" }, { src: "docs/infographics-method.md", url: "infographics-method.html", nav: "Infographics", short: "The method, drawn" }, { src: "docs/infographics-portfolio.md", url: "infographics-portfolio.html", nav: "Infographics", short: "Running a portfolio" }, + { src: "docs/resources.md", url: "resources.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "All of them" }, + { src: "docs/resources-starting-out.md", url: "resources-starting-out.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Starting out and strategy" }, + { src: "docs/resources-customers.md", url: "resources-customers.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Customers and discovery" }, + { src: "docs/resources-product-growth.md", url: "resources-product-growth.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Product and growth" }, + { src: "docs/resources-team-legal.md", url: "resources-team-legal.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Team and legal" }, + { src: "docs/resources-money.md", url: "resources-money.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Money and fundraising" }, + { src: "docs/resources-climate.md", url: "resources-climate.html", nav: "Startup resources", short: "Climate and policy" }, ]; /* ---- prompts: the library, grouped the way prompts/INDEX.md groups them ---- */ @@ -476,6 +483,7 @@ const ICONS = { repeat: I(''), people: I(''), picture: I(''), + bookmark: I(''), /* the one filled mark here — LinkedIn has no legible stroke-only form at 14px, the two letters just close up */ linkedin: '', @@ -501,6 +509,8 @@ const NAV = [ { group: "Run a portfolio", icon: "people", landing: "run-a-portfolio.html", title: "Run a portfolio", blurb: "The layer for an incubator, accelerator, studio or university programme running this across many companies at once.", items: [] }, { group: "Infographics", icon: "picture", landing: "infographics.html", items: [] }, + /* last on purpose: it is other people's material, useful but not the method */ + { group: "Startup resources", icon: "bookmark", landing: "resources.html", items: [] }, ]; const navPush = (group, url, title) => { const g = NAV.find((x) => x.group === group);