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A reading path through StartupBook for first-time founders. Eight guides, in the order the decisions actually happen — from idea to first raise. Skim it once, then come back to each piece when you hit the matching wall.

How to use this page. Don’t try to read everything in one sitting. Most founders need each guide at a specific point: validation before building, equity before incorporating, metrics before pitching. Bookmark this page, work through the first one or two relevant to where you are, and come back when the next decision shows up.

Stage 1 — Before you build anything

The cheapest version of an MVP is one that gets killed by a conversation, before any code exists. Two guides here.

  1. 1

    How to validate a startup idea in 30 days

    A four-week plan for testing a thesis with real people, landing pages, and small paid experiments — without writing a line of production code.

    Read it when: you have an idea you keep coming back to and want to know if it’s real.

  2. 2

    Customer discovery interviews that tell you the truth

    How to recruit interviewees, ask about past behaviour instead of future intent, and avoid the false signals that put founders on multi-year detours.

    Read it when: you’re about to talk to potential customers and don’t want to walk away with polite lies.

Stage 2 — Set up the company properly

Boring paperwork, very expensive to fix later. Get it done in week one.

  1. 3

    How co-founders should split equity (and what vesting buys you)

    A reasoning framework for the split, why vesting matters more than the percentage, and how to renegotiate without burning the company down.

    Read it when: you have a co-founder. Before you incorporate. Today.

  2. 4

    The legal checklist for early-stage startups

    Incorporation, IP assignment, founder agreements, 83(b) elections, contractor paperwork. The things you will be glad you did when investors ask for them.

    Read it when: you’re about to incorporate or hire your first contractor.

Stage 3 — Build the first version

A small, real product priced from day one beats a beautiful product priced never.

  1. 5

    Building your MVP in 2026

    Modern stacks, no-code tools, and the discipline of cutting scope. The goal is to learn, not to build the polished version of the wrong thing.

    Read it when: the validation looks promising and you’re about to spend real time building.

  2. 6

    SaaS pricing models: picking one you can defend

    Freemium, tiered, usage-based, flat — with the tradeoffs of each, the segments they fit, and the migration paths between them.

    Read it when: you’re launching the MVP. Pricing on day one is what makes the experiment real.

Stage 4 — Get to the first 1,000 customers

Two guides: one for finding the channel, one for knowing whether it’s working.

  1. 7

    15 growth strategies for your first 1,000 customers

    Concrete tactics with notes on which segments and price points they fit. Use it to pick three to test, not all fifteen to attempt.

    Read it when: the product is live and you need to find users who aren’t already in your network.

  2. 8

    The startup metrics guide

    The five or six numbers that matter at this stage — CAC, LTV, churn, payback period, north-star — with formulas and benchmarks.

    Read it when: you have early traction and need to figure out whether the unit economics actually work.

Stage 5 — When you’re ready to raise

Two more guides, only relevant once the metrics from stage 4 look defensible.

  1. 9

    A pitch deck is an argument

    What each slide of a deck needs to prove. Skip the slide-count debate; investors care about the argument, not the page count.

    Read it when: you’re about to start drafting the deck.

  2. 10

    Complete fundraising guide for first-time founders

    Round sizes, who to talk to, how warm intros actually happen, what term sheets really say, and the parts of a raise nobody warns first-time founders about.

    Read it when: the deck is drafted and you’re starting to build a target investor list.

Stage 6 — Once you have a team

After the first three or four hires, the failure modes change. One guide for now; we’ll add more.

  1. 11

    Managing a remote startup team

    Communication tools, async workflows, decision rights, and the rituals that turn a small team into one that runs without daily founder oversight.

    Read it when: you’ve hired your second or third person and meetings are starting to feel expensive.

When you’re stuck on a term

A lot of founder paralysis comes from one word in a term sheet or an investor email that nobody explains. The glossary has plain-English definitions for the terms that come up in these guides — SAFE, ARR, CAC, liquidation preference, cliff, pro rata, the rest of them.

Open the glossary

Last reviewed on . This is a curated path, not the only one — if you want to read everything, the full guides index has them in publication order.