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Growth · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to Notes from building a startup, shared openly

Hi HN, I started a small newsletter to document what I’m learning while building projects — the decisions, mistakes, and experiments that usually stay behind the scenes. It’s not a growth hack or a polished media thing. Just short write-ups about what worked, what didn’t, and how I’m thinking through problems as I go. I’ve only published a couple of posts so far, but it’s grown to 1,000+ readers, which surprised me. Sharing here in case it’s useful to others who enjoy building in public or learning from real-world attempts rather than theory. Happy to hear feedback or ideas on what would be…

Notes from building a startup is a newsletter documenting the real experiences of someone building projects, including decisions, mistakes, and experiments. It is for people interested in learning from practical… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    A few days ago, I responded to a comment by bloggergirl offering to read anyone's web copy and help. I shot off an email hoping for a paragraph or two of feedback on my startup's copy. Instead I received a professional, detailed deck of tons of invaluable well thought out feedback. It must have taken her an entire afternoon. Here's a link to it: http://www.slideshare.net/shereefb/recommendations-for-bettermeans To top it off, this isn't someone with a lot of free time on her hands, she's only days away from launching her own startup (page99test) This community blows my mind!

    2010 · slideshare.net · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    Most actionable advice from each Startup School speaker

    2014 · ffc2016.startupnotes.org · its alternatives →

  3. 3FS

    I started a newsletter sending out daily startup ideas. After a year, I transitioned to weekly ideas with more in-depth details. I recently posted all of them to the website and made them searchable. Check it out and let me know what you think. By providing more than just an idea, my hope is to help someone start their next business. https://www.startupsfromthebottom.com/

    2020 · its alternatives →

  4. 4
    The Feed▲295

    Weekly newsletter on how founders build audiences of 100k+

    2023 · its alternatives →

  5. 5

    Weekly newsletter with startup ideas and an A-Z launch guide

    2023 · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Dozens of templates, articles & videos to help you grow

    2024 · groundup.vc · its alternatives →

  7. 7

    In-depth interviews with founders and entrepreneurs

    2024 · founderreports.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    How to build communities of entrepreneurs

    2015 · amazon.com · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Tech insights for founders

    2023 · newsletter.moein.tech · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Generate startup ideas on a particular topic, based on insights from Hacker News comments.

    2023 · hn-ideas.tjcx.me · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    My startup diary - fundraising, pivot, mockups, and beyond

    2023 · t.me · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Startup ideas that you can launch over a weekend

    2024 · sparktostartup.substack.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13

    Insights to build, grow & raise capital for your startup

    2023 · join.houck.news · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    30+ lessons on startup success & failure

    2015 · baremetrics.com · its alternatives →

  15. 15IW
  16. 16

    Share your failures and learn from mistakes

    2018 · seedproof.com · its alternatives →

  17. 17

    Inspiring startup stories and useful resources to your inbox

    2022 · bootstrap.email · its alternatives →

  18. 18HN

    Friends, Romans, HNers! Link: http://hackerbyte.com This is my first “weekend project” and it was really fun doing it. The sleepless weekends nights when all my friends were our partying or something we (me and two friends) were busy creating ‘hackerByte’ - a weekly newsletter to share inspiration with start-up people. Nothing fancy - just we’d like to share some really nice stuff we read and some news with you, every week. We know that newsletters like these already exist so why one more? Because we are not really satisfied with what they are doing and here is our version of the wheel. We…

    2011 · hackerbyte.com · its alternatives →

  19. 19

    We're a free startup resource & stories website

    2023 · its alternatives →

  20. 20DO

    Oh, hello. I didn't see you there. Did you ever wonder what it takes to build and launch a software product from scratch? Not a high-level summary. Not a short essay that describes a year of development. Detailed, day to day activities. A captain's log. Mistakes and pivots. Technology choices. Marketing activities. Design considerations. You might know me as the creator of SumatraPDF. I'm starting a new software product from scratch and I decided to make it an experiment of building in public. I hope to inspire others to build more software by de-mystifying the process of creation. I'm on…

    2022 · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    The good, the bad and the ugly of StartUp life.

    2016 · acast.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22
  23. 23

    I used to be just a blogger. Now I build internet products, still without code, using AI, design, and taste. I was building in public on X for last 2 months. And honestly, I got tired of how it became performative and started to feel fake. I shipped 2 products. Both failed to get any real traction. I kept sneaking into popular builders’ profiles, hoping to learn how they do it. One thing I kept seeing everywhere, product launch directories. I thought here is the scope. So I started building one. Same UI like the rest. Nothing special. Suddenly one day when it was half built, I realized…

    2025 · founderswall.com · its alternatives →

  24. 24

    A guide to attracting, hiring and retaining employees

    2016 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →