Today we’re launching The Founders’ List — audio essays from the most prolific leaders in technology, selected by the Founder community. These are short, 15 minute-or-less audio versions of critical insights on how to build, design, & grow startups from the Founders and leaders of companies like Instacart, Dropbox, Facebook, HubSpot, Trello, Stack Overflow, & more.

Our inaugural group selected for The Founders’ List includes:

• Max Mullen (Co-Founder, Instacart) – “How to Run a Product Brainstorm” (link)
• Julie Zhuo (Former VP Product Design, Facebook) – “How to Be Strategic” (link)
• Joel Spolsky (Co-Founder, Trello & Stack Overflow) – “Strategy Letter I: Ben & Jerry’s vs. Amazon” (link)
• Dharmesh Shah (Co-Founder & CTO, HubSpot) – “Aligning Vectors: How To Optimize To Maximize Impact” (link)
• Elizabeth Yin (Founder, LaunchBit & GP, Hustle Fund) – “15 Annoying Things VCs Say or Ask (& How to Think About Them)” (link)
• Scott Belsky (Founder, Behance & CPO, Adobe) – “Creativity Is the New Productivity” (link)
• Sean Ellis (Former Growth Lead, Dropbox & Eventbrite) – “The Growth Pyramid Revisited” (link)

We’re also sharing audio versions of iconic memos in tech history, like:

• Google – Larry Page & Sergey Brin, “An Owner’s Manual for Google’s Shareholders”
• Yahoo – Brad Garlinghouse, “Peanut Butter” Memo

In startups, speed and network are your biggest advantages. The Founders List quickly unearths the wisdom behind the products that have defied odds and defined the future, as told by the Founders and leaders themselves.

To nominate someone for The Founders’ List: Each week, we’ll be releasing a new audio essay or memo selected by the Founder community. Nominations are rolling, and can be submitted below:

For more tools & resources on building iconic companies, check out: The NFX Founder Resources

Below are resources from NFX that Founders have found especially helpful for network effects, marketplaces, growth, & more.

• The NFX Culture Manual: We found or wrote playbooks for growth, sales, product, engineering, testing, and so on. But we’ve never found a quick, tactical resource for building high-performing cultures. This is that resource: a simplified playbook for a low-time commitment approach to laying the foundation of exceptional company culture. Get the culture scorecard here.
• The NFX Marketplace Scorecard: We’re often asked by Founders and other investors what we look for in marketplaces. It depends, of course, but there is an internal methodology we use to invest or advise a marketplace: The NFX Marketplace Scorecard. This is the system we use to score marketplaces. The higher the score, the higher the potential of the marketplace. Get the marketplace scorecard here.
• The Network Effects Bible: We’ve identified 13 types of network effects, each with their own playbook. For Founders looking to build truly impactful companies, few areas of expertise are more valuable. See below.