Frequently Asked Questions

Startup Founder Stories is a searchable database of 238+ founder stories focused on first revenue milestones. We curate stories from founders' own published content (blogs, newsletters, tweets) and structure them with data like time-to-milestone, marketing channel, and founder type—making it easy to find founders who've been where you are.

While Starter Story offers in-depth paid interviews and Indie Hackers is a community platform, we focus specifically on time-to-milestone data. Every story is structured with the exact days it took to reach each milestone, making it easy to benchmark your own progress. Plus, all story content is free with a free account—no preview walls.

Without an account, you can browse all 238+ founder stories with full content, all key lessons, all data insights pages, use all filters and search, and access free tools (Milestone Calculator, Founder Matcher). Create a free account to save stories, try the AI tools (5 idea generations + 3 validations), and get a personalized dashboard.

Use our 7 filter options to narrow down stories: filter by milestone reached ($1K MRR, $10K MRR, etc.), marketing channel (Twitter, SEO, Product Hunt), founder type (solo vs team), technical background, industry, business model, and time range. You can also use full-text search to find specific topics.

With a free account, you get: full access to all 238+ founder stories (complete content, not just previews), all key lessons, all filters and search, free tools (Milestone Calculator, Founder Matcher), ability to save favorite stories, and limited AI tools (5 idea generations, 3 idea validations—lifetime, not monthly). It's a significant upgrade from browsing without an account.

Premium ($12/month or $89/year) unlocks: 100 AI Credits per month for all AI tools (generate ideas, validate concepts, ask questions), full "Founder's Path" journey breakdowns on every story, generate business ideas directly from any story, save unlimited business ideas, export PRDs for AI coding tools, and priority email support.

The Lifetime Deal is a one-time payment ($149-249 depending on tier) that gives you Premium access forever. No monthly fees, no renewal. It includes all current Premium features plus all future features we add. Limited spots available.

Free accounts get full story access, all data insights, and limited AI tool usage (5 idea generations + 3 validations, lifetime). Premium adds: 100 AI Credits per month (with variable costs per action: generate=5, validate=3, tweak/chat=1), the "Founder's Path" section on every story, ability to generate ideas from any story, save business ideas, and export PRDs. Credits roll over monthly (up to 100) and you can buy more if needed.

Yes! If you're a student or early-stage founder (pre-revenue), email us at hello@startupfounderstories.com and we'll work something out. We want to make this accessible to founders at all stages.

We offer a 7-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans. Try Premium risk-free—if it's not right for you, just email us within 7 days for a full refund, no questions asked.

Premium users get 100 AI Credits per month. Different actions cost different amounts: generating a business idea costs 5 credits, validating an idea costs 3 credits, and tweaking ideas or asking follow-up questions costs 1 credit each. This means you can generate ~20 ideas/month, or validate ~33 ideas, or mix and match. Unused credits roll over to the next month (up to 100 max). Need more? You can purchase additional credit packs.

Enter your skills, interests, and constraints, and our AI generates personalized business ideas complete with MVP features, tech stack recommendations, 30-day launch roadmaps, competitor analysis, and landing page copy. Each idea comes with market size estimates and differentiation strategies. Free accounts get 5 uses (lifetime). Premium users spend 5 AI Credits per generation (~20/month with 100 credits).

The AI Idea Validator analyzes your business idea against our database of founder stories and market data. It provides a viability score, identifies similar successful businesses, highlights potential risks, and suggests improvements—all based on real founder experiences. Free accounts get 3 uses (lifetime). Premium users spend 3 AI Credits per validation (~33/month with 100 credits).

The Founder's Path is a Premium-only section on each story page that reveals deep insights about how the founder built their business: time investment (hours/week), startup costs, launch strategy, validation methods, previous attempts, biggest challenges, and more. It's the full picture of their journey, not just the success story.

Premium users can generate a business idea directly from any founder story. Just click the "Generate Business Idea" button that appears while reading a story, and our AI will create a personalized idea inspired by that founder's approach—adapted to your skills and goals.

Yes! Premium users can export complete PRDs (Product Requirements Documents) from the AI Idea Generator. These PRDs include MVP features, tech stack, roadmap, and more—formatted for use with AI coding tools like Cursor, Claude, or Bolt.

