How I accidentally revived the startpage directory website
Startpage directory websites were hot back in the days, Yahoo! and Microsoft (MSN) were the big time players. As a 12-year old internet explorer I loved using these sites as a starting point for my internet adventures. Countless hours of blocking our phone landline and listening to that sweet 56k modem sound made me the internet and startups enthousiast I am today.
When the internet evolved and people got access to more channels they could use to find and consume information and content, the startpage directories I loved quickly became obsolete. New social networks, forums, direct messaging and other tools gave us the opportunity to share interesting websites and services directly with each other.
But, the magic of a startpage directory was never lost. Especially nowadays when there is just too much information to consume, we need curation and dedicated places where information is collected and presented around a certain subject.
For me this subject was startups. Just over a year ago I launched Startup Stash, a curated directory of resources & tools to help you build your startup. It went viral through Product Hunt and got 35K uniques and 230K pageviews in 48 hours. It ended up on Business Insider, Entrepreneur.com and was later named as one of the 100 Best Websites For Entrepreneurs in 2015 by Forbes Magazine. Til date it has helped 300.000+ entrepreneurs from around the world while building their startup.
(You can read more about how I made and launched Startup Stash in this Medium post.)
Startup Stash is currently the #1 most upvoted product of all-time on Product Hunt, and it’s been awesome to see how it’s inspired others to built their own curated directory, a revival of the old startpage directory.
Because Startup Stash just received it’s 5000th upvote on Product Hunt I thought I’d share the awesome curated directories others (individuals and companies) have built! From (Content) marketing, to Crowdfunding, to Newsletters, Slack channels and yes, even Cannabis, here they are in random order:
Hustle Mode On “Curated directory of the best productivity tools on the web.“ — by @daftsimo
iOS Cookies “A hand curated collection of iOS libraries written in Swift“ — by bardonadam
Makerbook “A directory of the best free resources for creatives“ — by Craig Barber
Marketing Stack “A curated directory of marketing resources & tools“ — by Ben Tossell
NewsletterStash “A curated directory of the best newsletters“ — by ossama benallouch
The Weed Stash “A directory of resources & info for cannabis connoisseurs“ — by chusmargallo
Data Stash “A curated list of data tools to help you make better product decisions“ — by Tapglue
Filmmakingstack “A curated directory of filmmaking resources and tools!“ — by Emeric Victor
App Marketing Stack “A Curated Directory of Tools & Resources on App Marketing and Mobile Growth“ — by OneSkye
CareerStack “Curated directory of job search resources & tools“ — by Enhancv
Chats.Directory “A curated list of the best private Slack groups for professionals“ — by Bhavesh Patel and Mubashar Iqbal
CommuteKit “A curated directory of 120+ tools to help you learn, relax, and be productive on the go“ — by @msitver
Content Marketing Stack “A curated directory of content marketing resources“ — by Nicolas Nemni & Co
CrowdStack “A curated directory of resources & tools to help you with your next crowdfunding campaign“ — by Scott Adamson
Sales List “A curated list of tools & resources for salespeople“ — by Ruggiero Vincenzo
SkillStack “A curated directory of resources to help you learn digital skills“ — by yas
SlackStack “150+ resources to power up your Slack“ — by Marwann
Techcruiter “A curated directory of tools to help grow your tech team“ — by William Hsu
Career Cache “A collection of the best career advice, resources, and tools to help you get a better job“ — by VisualCV
Template Stash “Curated collection of best free themes & website templates“ — by Carol Skelly
Traveller Stash “Curated directory of 60 resources & tools for the modern traveller“ — by Pierre Becerril
Freelancer Stack “Curated directory of tools used by 10,000+ freelancers“ — by Matt Brown & Co
Front-End List “A curated list of toolkits, frameworks, & resources for front-end developers/designers“ — by Bhakti Al Akbar
Growth Tools “A curated collection of growth hacking tools“ — by @henrikharju
NoDesk “A curated collection of resources for the digital nomad“ — by Daniel
Oozled “Curated resources for everything design related“ — by Dan Edwards
PluginStash “A curated directory of tools, templates and libraries
to help launch your startup“ — by @lenins
GetFit Stack “A handpicked directory of 285 resources & tools to get fit“ — by @SpadaforaChris
Captain Share “A curated directory of sharing economy resources to save money“ — by @sandochee
iOSStack “A curated collection of iOS resources for app builders” — by Paul Kemp
Software Product Management Stack “Resources & tools to help you manage your software product” — by Nicolas Nemni
That’s all of them! I hope you’re able to find interesting content within these awesome directories. I’ve also made a collection of them on Product Hunt :)
I hope you liked this post. If you did, hit recommend (❤) and please spread the word! You can also follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my newsletter StartupWatching below👇
