Here's a compact, battle-tested cheat sheet to hack the startup game—fast leverage, not fluff. Skim the headers, then grab the templates at the end.

First Principles (play to win)​

• Pick a winnable game: wedge into a narrow, painful use case where you can be #1 in 6–12 months; expand from beachhead → neighborhood → city.
• Distribution is part of the product: design features that create signups (embeds, APIs, referrals), not just delight.
• 不可胜在己，可胜在敌: make yourself hard to beat (speed, focus, cash discipline) and choose battles where incumbents are structurally slow.
• Speed compounds: short cycles beat big brains. Ship weekly, re-price monthly, re-segment quarterly.
• Narrative = capital: crisp “Why now / Why us / What traction / What’s next” unlocks hiring, sales, and fundraising.

Find & Prove the Pain (pre-PMF)​

• Pain test: if a prospect can’t quantify cost-of-not-solving in money or hours, it’s not yet a startup problem.
• 20→5→3 rule: 20 discovery calls → 5 deep, repeatable pains → 3 ICPs worth testing.
• Overfit then generalize: hand-build for 3 design-partners; write the playbook from those wins.
• Leading PMF signals: week-4 retention, time-to-first-value <10 minutes, organic signups > paid, inbound requests for features you didn't market.

Make Distribution the Default​

• Zero-to-demo in 3 minutes: hosted sandbox, copy-paste snippet, Postman collection, one-click example app.
• Give samples, not trials: prebuilt templates that ship value immediately (starter kits, boilerplates, demo datasets).
• Own a channel: choose one primary engine (SEO on docs, open source, social proof, or partnerships) and master it before adding a second.
• Embedded loops: usage that exposes your brand (share links, badges, generated pages) and partner integrations that list you in their marketplaces.

Pricing that Sells Itself​

• Price the value metric (requests, seats, assets managed). Kill “unlimited”.
• Good-Better-Best: anchor with a premium plan; push annual with a small discount + roadmap previews.
• Land small, scale fast: usage-metered base + easy in-place upgrades. Auto-throttle with clear upgrade path (no hard fails).

Enterprise-Grade Without the Drag​

• Credibility pack: status page, uptime badge, SOC 2 roadmap, DPA template, SLAs by tier.
• Proof > promises: publish reference architectures, security whitepaper, and a 1-page “How we handle your data”.

Sales That Close (even if you’re product-led)​

• Discovery before demo: quantify pain, map stakeholders, define success criteria and timeline before you show anything.
• Pilot with math: 30–60 day pilot, clear success metric, pre-agreed expansion if hit (e.g., "if payback <60 days → annual at X").
• Multi-thread: identify champion, signer, blocker; weekly joint notes shared to keep momentum visible.

Fundraising as a Go-To-Market Channel​

• Narrative spine: market shift (why now) → earned insight (why us) → traction curve → capital unlocks → plan of record.
• Momentum stack: stack small wins (logos, community growth, revenue slope) into a single, rising line.
• Asks are precise: “Raising $X for 18 months, 65% product/eng, 25% GTM, 10% compliance; milestones A/B/C.”

Team: Bar, Not Headcount​

• Hire for slope: learners who ship. Portfolio-style contractors early; convert only your bar-raisers.
• References > interviews: backdoor references with specific prompts (“When did they miss? How did they recover?”).
• Trial projects: paid, time-boxed work on real backlogs beats whiteboard theater.

Operating System (weekly cadence)​

• WBR (Weekly Business Review): one page—north-star metric, funnel, burn/runway, top risks, top decisions.
• Ruthless prioritization: 3 rocks/week per function. Everything else is backlog.
• Kill meetings; raise writing: proposals in short memos with “decision needed by” and owner.

Moats You Can Actually Build​

• Switching costs: data import/export that favors staying (migrations that are easy in, easier to expand).
• Network effects / marketplaces: get density in a vertical before going horizontal.
• Data advantage: improve accuracy/latency/cost with proprietary feedback loops and fine-tuning on your own usage data.

For API / Infra / Web3 & AI (tailored to you)​

• DevRel = growth: great docs, SDKs in top languages, copyable snippets, and issues that get replies <24h.
• Reference apps: 3 killer templates (Next.js app, Python script, Unity demo) that can be deployed in minutes.
• Proof of reliability: publish perf dashboards and incident retrospectives; it calms enterprise buyers.
• Token temptation: don’t promise emissions as utility. If you ever tokenize, tie it to real demand sinks and compliance—talk to counsel early.

Founder Power (Pfeffer-style, ethically)​

• Control choke points: scarce expertise, a must-have integration, or a community everyone needs.
• Build coalitions: create tangible wins for partners; put them on your stage (webinars, case studies).
• Visibility is leverage: consistent public artifacts (changelogs, benchmarks, teardown posts) increase optionality.

What to Stop Doing​

• Boil-the-ocean roadmaps: win a wedge; say no to the rest.
• Vanity metrics: only track metrics that predict cash (retention, activation rate, sales cycle length).
• Stealth beyond necessity: hide IP, not progress. You need feedback and buzz.

Copy-Paste Templates​

1. Customer discovery email (cold)

   Subject: Quick question about [their job-to-be-done]
   
   Hi {Name}, I'm building a tool to help {ICP} cut {pain} by {specific outcome}.
   Could I ask 2-3 questions about how you do this today? 10 minutes, no pitch—if it's relevant I'll show you a 2-minute demo.
   
   – {Your Name}
   

2. Sales call agenda (30 min)

   • 5' context & objectives
   • 10' current workflow & pains (quantify $/hr)
   • 10' demo on their data, aligned to pains
   • 5' pilot plan (success metric, owner, timeline, next step)

3. Pilot one-pager

   Goal: reduce {metric} from {baseline} to {target} in {days}
   Scope: {teams, data, security}
   Success = {numeric threshold}; If success → {contract terms}
   Owners: {You}/{Champion}; Check-ins: weekly
   

4. Investor update (monthly)

   Subject: {Company} – {Month} Update
   
   Highlights: {3 bullets with numbers}
   Product: {shipped, activation/retention trends}
   Growth: {acquisition loop working / partner wins}
   Asks: {intros, hiring, proof points you want}
   Lowlights & fixes: {be candid, show plan}
   Runway: {months}, Burn: ${}, Next: {milestones}
   

5. Pricing starter

   Free: up to {value metric threshold}, community support
   Pro: ${}/mo – {features}, {SLA}, {seats/usage}
   Scale: custom – SSO, dedicated support, security reviews, volume pricing
   

6. Weekly operating review (WBR)

   North-star metric: {#}
   Activation: {#} → Retention W4: {#} → Expansion: {#}
   Top risks: {1–3} | Decisions needed: {1–3} | Owner+Deadline
   Cash: Burn ${}/mo | Runway {months} | Hiring {roles}
   

30-Day Speed-Run (if you want a starting line)​

• Week 1: 20 discovery calls; pick 1 ICP + 1 wedge; publish “Coming soon” + waitlist; stand up docs + example app.
• Week 2: Build V0 for 3 design partners; instrument activation; ship a public changelog.
• Week 3: Charge money (even $99). Launch a pilot with a success metric; publish a benchmark or teardown.
• Week 4: Tighten onboarding (TTV <10 min), push a partner integration, post first case study; start investor/customer updates.