Learn Start a Business Free

Start with Sam Altman - How to Succeed with a Startup (16 min, Y Combinator), then Competition is for Losers with Peter Thiel (How to Start a Startup 2014: 5) (50 min, Y Combinator). All 843 lessons here are free, from the teachers' own official uploads. You'll need laptop stand, noise-cancelling headphones, second monitor and a few more basics (about $270 of kit). The book to keep beside you: The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau.

What you'll need

Laptop stand: Screen at eye level for long study sessions.
Noise-cancelling headphones: Focus through long video lessons.
Second monitor: Video on one screen, practice on the other.
Wireless keyboard and mouse: Comfortable for hours of typing.

Lessons

Sam Altman - How to Succeed with a Startup (16 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Competition is for Losers with Peter Thiel (How to Start a Startup 2014: 5) (50 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Get and Evaluate Startup Ideas | Startup School (32 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How Startup Fundraising Works | Startup School (28 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Build A Tech Startup With No Technical Skills (15 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Get Your First Customers | Startup School (23 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Startup Business Models and Pricing | Startup School (33 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
I've Set Up Over 50,000 LLCs. Here's What NOT To Do! (17 min, Mark J Kohler, Intermediate)
The Foundations of Entrepreneurship - Full Course (347 min, freeCodeCamp.org, Intermediate)
Kirsty Nathoo - Managing Startup Finances (29 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Pick One Idea and Go Deep (12 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
The Best Way To Launch Your Startup | Startup School (21 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Get The Most Out Of Vibe Coding | Startup School (17 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Kevin Hale - How to Evaluate Startup Ideas (27 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
The Student's Guide To Becoming A Successful Startup Founder (24 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Tips For Technical Startup Founders | Startup School (28 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Perspective on What It Takes to Be Successful as an Entrepreneur (71 min, MIT OpenCourseWare, Intermediate)
Should You Start A Startup? | Startup School (17 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Top Ways Startups Waste Money (28 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Where Do Great Startup Ideas Come From? – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel (21 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
They're LYING To You... Stop Setting Up LLC's (32 min, Mark J Kohler, Intermediate)
David Rusenko - How To Find Product Market Fit (59 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Apply And Succeed at Y Combinator | Startup School (25 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Build A Company With AI From The Ground Up (10 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Get AI Startup Ideas (44 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Make Claude Code Your AI Engineering Team (22 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Mark Zuckerberg : How to Build the Future (25 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Michael Seibel - Building Product (59 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Michael Seibel - How to Plan an MVP (14 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Most Important Lifestyle Habits Of Successful Founders (32 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About AI And Jobs (8 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
7 Entrepreneur Myths I'm Glad I Never Listened To (21 min, The Financial Diet, Intermediate)
B2B Startup Metrics | Startup School (24 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Critiquing AI Startup Websites with YC President Garry Tan (24 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Elon Musk : How to Build the Future (20 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Garry Tan: Own Your Intelligence (42 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Get Your First 10 Customers (14 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Keep Your Users | Startup School (29 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Jensen Huang: The Mindset That Built NVIDIA (49 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Make Your Side Hustle 100% TAX FREE (43 min, Mark J Kohler, Intermediate)
Session 1, Part 1: Introduction: Most Startups Fail; How to Improve Your Odds (69 min, MIT OpenCourseWare, Beginner)
Starting A Company? The Key Terms You Should Know | Startup School (18 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Startup Experts Discuss Doing Things That Don't Scale (26 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Things That Don't Scale, The Software Edition – Dalton Caldwell and Michael Seibel (26 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Who Even Is An Entrepreneur?: Crash Course Business - Entrepreneurship #1 (13 min, CrashCourse, Beginner)
AI Interfaces Of The Future | Design Review (36 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Alexandr Wang: Building Scale AI, Transforming Work With Agents & Competing With China (61 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Andrew Ng: Building Faster with AI (44 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Boris Cherny: We Cut 80% of Claude Code’s Prompt (36 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Building Confidence In Yourself and Your Ideas (21 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Critiquing Startup Websites With Instacart's First Designer (23 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Gustaf Alstromer - How to Get Users and Grow (64 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How to Build Products Users Love with Kevin Hale (How to Start a Startup 2014: Lecture 7) (48 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To NOT Get Screwed As A Software Engineer (18 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
How To Side Hustle To Financial Freedom (48 min, The Financial Diet, Intermediate)
How To Talk To Users | Startup School (18 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Kevin Hale - How to Pitch Your Startup (28 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
Leonard Susskind on Richard Feynman, the Holographic Principle, and Unanswered Questions in Physics (66 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)
My Side Hustle Strategy - Side Income Ideas (26 min, A Life After Layoff, Intermediate)
Sam Altman: The Future of OpenAI, ChatGPT's Origins, and Building AI Hardware (43 min, Y Combinator, Intermediate)

Books on Start a Business

The $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau - View on Amazon
The E-Myth Revisited by Michael E. Gerber - View on Amazon
The Lean Startup by Eric Ries - View on Amazon
The Mom Test by Rob Fitzpatrick - View on Amazon
One thousand ways to make $1000 by Frances Mary Cowan Minaker - View on Amazon