Watch, read, listen, try.
Hand-picked talks, books and guides from real founders, many from India. Short ones first. Every link opens in a new tab.
Kids, take charge
An Indian school leader shows how kids your age fixed real problems in their own towns. Start here.
Open ↗Design for Change
Hundreds of school-kid projects and their videos. Great for ideas on how to tell your story.
Open ↗How to Get Startup Ideas
The famous essay: the best ideas come from noticing problems in your own life.
Open ↗How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas
Common mistakes when picking an idea, explained simply by a startup investor.
Open ↗Five whys
Where the “ask why five times” trick comes from (a car factory in Japan!).
Open ↗How To Talk To Users
How to ask questions that get honest answers, not polite ones.
Open ↗The Mom Test
A short book about asking questions even your mom can’t lie to you about. Also available as an audiobook.
Open ↗Interview method
A step-by-step guide to interviewing people about their lives.
Open ↗The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design
Free guide full of simple methods used by real designers working on social problems.
Open ↗How to Plan an MVP
Why your first version should be small, fast and a little embarrassing.
Open ↗How I harnessed the wind
At 14, with library books and scrap parts, he built a windmill that powered his home.
Open ↗The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
The full story as a book (there’s a young readers edition) and a film.
Open ↗How I started a sanitary napkin revolution
The real “Pad Man”. He kept testing, failing and talking to people until it worked.
Open ↗Dashrath Manjhi, the Mountain Man
From near Gaya: he spent 22 years cutting a road through a hill so his village could reach a doctor.
Open ↗Stay Hungry Stay Foolish
Stories of 25 Indian founders: how they started, the mistakes, the teams.
Open ↗The single biggest reason why start-ups succeed
He studied 200 companies. The answer surprised him (it isn’t the idea).
Open ↗How great leaders inspire action
Start with WHY. Useful when you plan what to say in your video.
Open ↗How I Built This
Founders tell the messy true story of how they started. Great for long bus rides.
Open ↗Startup School library
Hundreds of free talks, essays and podcasts from founders. Search for any topic.
Open ↗Change your video’s privacy (Unlisted)
How to upload as Unlisted, so only people with the link can see it.
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