Founders Kit ⚙️

A curated collection of essential resources, tools, and playbooks to help founders build, launch, and scale startups successfully.

About

Building a startup is hard. Finding the right tools shouldn't be.

This repository is a curated directory of essential resources for every stage of your startup journey -> from ideation to scaling. Whether you're a first-time founder or a serial entrepreneur, you'll find tools for product development, marketing, fundraising, team management, and everything in between.

StartupsMap

StartupsMap is an interactive platform to discover and explore startups across cities and locations.

Founders: List your startup on StartupsMap and get discovered by the growing startup community.

🌐 List Your Startup

Who Is This For?

• Founders & Co-founders - Building your startup from scratch
• Product Managers - Developing and launching products
• Developers - Building MVPs and technical infrastructure
• Marketers - Growing and scaling user acquisition
• Designers - Creating beautiful user experiences
• Anyone interested in the startup ecosystem

What's Inside?

This collection includes:

• Learning Resources - Books, courses, essays, and videos from industry leaders
• Tools & Software - SaaS products, development tools, and automation platforms
• Funding Resources - Guides, angel directories, and pitch deck examples
• Communities - Online forums and networks to connect with other founders
• Design Assets - UI kits, icon libraries, and stock resources
• Analytics & Data - Tools to measure and optimize your metrics
• Startup Programs - Credits and deals from major platforms (AWS, Google Cloud, etc.)
• Marketing Channels - Places to launch and promote your product

Quick Start

1. Browse by Category - Use the table of contents below to jump to specific sections
2. Search - Press Ctrl+F (or Cmd+F on Mac) to find specific tools
3. Bookmark - Star this repo to keep it handy
4. Contribute - Found something useful? Add it via pull request!
5. Submit Your Product - Add your startup to Product Directory using Product Submission Guide

📋 Table of Contents

• Product Directory
• Product Submission Guide
• Learning & Knowledge
• Courses & Videos
• Podcasts
• Inspiration & Discovery
• Company Building
• Customer Development
• Incubators & Accelerators
• Communities
• Fundraising
• Website & Hosting
• Design Tools
• Stock Resources
• AI Tools
• Content & SEO
• Automation & Backend
• Payments
• Documentation
• Email & Newsletters
• CRM & Support
• Analytics & Data
• Marketing Tools
• User Feedback
• User Engagement
• Media & Video
• Team Management
• No-Code Tools
• Affiliates & Referrals
• Monitoring & Logging
• Miscellaneous Tools
• Startup Programs & Credits
• Places to Share & Promote
• Key Articles & Essays
• Additional Learning Resources

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Learning & Knowledge

Essential Reading

• Paul Graham's Essays
• Sam Altman's Blog
• Startup Library
• Founder Resources
• Startup Handbook
• The Founder Library - NFX
• Startup Notes

Books

Foundational Startup Books

• The Four Steps to the Epiphany - Steve Blank)
• The Startup Owner's Manual - Steve Blank)
• Running Lean - Ash Maurya
• The Lean Startup - Eric Ries
• Zero to One - Peter Thiel
• The Hard Thing About Hard Things - Ben Horowitz
• Founders At Work - Jessica Livingston

Product & Growth

• Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products
• Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love - Marty Cagan
• Empowered: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Products - Marty Cagan
• Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers
• The Cold Start Problem

Business & Strategy

• Make - Bootstrapper's Handbook
• The Founder's Dilemmas - Noam Wasserman
• Business Model Generation - Alexander Osterwalder
• Hello, Startup

Fundraising & Investment

• Venture Deals - Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson
• Venture Capitalists at Work - Tarang Shah and Sheetal Shah

Personal Development

• Atomic Habits - James Clear
• Thinking, Fast and Slow - Daniel Kahneman
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey
• First Things First - Stephen Covey

Specialized Topics

• The Mom Test - Rob Fitzpatrick
• Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup - Bill Aulet
• Mochary Method Curriculum - Matt Mochary
• Think Like a Founder
• Think Like a CTO

Business Excellence

• The Balanced Scorecard: Translating Strategy into Action
• Good to Great - Jim Collins
• The Innovator's Solution
• Built to Last
• Tribes: We Need You to Lead Us
• Rise of the Revenue Marketer
• Change the Culture, Change the Game

