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Resources · the library
Our favourites. And yours.
A library that doubles as a school. It started as the list we kept sending our own founders. Now anyone who comes through the door can add to it: a course, a podcast, a Telegram channel worth its notifications, something they wrote or built themselves. Read your way through and you'll know a fair bit about starting a company (and a few things about Russia). The open shelf is for everyone; the rest is behind the door.
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The open shelf.
61 of 61 · free · no loginCulture codesfield guide
Culture CodesHow business is actually done, market by market - the unwritten rules a founder otherwise learns the expensive way.Startinglecture series
The Future of the FutureWhere the people building what comes next come and say it out loud, in Moscow, in a room. Lectures link here as they are published.Startingessay
Do Things That Don’t ScaleThe permission slip every early founder needs: recruit users by hand, delight them absurdly, worry about scale later.Startingessay
How to Get Startup IdeasNotice problems you have yourself; the good ideas look like bad ideas. We hand this to every Big Ideas applicant.Startingcourse
Startup SchoolThe whole YC curriculum, free and self-paced. Our Intensive assumes you have done it.Customersbook
The Four Steps to the EpiphanyWhere customer development began. Get out of the building; the answers are not in the office.Customerstalk
How to Talk to UsersThe five questions that get truth instead of politeness. Required before Week 1 of the Intensive.Customersbook
The Mom TestHow to ask about your idea so that even your mother cannot lie to you. Short; read it in an evening.Productessay
12 Things About Product-Market FitThe clearest definition of the only thing that matters before scale - and the signs you have not got it yet.Productframework
The PMF FrameworkThree kinds of fit - Hair on Fire, Hard Fact, Future Vision - and what each demands of you. Our north star reads it aloud to founders.The pitchtemplate
Writing a Business PlanThe ten-slide skeleton every deck we see in Moscow is a version of. Start here, then break it on purpose.The pitchguide
How to Build Your Seed Round Pitch DeckSlide by slide, what an investor is actually looking for. Read before Mega Pitching Week.The pitchtalk
How to Pitch Your StartupClear, concise, and why a legible pitch beats a clever one. The Crash Test audience will confirm it.Raisingguide
A Guide to Seed FundraisingWhen to raise, how much, from whom, and how to close. The one document to read if you read only one.Raisingbook
Venture DealsBe smarter than your lawyer and your VC. The Techstars founders wrote it; the free course runs twice a year.Raisingessay
How to Raise MoneyFundraising says nothing about your worth. It is a distraction, so finish it fast and get back to work.Terms & paperdocument
The SAFE - Simple Agreement for Future EquityThe standard early instrument, with the post-money user guide. Know it before anyone hands you one.Terms & paperdocument
FAST - Founder / Advisor Standard TemplateHow much equity an advisor gets, for what, over how long - settled in one page so it never becomes an argument.Terms & paperdocuments
NVCA Model Legal DocumentsThe term sheet, charter and investor-rights agreement the Valley actually uses. Read the term sheet at least.Going globalguide
How to Set KPIs and GoalsOne primary metric, a few secondary. The discipline that makes a new-market test readable.Going globalessay
Kickstarting and Scaling a MarketplaceHow the big marketplaces found their first thousand on each side. Useful far beyond marketplaces.Teamessay
How to Find a Co-FounderWhat to look for, what to agree on first, and why to do it early. Then come to Next Steves.Teamguide
How to Split Equity Among Co-FoundersThe conversation every team avoids until it is expensive. Have it in month one, with vesting.Investingcourse
Kauffman Fellows - the curriculumThe venture profession’s finishing school and the north star of our Intensive for Investors. Their journal is open.Investingguide
AngelList - syndicates, SPVs & how they workThe plumbing of angel investing: syndicates, carry, SPVs. Read before your first cross-border cheque.Investingessay
How to Be an Angel InvestorPick founders, not ideas; expect most to fail; the returns come from the ones you almost passed on.Corporate venturereport
State of CVCWhere corporate venture money went last year and where it is going. The benchmark before you design a fund.Corporate ventureessay
Corporate VenturingWhy most corporate funds die within four years, and the structural choices that let the others live.Corporate venturecourse
GCV InstituteThe professional body for corporate venturers. Their programme is the closest thing to a standard; ours runs annually alongside it.Channels & newsletterstelegram
The EdinorogThe biggest Russian-language venture channel: deals, founders' stories, and the failures nobody else posts.Channels & newsletterstelegram
Russian VentureEvery IT deal with Russian participants, with expert views alongside. The deal log, in your pocket.Channels & newsletterstelegram
proVentureVenture and technology from a fund partner who works between Russia's founders and the Valley.Channels & newsletterstelegram
Startup of the DayOne startup a day, picked apart. A good habit for anyone learning to judge ideas quickly.Channels & newsletterstelegram
