TOP IDEAS

Library

We've collected the best FREE curriculums from the top VCs
for different phases of startup development
You DON'T have to pay for the expensive workshop elsewhere.

Formation Phase

How to Build the Future: College Students, Decision Making, Founder Psychology

Sam Altman gives advice to young people onhow to pick something important to work on, who do you work with, and what are the ways to accomplish big things.

YC Startup Library

YC’s Essential Startup Advice: Becoming a Founder, Early Stage, Talking to Users

We’ve collected here what we at YC consider the most important, most transformative advice for startups. Whether common sense or counter-intuitive, the guidance below will help most startups find their path to success.

YC Startup Library

Growth for Startups: Growth, Building Product

YC Partner and growth expert Gustaf Alstromer talks about how to measure product market fit, how to decide on a growth channel, metrics that lie about PMF and other mechanics of growth for startups.

YC Startup Library

The NFX Frameworks Collection for Founders

NFX frameworks for Founders, all in one place — product, fundraising, leadership, crisis management, network effects, and more.

NFX

How to Evaluate Startup Ideas: Startup Ideas, Getting Started

YC Partner Kevin Hale walks us through the process of evaluating ideas and how founders should think about their startups.

YC Startup Library

How CEOs Think: 5 Mental Models to Shift from Founder to CEO

5 mental models distinguish "product-Founders" from successful "Founder-CEOs". Trulia Founder, Pete Flint, breaks them down for Founders everywhere.

NFX

Why Startups that Survive are “Learning Organizations”

Speed is a startup's primary advantage — especially in downturns. Iconic startups are learning machines, embedding feedback loops across their teams.

NFX

Why Startup Timing is Everything

To help better understand startup timing, we’ve developed a framework we call the Critical Mass Theory of Startups

NFX

Fundraising

How to Split Equity Among Co-Founders: Co-Founders, Stock Equity, Management

Founders often make mistakes when figuring out equity for each co-founder. Equity should be split equally because all the work is ahead of you.

YC Startup Library

A Guide to Seed Fundraising: Fundraising, Seed Round, Investors

The most comprehensive guide on why, when and how to raise money for your startup.

YC Startup Library

How to Build Your Seed Round Pitch Deck: Fundraising, Pitch Deck, Seed Round

Y Combinator has helped thousands of founders create pitch decks for their seed round fundraising. Here is the YC Seed Deck Template that works.

YC Startup Library

The Ladder of Proof: Uncovering How VC's See Your Startup

The further up the ladder a startup climbs, the more signals its sending to investors that it’s a sizable opportunity.

NFX

Fundraising Templates: Safe Financing Documents: Fundraising + Investors, Fundraising Docs

Y Combinator’s open-source simple agreement for future equity. Four versions of the safe (simple agreement for future equity) plus an optional side letter.

YC Startup Library

Nine Business Models and the Metrics Investors Want (SUS 2019): KPI, Early Stage, Business Models

YC Continuity Partner Anu Hariharan breaks down the metrics we look for when we’re evaluating a startup’s business model and common mistakes to avoid when measuring them.

YC Startup Library

16 Non-Obvious Fundraising Lessons On Pitching

Non-obvious lessons about pitching learned from James Currier's many years of being a 4-time founder/CEO and an investor in over 100 companies.

NFX

How VCs Negotiate: 8 Skills Top Founders Master for Startup Fundraising

Detect and manage these 8 little-known Founder/VC fundraising negotiation skills.

NFX

Validation Phase

The New Rules of Growth vs. Profitability

This essay is a guide to help Founders build iconic businesses during downturns and navigate the new rules of growth vs. profitability.

NFX

The 4 Signs of Founder-Market Fit

by James Currier (@JamesCurrier). James is a General Partner at NFX, a seed-stage venture firm headquartered in San Francisco. Most of the discussions around “Founder-Market Fit” tend to focus on the more tangible concept of industry expertise. In my years as a Founder and investor, I’ve found that there’s a lot more to it. We…

NFX

10 Places to Find Product-Market Fit

Startups fail because they run out of money before achieving product-market fit. NFX Managing Partner Gigi Levy-Weiss identifies 10 places to look for product-market fit in startup ideas.

NFX

9 Habits of World Class Startups

A discussion of the 9 core operating principles that world class companies tend to embrace, by NFX Managing Partner James Currier.

NFX

19 Tactics to Solve the Chicken-or-Egg Problem and Grow Your Marketplace

An inside look at 19 tactics top marketplaces have used to solve the chicken-or-egg problem and kickstart growth.

NFX

How to Sell (SUS 2018): Early Stage, Enterprise Sales

Tyler Bosmeny, CEO and Co-founder of Clever (YC S12) shares his expertise on how an early stage company should think about sales and about building an enterprise sales team.

YC Startup Library

New Sales Models: Founding Stories, B2B Sales, Enterprise Sales

David Sacks, Co-founder and CEO of Yammer, speaks about sales models and advice on selling your product.

YC Startup Library

The Hidden Patterns of Great Startup Ideas

5 frameworks to help Founders coming up with a new startup idea that is the most likely to lead to a transformative company.

NFX

Growth Phase

How to Set Up, Hire and Scale a Growth Strategy and Team: Growth, Hiring, KPI

What does a growth team do and why should we set up a growth team? Growth experts on when to invest in growth, what the right growth KPIs are, how to manage growth, building a growth team how to get everyone in the company to care about growth.

YC Startup Library

Scaling Culture: People, Management, Culture

Jason Kilar is the former CEO of Hulu and Vessel, and an early executive at Amazon. He joined us at The Scaleup Offsite to talk about establishing and scaling a company’s culture.

YC Startup Library

Laying the Foundation for Sustainable Growth: Growth, Third Party Tools, Customers

YC Partner Gustaf Alströmer discusses laying the foundation for sustainable growth for startups.

YC Startup Library

The Network Effects Bible

Network effects have been responsible for 70% of all the value created in technology since 1994. Founders who deeply understand how they work will be better positioned to build category-defining companies.

NFX

The NFX Company Culture Scorecard and Playbook

See your score on The NFX Company Culture Scorecard. Use the Playbook to build great company culture.

NFX

PR and Content for Growth (SUS 2018): Press, Content Marketing

YC Partner Kat Manalac and former Director of Marketing Craig Cannon describe the most effective ways to use PR and content to help your companies find more users.

YC Startup Library

How to Build and Manage Teams (SUS 2017): Hiring, People

Anu Hariharan, Partner at YC Continuity, sits down with Vinod Khosla, Founder of Khosla Ventures and previously the founding CEO and Co-Founder of Sun Microsystems, to talk about belief systems around hiring, and how to manage your company’s growth internally.

YC Startup Library

Advice on Organizing and Running Growth Teams: Experimentation, Growth, Growth Stage

Dan Hockenmaier, former head of growth for Thumbtack, discusses general strategies for growth and how to hire, manage and scale your growth team.

YC Startup Library

TOP IDEAS

Library

We've collected the best FREE curriculums from the top VCsfor different phases of startup developmentYou DON'T have to pay for the expensive workshop elsewhere.

Formation Phase

Fundraising

Validation Phase

Growth Phase

If you are not falling down occasionally, you are just coasting.

We've collected the best FREE curriculums from the top VCs
for different phases of startup development
You DON'T have to pay for the expensive workshop elsewhere.