Founder Hubs

Every topic, mapped.

Each hub bundles a guide, the tools you'll use, the templates you'll copy, the resources to read, and the next step. Pick where you are.

By topic

Getting Started

How to Start a Business

Operator-grade guide to starting a business in 2026: idea selection, validation, first customers, legal setup, cash flow, and the tools to use today.

Getting Started

Business Idea Validation

A direct guide to validating a business idea before you build. Interviews, smoke tests, concierge MVPs, pre-orders, and the evidence hierarchy.

Growth

Your First 100 Customers

A practical, operator-grade playbook for getting from zero to your first 100 paying customers — without ad spend, without a network, without luck.

Finance

Startup Finance Fundamentals

The minimum finance every founder needs to know: runway, burn, gross margin, LTV:CAC, pricing, and the calculators to compute them.

Fundraising

Startup Fundraising

An operator's guide to fundraising — pre-seed, seed, and Series A milestones, deck structure, process, and the calculators you need.

Legal

Startup Legal Setup

Educational orientation to the legal stack first-time founders actually need — entity, founder agreements, IP assignment, privacy, and when to call a lawyer.

AI

AI for Founders

How to use AI as a co-founder, not a curiosity. Workflows, prompts, the AI stack, and the risks every operator needs to know.

Small Business

Running a Small Business

A practical guide for small business owners — not VC-backed startups. Cash flow, local lead generation, hiring, operations.

Idea

Startup Ideas

Where founders actually find startup ideas, the five filters that separate signal from noise, and what to do when you have too many or too few.

Validation

Customer Discovery

Run customer discovery interviews that produce signal, not validation theatre. The 5-question framework, how many to run, and how to spot fake demand.

Product

MVP (Minimum Viable Product)

How to scope and ship an MVP that learns instead of impressing. Concierge vs Wizard-of-Oz vs feature MVP, the 'leave out' principle, and a 2-6 week build plan.

Launch

Startup Launch

Launch a startup without faceplanting: the soft-launch principle, when Product Hunt helps, the 14-day pre-launch checklist, and what to measure in week 1.

Growth

Startup Growth

Real startup growth — growth loops, why most channels don't work for your business, and how to find the 1-2 that do. Without the growth-hack mythology.

Operations

Startup Operations

Operations for startups under 30 people: weekly review, monthly close, quarterly planning, and minimum-viable process that scales without strangling speed.

Hiring

Startup Hiring

Practical startup hiring: first 5 hires by stage, outcomes-based scorecards, contractor vs FT decision, and what NOT to outsource early.

Marketing

Startup Marketing

Pragmatic startup marketing — sharpening positioning, defining ICP, content vs ads at pre-PMF, and how to run the first marketing function with one person.

Sales

Startup Sales

Founder-led sales done well — qualification, demo discipline, contract anatomy, and the signals that tell you it's time to hire the first AE.

Product

Product-Market Fit

What product-market fit actually feels like, the four signals that prove it, the 40% test, and what changes after — without the cargo-cult mythology.

Scaling

Scaling a Business

What actually breaks as you scale — org, cash, customer types, hiring profile. The honest version, not the LinkedIn one.

Exit

Selling a Business

Honest exit options for founders — acquihire vs strategic vs PE vs secondary, what buyers actually pay for, and the 18-month preparation horizon that pays back.

Pricing

Pricing Strategy

How founders actually price: cost-plus vs value-based, packaging vs tiers, willingness-to-pay research, price increases without churn.

Retention

Customer Success & Retention

How to actually retain customers: activation vs retention, the 40% test, churn diagnostics, NPS reality, and account expansion.

Equity

Equity & Cap Tables

How founder equity actually works: co-founder splits, vesting, option pool sizing, 83(b), 409A, dilution math, and the mistakes that cost the most.

Strategy

Bootstrapping vs Raising

The honest comparison: bootstrapping vs venture capital. By business shape, founder lifestyle, metrics, and how to switch paths if you change your mind.

Strategy

Pivoting a Business

Real pivot mechanics: when to pivot vs persevere, the four pivot types, what to keep vs throw out, and how to communicate the change.

Getting Started

Starting a Business in the US (Delaware C-Corp)

Delaware C-corp formation, EIN, founder share issuance, 83(b) elections, state-of-residence vs state-of-incorporation. The actual mechanics, not the LinkedIn version.