The Milestone Calculator and Founder Matcher are completely free for everyone (no account needed). The Calculator predicts your path to revenue milestones based on your founder profile. The Matcher finds founders in our database with similar backgrounds to yours.

You can cancel anytime from your Profile page. Click "Manage Subscription" to open the billing portal where you can cancel, update payment methods, or view invoices. Your Premium access continues until the end of your current billing period.

When you cancel, you keep Premium access until your billing period ends (including any remaining AI Credits). After that, you revert to the free tier: you keep full story access, your saved stories, and limited AI uses (5 idea generations, 3 validations). You lose access to monthly AI Credits, the Founder's Path section, saved business ideas, and PRD export.

Yes! We offer a 7-day money-back guarantee on all paid plans. If Premium isn't right for you, email us within 7 days of purchase for a full refund. For Lifetime Deals, same policy applies—7 days, full refund.

Absolutely! You can upgrade anytime. When you upgrade, you'll get prorated credit for any unused time on your current plan. Email us if you need help with the transition.

We curate stories exclusively from founders' own published content—their personal blogs, newsletters, Twitter/X posts, and Indie Hackers posts they wrote themselves. We summarize each story in our own words and always link back to the original source. We never use content from third-party interviews or podcasts.

All data comes directly from what founders have publicly shared about their journeys. We extract structured data like time-to-milestone and marketing channels from their stories. While we verify sources and cross-reference when possible, the data reflects what founders themselves have reported.

We add new founder stories regularly—typically several per week. We prioritize stories with clear milestone data and unique lessons. Subscribe to our newsletter to get notified when new stories are added.

Yes! If you've hit a revenue milestone and have published about it somewhere (blog post, tweet thread, newsletter), we'd love to feature your story. Head to /submit and fill out the form—make sure to include a link to your original content. Story submissions are reviewed before publishing.

We track five key milestones: First Customer, $100 MRR, $1K MRR, $10K MRR, and $100K ARR. For each milestone, we capture the number of days it took to reach it, giving you clear benchmarks for your own journey.

Click "Sign Up" in the top navigation. You can sign up with email or use Google authentication. A free account unlocks full story access and limited AI tool usage—it takes 30 seconds.

Yes! All logged-in users (free and premium) can save founder stories to their dashboard. Click the bookmark icon on any story to save it. Find your saved stories in your Dashboard.

Saving business ideas is a Premium feature. When you generate an idea with Premium, you can save it to your dashboard and access it anytime. Free users can generate ideas but cannot save them.

You can delete your account from your Account Settings page under the Security tab. Click "Delete Account" in the Danger Zone section and confirm by typing DELETE. Your data will be scheduled for permanent removal after a 30-day recovery period. During those 30 days, you can cancel the deletion by logging back in or contacting us at hello@startupfounderstories.com.

Yes. We use industry-standard security practices: encrypted connections (HTTPS), secure authentication through Supabase, and never store payment details (handled by Stripe). We don't sell your data to third parties.

We support all modern browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge (latest versions). The site is fully responsive and works on mobile devices too.

Yes! The site is fully responsive and optimized for mobile browsing. All features including filters, search, and AI tools work on mobile devices.

Email us at hello@startupfounderstories.com with details about the bug (what happened, what you expected, which browser/device). Screenshots are super helpful. We typically respond within 24 hours.

All users can email us at hello@startupfounderstories.com. Premium users get priority support with faster response times (typically within 24 hours).

We collect minimal data: your email for account creation, saved stories/ideas, and usage data to improve the product. We don't sell your data. Full details in our Privacy Policy.

Yes, we use essential cookies for authentication and analytics cookies to understand how people use the site. You can manage your preferences through our cookie banner.

No. All revenue figures, timelines, and business outcomes in our stories are based on what founders have publicly shared. They're for educational and informational purposes only. Individual results vary and past performance doesn't guarantee future success.

All users can reference our stories and data for personal research. Premium users can export PRDs from their AI-generated ideas. However, you cannot republish our story content or resell the data. See our Terms of Service for full details.