About Us

Built by someone
who gets it.

Starter-Upper exists because starting up shouldn't mean starting from zero. Every resource, every contact, every piece of hard-won wisdom — collected in one place so you can focus on building.

The Mission

Democratizing startup knowledge.

The startup ecosystem has always had a gatekeeping problem. The best advice, the warmest intros, the insider knowledge — they flow through networks most first-time founders don't have access to. If you grew up in a small town instead of Silicon Valley, the path to building a company feels impossibly opaque.

Starter-Upper was created to fix that. Not with another accelerator or another fund — but with information. Curated, organized, actionable information that gives any founder, anywhere in the world, the same starting playbook as someone with a Stanford network.

Behind this project is someone who has lived the builder's life — across multiple ventures, multiple failures, and the occasional win. Someone who believes that the next world-changing company is more likely to come from an unlikely place than from another Ivy League dorm room. This platform is a reflection of that belief: that founders are everywhere, and what they need isn't permission — it's information.

🌏

What We Believe

  • The best startup ideas come from lived experience, not market research
  • Information asymmetry is the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship
  • Every city, every town has someone with a billion-dollar problem to solve
  • Founders don't need permission — they need ammunition
  • The startup ecosystem should be a ladder, not a club
  • Failure is data. Every dead startup teaches the next one how to live.
  • Global problems need diverse founders, not just Silicon Valley clones
  • The unsexy problems — logistics, compliance, infrastructure — are the real opportunities
Our Ecosystem

Affiliated ventures
& partners.

Starter-Upper is part of a broader ecosystem of companies and initiatives focused on building, enabling, and supporting startups across domains.

🚀

UnbuiltStartups.com

Ideas that deserve to exist but haven't been built yet. A curated repository of startup ideas waiting for the right founder to bring them to life. Open-source problem statements for the entrepreneurially inclined.

Visit →
🧝

Startup Elves

Startup consulting and advisory for founders who need more than a template — they need a thinking partner. From idea validation to go-to-market strategy, fundraising prep to scaling operations, Startup Elves works alongside founders to turn ambiguity into action.

Visit →
Get In Touch

Have a question?
We'd love to hear from you.

Whether you're a founder looking for guidance, a partner wanting to collaborate, or just someone who wants to say hello — drop us a line.

FAQ

Questions founders
actually ask.

If you plan to raise US venture capital, a Delaware C-Corporation is the gold standard — most VCs require it. Services like Stripe Atlas, Clerky, or Firstbase can set this up in days. For EU startups, Estonia's e-Residency allows remote company formation with EU market access. The UK is popular for fintech and has favorable SEIS/EIS investor tax relief. Singapore is the go-to for Asia-Pacific startups. Choose your jurisdiction based on where you'll raise money, where your customers are, and local tax implications.
Equity should reflect contribution — past, present, AND future. If you had the idea but your co-founder is building the product, a 50/50 split is common and often healthiest. Unequal splits (60/40, 70/30) work when one founder has significantly more domain expertise or invested capital. The critical thing: use 4-year vesting with a 1-year cliff. This protects both parties if someone leaves early. Never give equity without vesting. Ever.
The best time to raise is when you have leverage: growing traction, clear PMF signals, or a strategic reason that more capital will create disproportionate value. The worst time is when you desperately need it. Start fundraising when you have 6+ months of runway, some form of traction, and a clear plan for how the money creates a step-change. Bootstrapping as long as possible gives you more equity, more control, and better terms.
Both delay the valuation discussion. A SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) converts to equity at the next priced round, with no interest and no maturity date. It's simpler, cheaper, and founder-friendly — standard in Silicon Valley and increasingly worldwide. A Convertible Note is debt that converts to equity, with interest and a maturity date. SAFEs are simpler for early-stage; convertible notes are more common in Europe and traditional markets. YC publishes free SAFE templates at ycombinator.com/documents.
Forget paid ads at this stage. Your first 100 should come from direct outreach. Join communities where your target users hang out — Reddit, Discord, Slack groups, Twitter, LinkedIn. Provide value first, then introduce your product. Cold DMs work if they're personalized and problem-focused. Ask every early user for referrals. Be embarrassingly hands-on. Your first 100 users aren't a vanity metric — they're your product research team.
2-3 co-founders is the sweet spot. Solo founders can succeed but it's harder. More than 3 creates coordination overhead and equity dilution. The ideal: a "hustler" (business/sales), a "hacker" (technical/product), and optionally a "hipster" (design/UX). The most important thing isn't the number — it's complementary skills, shared values, and the ability to disagree productively.
Always MVP first. Always. The Dropbox MVP was literally a video. Buffer's MVP was a landing page with pricing — no product existed yet. Build the tiniest thing that lets you answer: "Will anyone actually use/pay for this?" Sometimes it's a landing page, sometimes a concierge service, sometimes a spreadsheet pretending to be an app.
Uncomfortable truth: your idea is probably not as unique as you think. The risk of secrecy (not getting feedback, not finding co-founders) is far greater than theft. Basic protections: file a provisional patent if you have a genuine technical innovation, use NDAs selectively for deep technical discussions, and trademark your brand name early. Your real protection is execution speed — by the time someone copies you, you should be 6 months ahead.
US VCs strongly prefer Delaware C-Corporations because of established corporate law, standard investor protections, and ease of issuing preferred stock. European VCs are comfortable with local equivalents (UK Ltd, German GmbH, French SAS). Many non-US startups create a Delaware holding company ("flip") when raising US capital. Use a startup-focused law firm — Cooley, Wilson Sonsini, Goodwin, Orrick, or Gunderson are the big names. For seed-stage, services like Clerky and Stripe Atlas are more affordable.
Enough to survive, not enough to be comfortable. Pre-funding, most founders pay themselves little or nothing. Post-seed, $50K–$80K/year is common in the US. Post-Series A, $100K–$150K is standard. The principle: your salary should never be a reason you can't focus on the company, but it should always feel like a sacrifice relative to what you could earn elsewhere. YC suggests keeping it below $150K even post-Series A.
Yes, completely. Starter-Upper is a free, open resource for founders globally. All information — grants, credit programs, investor lists, programs, and guides — is freely accessible. We believe information asymmetry is the biggest barrier to entrepreneurship. If you find this valuable, share it with another founder who needs it.