Resources

We wanted to share with you some content and useful reading that we believe will help and educate you on your start-up journey.

Enjoy!

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THE MARKET

Why ‘Market’ matters and the 12 things you should know about ‘Product Market Fit’ are explained here – “About Product Market Fit”

Following on from the above article, now knowing what you need to know on Product Market Fit, Michael Seibel, the Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator can help you understand when you've really found Product Market Fit.

PROTOTYPING

d.labs covers some key points on the need to prototype in their article "Why Do We Prototype?"

This Forbes article covers Eight Tips For Building A Product Prototype.

Low-code and no-code are two software development solutions - What's the difference?

Low Code Development: Future or Fad? This Medium article explains Why Low-Code Software Development is the Way to the Future.

CO-FOUNDERS & TEAMS

The Founder Institute share some thoughts and important points on finding a co-founder and formulating that relationship - Co-Founder FAQ

Good founders of a business are the ones that make the business work - who's on your ideal co-founding team? Sean O'Sullivan, Managing Director at SOSV shares his thoughts.

This Y Combinator article covers some useful points and tips on 'How to find the right co-founder'.

Co-Founder relationships going sour is one of the biggest factors that break-up a company. Techstars have a useful Toolkit to help you navigate co-founder relationships.

PITCHING

To put your Pitch ahead of the curve, Michael Seibel, the Managing Director and Group Partner at Y Combinator, shares his 7 critical questions that should be covered within your Pitch - "How to Pitch Your Company"

In his Startup School for Y Combinator, Kevin Hale gives his thoughts on "How to Pitch your Start-up" - where he shares tips on communicating your idea and how to craft your pitch in a clear and concise way.

This Medium article on "How to Pitch Your Ideas in 10 minutes or less" explains the 'magic of 10 minutes' and covers 3 strategies that will grab and keep your audience's attention.

To help perfect your 'Elevator Pitch' take a look at this article from The Founder Institute which will help you explain your idea in just one sentence - "Perfecting your one sentence pitch"

OTHER USEFUL RESOURCES:

The 38 Best Start-up Books for Entrepreneurs in 2024.

'How to be a Founder' is a must read when starting your own company.

Bill Aulet's book 'Disciplined Entrepreneurship' is a fantastic framework covering 24 steps to a successful startup.

10 Start-up Accelerators you should know about.

Techstars Entrepreneur's Toolkit is an online educational resource to help you learn the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and accelerate your success.

Practical Advice for Northern Ireland Businesses - NI Business Info

My New Business - a guide through the important first stages of starting a business for NI entrepreneurs.

Barclays Eagle Labs has a number of different dedicated programmes designed to help your business grow. Check them out!

Go Succeed - Northern Ireland's free go-to source for expert business advice to Start, Grow or Scale!

Innovate NI - Helping businesses create value from ideas to increase market share, survive business shocks, improve competitiveness and become successful innovators. Complete their Innovation Assessment to discover where you are on the Innovation Framework today!