All Startup Guides

Ideation & Validation

Problem Discovery: Find a Problem Worth Solving Before the Product

How to find real customer problems

The starting point of a successful startup is discovering real customer problems. This guide covers the process from hypothesis to field validation.

What Is an MVP? Building the Smallest Product That Tests Your Idea

Test with a landing page or no-code, then decide to pivot or continue

An MVP is the most efficient tool for hypothesis validation. Build fast, learn fast.

How to Run Customer Interviews Without Asking "Would You Buy This?"

Ask about past behavior, write it down, and look for patterns

Customer interviews are a critical activity that determines startup direction. Learn proper questioning techniques and interview structure.

Solve Your Own Problem First

How Angus Chang built a $40K/mo solo SaaS from a PDF-to-Excel problem

Start from your own frustration, not market research. Angus Chang wanted to convert bank PDFs to Excel, launched a 1-week MVP, and reached ¥6M/month (97.5% margin) in 4 years.

Funding & Investment

How to Create a Pitch Deck

Creating presentation materials that captivate investors

A pitch deck is the first gateway to fundraising. Communicate problem, solution, market size, business model, and team concisely and persuasively.

Pre-Seed to Series B: What Investors Expect at Each Round

Assess where you are, then prepare through term sheet negotiation

Startup investment has different expectations and conditions at each stage. Understand the characteristics and preparations for each round.

Growth & Scaling

What Is Product-Market Fit? How to Tell Whether You Have It

Sean Ellis's 40% test, retention curves, and NPS

PMF is the most critical milestone separating startup survival from failure. Learn how to determine if you have achieved PMF.

What Is Growth Hacking? Experimenting on the Weakest AARRR Stage

Hypothesis, A/B test, scale — and the trap of chasing short-term wins

Growth hacking combines creative experiments with data analysis to drive rapid growth. Leverage the AARRR funnel framework.

What Are Unit Economics? Checking Viability with LTV and CAC

The 3:1 LTV/CAC benchmark, 12-month payback, and the formulas

Unit economics analyzes the relationship between revenue per customer (LTV) and acquisition cost (CAC) to verify business model sustainability.

Why Linear Chose Profitability: Small Teams and Slow Hiring

Revenue per employee as the key metric — and where it doesn't fit

For years startups were taught to prioritize growth, but Linear argues profitability is the path to controlling your own destiny. This covers small teams, slow hiring, and the peace of mind profitability brings.

Team & Culture

How to Choose a Co-founder: Three Things to Check Before You Commit

Agree on equity, roles, and how to settle conflicts up front

The co-founder relationship is the biggest variable determining startup success. Choose based on complementary skills, aligned values, and conflict resolution ability.

Building Remote Team Culture

Achieving trust and productivity in distributed teams

Remote teams need the right culture and tools to succeed. Learn the essentials of async communication, documentation, and trust-based management.

Outsourcing & AI Adoption

Why Software Development Quotes Differ by 3x Between Vendors

Breaking the gap down into effort, rate, scope, and buffer

The same requirements can produce quotes several times apart. Splitting each quote into effort, rate, scope, and buffer shows where the gap comes from and what buyers should check when comparing.

How to Start Bringing AI into Your Business When You Don't Know Where to Begin

Start from the workflow and build evaluation data first

Starting from "can we do something with AI?" turns the means into the goal. This covers how to spot workflows that fit, how to set evaluation criteria so the project doesn't end at the PoC, and how to think about cost, starting from before you place an order.