The Smart Starter's Guide series is what I wished I had as a founder. Most business books are written by people who teach about business; these are written from inside a running one — drawn from automations, tooling decisions, and operating systems that I've actually shipped in my own work, then refined over the next year of using them.
What I do
I run a small portfolio of businesses — services, digital products, and one or two ongoing experiments — using the systems described in these guides. The series exists because I noticed I was answering the same founder questions over and over: "Should I use Zapier or Make?" "When do I hire a developer?" "What's the actual minimum viable tech stack?" Each guide is the answer I'd give a friend over coffee, written down properly.
What this isn't
Not theory. Not "10 best tools" affiliate-link content. Not a coaching upsell for a $5,000 course. Each guide is a tight, opinionated handbook — usually 30–60 pages — sold at a price founders can buy without a meeting. PDFs and online editions, with lifetime updates included.
How the guides get written
Each one starts as a working document I use myself: notes, decision trees, screenshots, things-I-wish-I'd-known. After 12+ months of running the system that document describes, I rewrite it as a guide for someone starting from zero. The point isn't to be exhaustive; it's to be useful enough that one careful read saves you a quarter of trial-and-error.
What I believe
- Default to less. Most founders over-tool, over-automate, and over-systemize. The right answer to "should we add X?" is usually "no, not yet."
- Build with no-code first. Custom code is the right answer eventually — but you'll be wrong about which "eventually" three times before you're right once.
- Free tiers are the answer. Most paid tools you're tempted to buy on day one have free tiers that work past month twelve.
- Native integrations beat Zapier. Everyone forgets to check the integrations panel of the tools they already use.
- Decisions you can defend > decisions that look smart. Pick the boring, well-reasoned option.
Get in touch
Questions, feedback, requests for guides on specific topics — I read everything. adam@smartstartersguide.com.
For releases and behind-the-scenes, follow @smartstartersguide on Instagram.