MAQTOOB launched in London in 2013 as a discovery platform for entrepreneur tools, built by a startup team led by founder Kristyna Zapletalova. Alongside its app directory, the team ran a Medium publication called MAQTOOB for Entrepreneurs. Between 2015 and 2018 it published essays on startups, learning, remote work, and productivity that were quoted by Inc., freeCodeCamp, Tony Robbins’ site, and hundreds of blogs and newsletters. The original company later wound down and the site went offline.
The domain was relaunched in 2025 under new, independent ownership as a SaaS directory. The current site has no affiliation with the original company or with the writers whose work appeared in the publication. Because so many sites still link to those essays at this domain, we keep this archive: a record of what each of the most cited essays said, who wrote it, and where the original can be read today. Most of the authors keep their essays on their personal Medium accounts, and we link to those copies rather than republish anyone’s work.
The Most Cited Essays
- The 37 Best Websites to Learn Something New (Kristyna Zapletal, 2015). The viral list of 37 free learning sites that put the publication on the map, with more than 32,000 recommends on Medium.
- 44 New Cool Websites and Apps to Learn Something New (Kristyna Zapletal, 2016). The follow-up list, written after founders kept mailing in apps the first list had missed.
- My Cofounder Said “I Love What We’re Doing” and We Shut Down Our Startup (Alex Fishman, 2016). A founder realizes over lunch that mediocre success is worse than failure, and closes his funded startup within 72 hours.
- How to Shut Down a Startup in 36 Hours (Alex Fishman, 2016). The practical sequel: how to wind a company down quickly and gracefully once the decision is made.
- 4 Scientific Reasons Why Visualization Will Increase Your Chances to Succeed (Emilie Pelletier, 2018). The research behind mental rehearsal, and why the brain treats a vividly imagined scenario like a real one.
- How to Stop Comparing Yourself to Others and Make a Difference (author unknown). The essay behind the Benjamin Franklin goal tally example that Tony Robbins’ site still cites. Since deleted by its author.
- How I Got 30,517 Views for One LinkedIn Post in 2 Days (Clarice Lin, 2017). A marketer’s breakdown of her first viral LinkedIn post and what made it travel.
- The Science of Journaling: Why Writing Things Down Makes You More Productive (Jane Lee, 2016). Why writing things down clears your head and makes goals measurably more likely to happen.
- It’s Time for Companies to Embrace Remote Work (Kristin Wilson, 2018). A history and defense of remote work, written two years before the world caught up with it.
- Freelancers: Word of Mouth Is Not a Marketing Strategy (Josh Hoffman, 2016). Why freelancers who rely on referrals alone surrender control of their own pipeline.
Old links to contributor profile pages and to other essays from the publication arrive here as well. If you are looking for a specific piece that is not listed, the Wayback Machine’s index of the publication is the best place to search. You can read more about the site’s history and current ownership on our About page.