Additional Resources

• Quotes / Lessons / Videos for Entrepreneurs
• Power Books for Entrepreneurs

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Courses & Videos

Online Courses

• How to Start a Startup
• Startup School 2018 - Y Combinator
• Startup School 2019 - Y Combinator
• The Lean Launchpad - Steve Blank (Udacity)
• Startup Engineering (Coursera)
• Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies (Coursera)
• Startup Class - Sam Altman

Video Resources

• Mind The Product
• DevTube
• PMFlix
• Startup Talks
• Startup Movies
• Google Talks
• 500 Startups #500distro Conference Videos

Must-Watch Videos

• Steve Jobs' Vision of the World
• This Startup Founder Filmed Her Struggles
• Authors@Google: Eric Ries "The Lean Startup"
• Marc Andreessen & Dave McClure: The Future of Startups
• Foundation 37 // David Byttow
• PandoMonthly: Fireside Chat With Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky
• Startup Grind Feat Scott Heiferman
• Vinod Khosla at Startup Grind Silicon Valley
• UX Design & Marketing Tactics - Shopify
• Managing Growth & Delivering Magic

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Podcasts

• Acquired
• A16z
• Masters of Scale
• Inside Intercom
• This is Product Management
• Product Led Podcast
• FYI - For Your Innovation
• Produto pelo Mundo
• Mulheres de Produto
• Storicast
• Retention
• Product Gurus
• Product Backstage
• PM3 Talks
• Movimento UX

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Inspiration & Discovery

Product Discovery

• Product Hunt
• Hacker News
• Crunchbase
• BetaPage
• Betalist

Design Inspiration

• SaaS Pages
• SaaS Frame
• Mobbin
• Page Flows
• Page Collective
• Admire the Web
• Hoverstat.es
• UX Archive
• UI-Cloud
• Pttrns

Startup Ideas & Stories

• Start Story
• Test Your Startup Idea
• How to Find the Right Startup Idea
• The Artist and the Innovator
• Don't Start with an MVP
• Software Alternatives and Reviews
• Product Checklist

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Company Building

Naming

• WSGR Startup Basics: How to Name Your Startup
• Panabee
• NameMesh
• Naminum
• Namechk
• BrandBucket
• Squadhelp

Co-founders

• Founders and Co-founders by Startups.com
• How to Find a Co-Founder
• How to Split Equity Among Co-founders

KPIs and OKRs

• Curated KPIs and OKRs List

Growth Resources

• Growthhacklist
• Beginners Guide to SEO
• 100+ Growth Tactics
• Where Does Growth Come From?
• How to Check if ChatGPT Mentions Your Brand — SearchD - A manual workflow for selecting buyer questions and recording brand mentions, competitors, cited sources, and session conditions.

Hiring Resources

• Founder Library About Hiring
• Job Interviews Don't Work

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Customer Development

Resources

• Curated List of Customer Development Resources
• Customer Forces Canvas

Customer Discovery

• The Mom Test
• Empathy Map

Product-Market Fit

• Fundamentals of Product-Market Fit
• Superhuman Article on PMF

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Incubators & Accelerators

• Y Combinator
• 500 Startups
• Plug and Play
• accelerator.directory

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Communities

Online Communities

• r/Entrepreneur
• r/startups
• r/SaaS
• Indie Hackers
• AngelList
• The Hive List

Places to Post Your Startup

• Curated List
• BetaPage
• Product Hunt
• Betalist

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Fundraising

Guides & Resources

• A Guide to Seed Fundraising - Y Combinator
• Investopedia Article
• Chagency Get Startup Funding
• How to Raise Money
• Venture Deals
• Bridge Rounds vs Series Rounds
• How Startup Funding Works - Paul Graham
• IPOs and Beyond - a16z
• Options vs Cash - Dan Luu
• How To Invest In Startups - Sam Altman

Tools

• Startup Financing Calculator

Angel Directories

• First Round Capital
• NFX List

Pitch Decks

• Cirrus Insight Deck
• Chagency Deck
• OpenDeck
• 30 Legendary Startup Pitch Decks

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Website & Hosting

Website Builders

• Unicorn Platform
• ProductHunt Ship
• Shopify
• Webflow
• Weblium
• Landen
• Tilda
• Carrd
• Strikingly
• Framer

