Resources
A founder's resource list
The accelerators, investors, databases, and people worth knowing. All links go straight to the source. This list grows over time, so check back.
Accelerators
National programs
Y CombinatorThe premier seed accelerator. $500k standard deal, four batches a year. TechstarsMentorship-driven accelerator across dozens of cities and verticals. 500 GlobalEarly-stage seed fund and accelerator with a global footprint. LaunchJason Calacanis's accelerator and syndicate. Early backer of Uber and Robinhood. Founder InstituteThe world's largest pre-seed, idea-stage founder program. gener8torNationally ranked accelerator across many US cities, plus free gBETA programs. ERAEntrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator, New York City's largest. Capital FactoryTexas-focused accelerator, coworking, and seed fund. MassChallengeNonprofit, zero-equity accelerator funded by corporate partners. Plug and PlayLarge innovation platform matching startups with corporates.
Vertical and specialized
AlchemistEnterprise and B2B: AI, SaaS, and deep tech. PearXSelective pre-seed and seed program from Pear VC. NeoTalent-focused accelerator and community. Forum VenturesB2B SaaS pre-seed accelerator and fund. SOSVDeep-tech VC running multiple hard-science programs. IndieBioBiotech and life sciences, by SOSV. HAXHard tech, robotics, and industrial, by SOSV. DreamitGrowth-stage health, security, and urban tech. StartXNonprofit accelerator for Stanford-affiliated founders. No equity. Cedars-SinaiHealthtech accelerator in Los Angeles. LearnLaunchEdtech fund and accelerator, Boston. The BranderyBrand and marketing-focused accelerator, Cincinnati.
Venture capital firms
A starting map of active, notable US firms across stages. Match the firm and its stage to the round you are actually raising.
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z)Multi-stage, platform model. Seed to growth, AI, crypto, bio. Sequoia CapitalIconic seed-to-growth firm. Apple, Google, Stripe, NVIDIA. AccelEarly and growth stage. Facebook, Slack, Atlassian. BenchmarkEarly-stage, small equal-partnership model. eBay, Uber. Founders FundMulti-stage, contrarian deep tech. SpaceX, Palantir, Anduril. GreylockEarly-stage enterprise and consumer. Day-one seed focus. Kleiner PerkinsMulti-stage tech and life sciences. Classic Sand Hill Road. LightspeedMulti-stage enterprise, consumer, fintech, and health. Bessemer (BVP)Multi-stage, seed to growth. Deep cloud and SaaS heritage. Index VenturesSeed to IPO, across the US and Europe. GV (Google Ventures)Multi-stage, independent. Sole backer is Alphabet. NEAMulti-stage tech and healthcare, seed to IPO. Khosla VenturesEarly-stage and deep tech. AI, climate, hard science. First RoundSeed and very early stage, hands-on founder support. InitializedSeed-stage generalist. Craft VenturesEarly and growth B2B SaaS. FelicisSeed and early stage generalist. Notion, Canva, Shopify. General CatalystMulti-stage, seed to growth. Health and AI heavy. Insight PartnersGrowth-stage and scale-up software. Thrive CapitalMulti-stage software and internet, New York. CoatueCrossover, public and private tech investor. Bain Capital VenturesMulti-stage. Fintech, infrastructure, and apps. RedpointSeed, early, and growth stage tech. Menlo VenturesSeed to growth. Enterprise, consumer, AI, health. Spark CapitalMulti-stage generalist. Twitter, Slack, Coinbase. Union Square VenturesEarly-stage, thesis-driven. New York. 8VCEarly and growth tech and life sciences. Austin. Lux CapitalSeed to growth, science and deep-tech focus. EmergenceEarly-stage enterprise and B2B SaaS. Salesforce, Zoom. Battery VenturesMulti-stage across tech.
Find investors
Databases and tools to find the right investors and the warmest path to them.
Mercury Investor DatabaseA searchable database of investors with stage, check size, and focus. OpenVCA free, searchable list of thousands of investors and their criteria. Signal by NFXFind investors and map the warmest path to an introduction. CrunchbaseCompany and investor data, funding rounds, and people. WellfoundWhere angels, founders, and startup talent connect.
People to follow on X
My startup list on X60 people in tech and startups that I follow, in one list.A few of the founders, makers, and thinkers worth following:
Pieter Levels @levelsioSolo maker. Nomad List, Photo AI. Marc Lou @marc_louvionIndie maker. ShipFast and a portfolio of micro-SaaS. Justin Welsh @thejustinwelshOne-person business on LinkedIn and a newsletter. Daniel Vassallo @dvassalloSmall Bets. Many small income streams. Arvid Kahl @arvidkahlThe Bootstrapped Founder. Writes and teaches bootstrapping. Tony Dinh @tdinh_meSolo developer. TypingMind. Damon Chen @damengchenTestimonial.to and PDF.ai. Danny Postma @dannypostmaaAI maker. HeadshotPro. Sahil Lavingia @shlFounder of Gumroad. Runs it ultra-lean. Jason Fried @jasonfried37signals. Bootstrapped for over 20 years. DHH @dhh37signals. Creator of Ruby on Rails. Marie Martens @MarieMartensBootstrapped Tally to millions with a tiny team. Bhanu Teja @pbteja1998Maker of SiteGPT. Sam Parr @thesamparrThe Hustle. Media and communities. Steph Smith @stephsmithioWriter and operator. Doing Content Right. Harry Dry @harrydryMarketing Examples. Copywriting that sticks. Lenny Rachitsky @lennysanLenny's Newsletter. Product and growth. Rob Walling @robwallingTinySeed and MicroConf. For bootstrappers. Paul Graham @paulgCo-founder of Y Combinator. Essays every founder should read. Sam Altman @samaOpenAI. Former president of Y Combinator. Marc Andreessen @pmarcaa16z. Distribution and markets. Balaji Srinivasan @balajisFormer CTO of Coinbase. Technology and the future.