Getting Started

Starting a Business in the UK (Ltd Company)

UK Ltd formation via Companies House, SEIS/EIS investor scheme qualification, VAT thresholds, founder NIC, and when to opt into the EMI option scheme.

Operations

Founder Payroll Setup (US + UK)

Payroll basics for founders: US W-2 vs 1099 + state registration; UK PAYE, salary vs dividends, IR35 for contractors. The decisions that hurt most when delayed.

Fundraising

Negotiating Term Sheets

Term sheet negotiation playbook: walk through the actual terms, what's standard, what's aggressive, what to fight for, and when to walk.

Hiring

International Hiring & EOR

Hiring across borders: contractor vs EOR, entity setup thresholds, equity for foreign nationals, payroll mechanics, IP assignment by jurisdiction.

Marketing

Startup PR & Press

Founder-led startup PR: when press matters and when it doesn't, building your journalist list, the announcement template, embargo mechanics, crisis comms.

Operations

Founder Mental Health

Founder mental health: real burnout warning signs, boundary-setting at startup speed, when to take a break, finding founder-focused therapy, the cost of overwork.

Finance

Founder Tax Planning — UK & US (Educational, Not Tax Advice)

Founder-focused tax planning for UK Ltd and US C-Corp / S-Corp founders: dividends vs salary, SEIS/EIS, BADR, QSBS §1202, AMT on ISOs. Educational only — speak to a qualified tax adviser before acting.

Sales

Partnerships & Business Development

How founders build partnerships that actually move the needle: channel resell, integration partners, co-marketing — and the structures that protect both sides. Plus when partnerships replace direct sales (and when they don't).

By business model

Business Model

Building a SaaS Business

Practical guide to building a SaaS business as a solo or small-team founder — niches, pricing, distribution, retention.

Business Model

Building an Agency

Agency business model fundamentals — pricing, positioning, scaling beyond hours-for-money, productisation.

Business Model

Building an Ecommerce Business

Practical ecommerce playbook — product selection, margin math, first sales channel, retention.

Business Model

Building a Micro-SaaS

Micro-SaaS playbook — narrow ICP, low ops, recurring revenue, ideal for solo founders.

Business Model

Solopreneur Business

Build a profitable one-person business — productised services, digital products, micro-SaaS, audience businesses.

Business Model

Building a Devtools Business

Building API and developer-tools businesses: bottom-up adoption, docs as marketing, PLG pricing, and the unit economics of selling to engineers.

Business Model

Open Source as a Business

How to monetise open source: the OSS-core, hosted-OSS, and OSS-adjacent models. Licensing choices, contributor economics, and the trap of monetising too late.

Business Model

Building a Marketplace Business

How marketplace businesses work: solving the chicken-and-egg problem, liquidity, take rates, and the metrics that predict whether a marketplace will compound.

Business Model

Building a B2C Subscription Business

How consumer subscription businesses work: activation, retention curves, churn diagnostics, win-back, and the unit economics most founders get wrong.

Business Model

Building in Regulated Industries (Fintech, Health, Legal)

How startups operate in regulated industries — fintech, healthtech, legaltech. Compliance as a moat, licensing decisions, partnership vs build, and timelines.

Business Model

Hardware / DTC Physical Products

Building a physical-product DTC business: MOQ economics, supplier negotiation, inventory + cash conversion, Shopify + 3PL stack, returns, when to add wholesale.

Business Model

Building a Healthtech Business

Building a healthtech business: HIPAA basics, FDA software-as-medical-device, clinical evidence, payer relationships, claims & billing, the regulatory cost curve.

Business Model

Web3 / Crypto Business

Founding a Web3 / crypto company: regulatory landscape (SEC, MiCA, FCA), token vs equity, treasury, listings, when NOT to do Web3.

Business Model

Building an EdTech Business

Building an EdTech business: B2C learner vs B2B school vs B2B2C teacher channels, content development costs, back-to-school cycle, FERPA / GDPR for under-13s.

Business Model

Building a Climate-Tech Business

Building a climate-tech startup: hardware-capex curve, grant funding (DOE, IRA, EU Innovation Fund), corporate procurement, carbon accounting, climate-VC sourcing.

Business Model

Building a Productised Services Business

How to build a productised services business: pick the wedge, price the package, design delivery, scale past the founder's hours. The fastest path to revenue for skilled operators.

50 hubs published. More launching as we research.