Static Generators

• Frontnd
• Jekyll
• Designmodo Startup
• Hugo
• Gatsby

Domains & Hosting

• GoDaddy
• Google Cloud
• Azure
• Digital Ocean
• Heroku
• Amazon AWS

Lead Generation

• Proof
• TrustPulse
• Kickofflabs

Memberships

• Memberstack

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Design Tools

Prototypes & Wireframes

• Sketch
• Figma
• Adobe XD
• Flinto
• Invision
• Marvel
• Proto
• Axure
• Mockflow
• Whimsical
• Overflow
• Origami
• Balsamiq
• Flowmapp
• Gloomaps
• Moqups
• FigJam

Logo & Branding

• Brandcrowd Maker
• Looka
• Logopony
• Tailorbrands
• Graphic Springs
• Brandbuilder
• Hatchful by Shopify

Graphics & Visual Content

• Canva
• Pablo by Buffer
• Designbold
• Pixteller
• Stencil
• Snappa
• RemoveBg
• EzGIF
• BannerSnack
• Screely

UI Libraries

• Ant.design
• Bulma
• Bootstrap

Data Visualization

• Miro
• Mindmeister
• Gliffy
• Lucidchart
• Visme
• Infogram
• Xara
• Google Data Studio
• Witeboard
• Easel.ly

Presentations

• Beautiful.ai
• Shower
• Slidecamp
• Haikudeck
• Visme

Design Resources

• Undesign
• Dribbble
• Evernote Design

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Stock Resources

Image Stocks

• Unsplash
• Pexels
• Everypixel
• Pixabay
• StockSnap
• Burst by Shopify
• StickPNG
• Foter
• IsoRepublic

Icon Stocks

• Flaticon
• Icons8
• Linea.io
• Nucleo App
• TheNounProject

Illustrations & Animations

• Glaze
• Control
• Undraw
• Blush
• Lottie
• Rive

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AI Tools

• ChatGPT
• Rows
• Copy.ai
• Jasper
• Lumen5
• Captions

---

Content & SEO

Content Management

• Netlify CMS
• Strapi
• Prismic
• Contentful

SEO Tools

• Ahrefs
• Spyfu
• Metatags

Forms

• Formspree

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Automation & Backend

Automation

• Zapier
• Make
• IFTTT
• N8N

Backend Services

• Airtable
• Firebase
• Supabase

---

Payments

• Dodo payments
• Stripe
• PayPal
• Adyen
• PagarMe
• Square
• Bolt
• Paymob
• Paytabs

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Documentation

• Docusaurus
• Readme
• Swagger
• Gitbook
• Scribe
• Notion
• Read the Docs
• UserGuiding

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Email & Newsletters

Email Services

• MailChimp
• Mandrillapp
• Postmark
• Mailjet
• ConvertKit
• Mailerlite
• Klaviyo

Newsletter Platforms

• Buttondown
• Substack
• Revue

Email Design

• Parcel
• Really Good Emails
• Email Copy from Great Companies

Blogging

• Hashnode

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CRM & Support

• Odoo
• HubSpot
• Zendesk
• Intercom
• Crisp
• Groove

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Analytics & Data

Product Analytics

• Segment
• Amplitude
• Mixpanel
• PostHog
• June
• Google Analytics
• Simple Analytics
• Pirsch
• Heap
• Zoho Apptics

Behavior Analytics

• Hotjar
• Smartlook
• Microsoft Clarity

Business Analytics

• ChartMogul
• Baremetrics

Data Infrastructure

• Cube
• Airbyte
• Ideals

Data Visualization

• Metabase
• Flourish
• Tableau
• Databox
• Klipfolio
• Geckoboard
• Google Looker Studio

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Marketing Tools

Social Media

• Buffer
• BuzzSumo
• QuickTwit
• SocialBlade
• Tubebuddy

Marketing Automation

• HubSpot for Startups
• Sumo
• Viral Loops
• Customer.io

Marketing Resources

• 150 Marketing Tools

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User Feedback

• Feedback Lane
• Upvoty
• Headway
• Feedbear
• Canny
• LaunchNotes
• Sleekplan
• Qualtrics
• Mopinion
• Productlane
• Testimonial

