Everything on Founders Courier, in the order a founder meets it. Each milestone opens with its guide, which covers the whole decision; the articles under it go deeper into one part of it.
Phase 1
Decide
Before the first customer
Why Start a Business?
The first decision on the route: whether to start at all, and for what. The reasons owners give, the ones that hold up, and what starting really costs.
- The Big Push: What Finally Made Founders Start
- Why Do People Start Businesses?
- Is Now a Good Time to Start a Business?
How to Come Up With a Business Idea
Most workable business ideas are noticed, not invented. Here is where they come from, how founders choose between them, and the mistakes that cost the most time.
- Boring Businesses That Make Money
- How to Evaluate a Business Idea
Should You Quit Your Job to Start a Business?
Quitting is not the start of a business. It is a bet you place once the business, your savings and your contract give you good reasons to make it.
- Starting a Business While Working Full Time
- How Much Money to Save Before Starting a Business
Phase 2
Launch
From idea to paying customers
How to Validate a Business Idea
Validation is a decision, not a ritual: is there enough real evidence to keep going? Here is how founders weigh the signals and where they usually fool themselves.
- How to Pre-Sell Before You Build
- How to Build an MVP
How to Get Customers for a New Business
Your first customers rarely come from a launch or an ad. They come from you, one at a time. Here is how founders find them and when to look for a repeatable channel.
- Founder-Led Sales
- Launching on Product Hunt: What Founders Got From It
How to Price Your Product
Pricing is a decision many founders get wrong at launch. What a first price should rest on, the models to choose from, and how to tell if it works.
Phase 3
Sustain
Keeping it, growing it, letting it go
When to Pivot, Push On or Quit
The hardest call on the route. How to read your evidence, when persistence pays, when a pivot makes sense and how to quit without regret.
How to Grow Your Business
Growth is a set of choices, not a single push. The levers founders use, the ways to add capacity and the mistakes that turn growth into trouble.
- How to Scale a Small Business
- When to Hire Your First Employee
Should You Sell Your Business?
Every business ends in one of three ways: you sell it, you close it, or you keep it on terms that suit your life. Here is how to choose between them.
- Lifestyle Business: The Third Option
- How to Close a Business
- What Is My Business Worth?
- How to Sell a Small Business
Who walks the route
Types of entrepreneurs
Types of Entrepreneurs
The route from idea to exit is the same for every founder. Who walks it is not, and the type of entrepreneur you are changes most of the decisions along the way.
What Is a Solopreneur?
A solopreneur builds and runs a business alone. Here is what that means, how common it is, and how every milestone on the route changes when there is only you.
- Solopreneur vs Entrepreneur
- Solopreneur Business Ideas
What Is a Cofounder?
A cofounder shares ownership and responsibility for a business from the start. Here is how a partnership changes the founder route, milestone by milestone.
- How to Find a Cofounder
- Cofounder Equity Split
What Is a Serial Entrepreneur?
A serial entrepreneur starts one business after another. Here is what the research says about repeat founders and how the route looks the second time around.
How to Manage Multiple Businesses
Running several businesses at once is a different job from running one. Here is how multipreneurs handle time, focus, systems, legal separation and pruning.