addmetoTechnology news, briefly and sceptically. Where a lot of Russian engineers find out what changed this week.Channels & newsletterstelegram
vc.ruThe main Russian tech and business publication, in your feed. Noisy, and hard to do without.Channels & newsletterstelegram
RBC TrendsRBC's trends desk: science and technology for business readers.Channels & newsletterstelegram
SkolkovoSkolkovo's own channel: programmes, grants and the startups in its ecosystem.Channels & newsletterstelegram
Innovation Promotion FundRussia's main source of early grants for tech founders. Follow it for the calls, and apply before the deadline, not on it.Channels & newsletterstelegram
University Tech Entrepreneurship PlatformThe federal platform for university startups: studios, accelerators and grants across Russian universities.Channels & newsletterstelegram
MIPT (Phystech)MIPT's channel: labs, research and the Phystech startup scene.Channels & newsletterstelegram
Phystech UnionNews from the Phystech alumni union: the founders, funds and projects that came out of MIPT.Channels & newsletterstelegram
MTS StartUp HubA big corporate's startup hub: pilots, accelerators and open calls for teams that want a first large customer.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
Lenny's NewsletterProduct, growth and careers, from Airbnb's former product lead. The biggest business newsletter on Substack.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
StratecheryThe strategy and business of tech, argued daily. Aggregation theory started here.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
Not BoringLong, cheerfully optimistic essays on companies and where technology is going.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
The GeneralistCompany profiles researched like a banker's memo and written like a magazine piece.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
StrictlyVCThe daily venture briefing: who raised, from whom, and what everyone's talking about.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
SiftedEurope's startup news: rounds, founders and funds, covered properly.Channels & newsletterspodcast
AcquiredHours-long histories of great companies, told by two investors. Start with any one; you'll finish it.Channels & newsletterspodcast
20VCFounders and investors interviewed several times a week, by the podcaster who became a VC.Channels & newslettersguide
First Round ReviewLong, practical how-tos from operators: hiring, management, go-to-market. Free, and better than most books.Channels & newslettersessay
NFX EssaysNetwork effects and marketplaces, including the much-copied network effects map.Channels & newslettersguide
SaaStrAn answer to almost every B2B SaaS question, usually from someone who's been through it.Channels & newsletterscourse
YC LibraryY Combinator's free library of essays, talks and Startup School lectures. Search it before asking.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
The InformationReported scoops on tech companies and their deals. Expensive, and often first.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
Exponential ViewHow exponential technologies are changing the economy, read weekly by people who have to plan for it.Channels & newslettersnewsletter
One Useful ThingA Wharton professor on using AI at work, tested on real tasks rather than predicted.Channels & newsletterspodcast
Latent SpaceThe AI engineers' podcast: what's actually working in production, and what isn't.Missing something that saved you a year? Add it - with your name on it, if you like.
● Behind the door · the books
The books we keep lending out.
Anyone can read the back cover. A Library key gets you the rest.
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196 books, each with its author named. With a Library key, for your own study: please don't pass the files on. The authors deserve better.
The founders' canon
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● Shoulders to stand on
Reading rooms of the world. You've sat in one of them.
Everything on this shelf was once read, argued over or scribbled in the margins of rooms like these. Our turn now. Someone will stand on our shoulders next (so, posture).
● Your turn
Add yours.
Something that taught you, or something you made. Tell us in one line why it helped - that line is the whole point. We read everything before it goes up (yes, even your own podcast).
What is it
Email or Telegram - one is enough, so we can write back.By sending you agree that we may write back to you.
● The full library · by key
The rest of the shelves, behind the door.
Open to Night Climbers, members of the Society, everyone on our Intensives (participants, mentors and alumni, for good), our client companies and our portfolio startups. If that's you, ask for your key below.
Culture Codes - the full codes, all markets its own subscription ↗
Intensive materials - decks, templates, the reading list Soon
Investor library - term sheets, syndicate documents, diligence checklists Soon
Corporate library - CVC structures, decision protocols, pilots Soon
The guides' notes - what mentors tell climbers, written down Soon
Recordings - workshops, fireside chats, Future of the Future lectures Soon
§ ask for a key30 seconds · no spam, ever
Should you have a key?
Tell us who you are and how you know the door. We answer ourselves.
yes