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User Engagement

• Braze
• Adjust
• Moengage
• Iterable
• OneSignal
• Customer.io
• InMoment
• Optinmonster
• PopupSmart
• Landbot
• Discourse
• Twilio
• Phaxio

Attribution

• Branch
• Appsflyer

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Media & Video

• Talevideo
• Uppbeat

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Team Management

• Trakstar
• Slack
• ClickUp
• Linear
• Breezy
• OysterHR
• Calendly
• Loom
• Markup

Project Management

• Todoist
• Asana
• Trello
• Basecamp
• Jira
• Monday
• Taskade
• Sendtask
• Blossom

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No-Code Tools

• Super
• Bubble
• Bravo Studio
• Retool

---

Affiliates & Referrals

• Idevaffiliate
• Impact
• Partnerstack
• Friendbuy

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Monitoring & Logging

• Sentry
• Instabug
• Crashlytics
• UptimeRobot
• Datadog

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Miscellaneous Tools

• Wisestamp
• Uploadcare
• Brightback
• Navattic
• Teachable
• Linktree
• Znaplink
• Gumroad
• Sellfy
• Bitly
• Survey Monkey

Market Research

• GutCheck
• Statista
• Google Trends
• Aytm
• Similar Web
• Compass

Tech Stack

• The Ultimate SaaS Tech Stack Database

MVP Tools

• An MVP is Not a Cheaper Product - Steve Blank

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Startup Programs & Credits

Cloud Computing

• AWS Activate
• Google Cloud for Startups
• Microsoft for Startups
• Hatch by DigitalOcean
• Startup with IBM
• Oracle for Startups
• Create@Alibaba Cloud
• Clever Bootstrap Program
• Heroku for Startups
• Scaleway Startup Program

Cloud Database

• MongoDB for Startups
• ScaleGrid Startup Program

Analytics

• Mixpanel for Startups
• Segment Startup Program
• Amplitude Startup Scholarship

Business Suites

• Zoho One for Startups
• Freshworks for Startups
• DeepSource Startup Program

Customer Engagement

• Intercom Early Stage Program
• GoSquared Early Stage Plan
• Zendesk for Startups
• Help Scout for Startups
• Drift for Early Stage Startups
• Crisp Startup Program

Marketing & Sales

• HubSpot for Startups

Email Delivery

• Postmark
• SendGrid Accelerate

Cloud Telephony

• Knowlarity for Startups
• Twilio Startups Program
• MyOperator Startup Program [INDIA]
• Exotel for Startups [INDIA]
• MSG91 for Startups [INDIA]
• Dialpad for Startups
• Agora for Startups

Payments

• Razorpay Zero Plan [INDIA]
• Chargebee Launch Programme

Bug Tracking

• Instabug for Startups

Edge Computing

• StackPath Propel Startup Program

Incident Management

• Zenduty Early Stage Startup Program

Video

• Gumlet
• Shotstack Startup Program

Hardware

• SOLIDWORKS for Startups
• Autodesk Fusion 360 for Startups

Advertising

• Snap Accelerate

Miscellaneous Programs

• Esri Startup Program
• MATLAB and Simulink for Startups
• FeedBear
• Remote for Startups
• Pareto Security

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Places to Share & Promote

News & Discussion

• Reddit
• Hacker News
• Lobsters
• Facebook
• Twitter (X)
• Slashdot
• Raddle
• Designer News
• DataTau
• devRant
• Sidebar
• Changelog
• UX Design Weekly
• CSS Weekly

Product Pages

• Product Hunt
• SaaSHub
• AngelList
• AlternativeTo
• Indie Hackers
• Evernote Design
• Page Collective
• Admire the Web
• Gaëtan Pautler's Blog
• Fuse
• Hoverstat.es
• read.cv
• Alternative.me

Blog & Article Platforms

• Medium
• LinkedIn
• DEV Community
• DZone
• Scotch.io
• Hashnode
• DOU.ua
• Muck Rack
• TechHype
• Towards Data Science
• Python LibHunt
• CodeMentor Community
• KDnuggets
• Morioh
• Hacker Noon
• Blogger
• Hackr.io
• JavaScript Kicks
• Smashing Magazine
• freeCodeCamp Forum
• CodeProject
• DevDojo

Niche Platforms

• GeeksforGeeks
• Codeforces
• Kaggle

News Blogs (Write For)

• DailyJS
• ITNext
• A List Apart
• The Next Web
• Developer Tech
• ProgrammableWeb
• Hakin9
• DataCamp Community
• EchoJS
• CSS-Tricks
• daily.dev Blog

Q&A Platforms

• Stack Overflow
• Quora

Forums

• TechRepublic Forums
• SitePoint Community

RSS Aggregators

• Feedly

Chat Communities

• Gitter

Video

• YouTube

Awesome Lists

• Awesome Awesomeness
• Awesome CTO
• Awesome TPM

Startup Directories

• BetaList
• StartupTabs
• Crunchbase
• GeekWire Submit Startup
• F6S
• KillerStartups
• Startup Buffer
• AllStartups.info
• BetaPage
• Index.co
• Gust
• Startup Project
• Springwise
• Launch Lister
• Vator.tv
• NextBigWhat
• iamWire
• SnapMunk
• MicroStartups
• Nibletz
• Startup Stash
• AllTopStartups
• Startup Dope
• TechPluto
• The Startup Pitch
• SideProjectors
• Launching Next
• Startup Ranking
• AwesomeIndie

Relevant Subreddits

• r/coding
• r/computerscience
• r/compsci
• r/technology
• r/algorithms
• r/javascript
• r/learnjavascript
• r/reactjs
• r/programming
• r/learnprogramming
• r/webdev
• r/datascience
• r/Python
• r/pythontips
• r/ArtificialInteligence
• r/learnmachinelearning
• r/MachinesLearn
• r/MLQuestions
• r/tensorflow
• r/pythoncoding
• r/alphaandbetausers
• r/IMadeThis
• r/InternetIsBeautiful
• r/SideProject
• r/indiehackers

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Key Articles & Essays

Paul Graham's Essays

• Paul Graham's Articles
• How to Get Startup Ideas
• Do Things That Don't Scale
• 18 Mistakes That Kill Startups
• How to Raise Money
• Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule

Sam Altman

• Startup Advice, Briefly
• Startup Playbook

Product

• Retention is King
• What Product Features Should I Focus On?
• How This Founder Turned Slow Burn Rate into a Big Exit
• The Illusion of Product/Market Fit for SaaS Companies
• 12 Things About Product-Market Fit - a16z

Growth & Marketing

• Managing Growth & Delivering Magic
• "No Marketing" Isn't as Impressive as You Think
• Growth is Optional
• The Hacker's Guide to User Acquisition
• How to Solve the Cold-Start Problem for Social Products
• The Complete Guide to Product Qualified Leads
• Finding Sales Triggers - DigitalOcean

Monetization

• When Should You Turn on Revenue?

Hiring

• Focus on Building 10x Teams
• #define CTO
• Gene Pool Engineering - Vinod Khosla

Mental Health

• Avoiding Burnout - HN Discussion
• I Am Burned Out While Still in Learning Phase

Miscellaneous

• Individuals Matter - Dan Luu

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🤝 Contributing

We welcome contributions from the community! Here's how you can help:

1. Add a Resource - Found a useful tool or article? Submit a pull request!
2. Fix Broken Links - Help us keep the list up to date
3. Improve Descriptions - Make resources easier to understand
4. Suggest Categories - Help us organize better

Contribution Guidelines

• Ensure the resource is relevant to startups and founders
• Provide a working link
• Add a brief description if needed
• Place it in the appropriate category
• Check for duplicates before submitting

Sponsorship

If you find this repository valuable and want to support its growth:

• Sponsor this project to help maintain and expand the collection
• Partner with us to feature high quality tools for founders
• Reach out for collaborations and ecosystem partnerships

For sponsorship or partnership inquiries, connect via X:
Avinash Singh

📜 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

This repository is maintained by Avinash Singh Special thanks to all contributors who have helped curate and maintain this collection.

💬 Community & Support

• Star this repo to show your support
• Share it with fellow founders and entrepreneurs
• Follow for updates as we add new resources
• Join the discussion in Issues

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Made with ❤️ by Avinash Singh

Last Updated: February 2026