This is the guide I used:
http://forums.2kgames.com/showthread.php?163686-A-guide-to-classic-ironman-for-the-rest-of-us
but I didn't start in North America like he suggested. I started in Asia, which gave me the powerful advantage of being able to completely ignore 3 countries while retaining the (also powerful) continent bonus and just manage panic everywhere else. Squad upgrades are absolutely crucial especially if you are playing iron man. the game is significantly easier with 6 man teams - either a full team, or 5 + 1 sacrificial lamb - and the item upgrades by themselves sometimes not even that useful but if you can afford to do them all ASAP the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I was able to finish my Classic game without losing anyone but the Asian countries I gave up.
First Satellite I like to put up in whatever country makes the most money. been a while since I played, but it was america and i think germany. Pick which continent bonus you prefer, but I like NA because you really do need extensive fighter coverage or you will lose the game, period. 50% off sooner also means you can get away with buying more fighters at lower tech (just abort the mission right before your dude gets blown up and send in the next one) and defer those techs in lieu of higher priority stuff.
Second Month, I build 3 sats, and take Africa. cash income bonus is not important first month cuz you got two nations. when you are springing up to 5 you need to pay for your late game by increasing returns now.
Third month you complete the bonus on the continent you satellited first month. by the fourth you fill in which continent you skipped and get south america if you want. in impossible start, people swear by south america, but personally i dont care about the bonus even if it only takes 2 sats to snag. I make captures a #1 priority ; the thing is the interrogations dont even take that long ; its essentially one tech to research that makes multiple other techs cheaper. it takes like 10 days. then saves you like 45. I'm already getting a huge bonus on this, i'd rather snag europe or NA first. Basically, with my start, you crap on the rest of Asia, and you have the flexibility to crap on south america if you need to. you can suck at the game and still win with a 5 nation margin of error.
Do yourself a favor and snag scientists on one reward early. everyone says they suck and you dont need to build science labs. true, i haven't built a science lab since i got good at live captures / interrogations. But you still want that minor bump in the beginning it makes a massive difference in the rough and tumble first month or two. The rest of your rewards should always be cash. don't take an engineer reward, build a workshop for an engineer and built it next to another one so you can get refund bonuses on your items. This is crucial if you lean heavily on explosives and wreck alot of item drops. The best armors make the game easy mode, but they can be very expensive to set up initially. Sitting there praying for a UFO to come along so you can finish off your high level assaults armor is super frustrating
obviously you should inspect your base closely and plan it out spot by spot the minute you see it. Timing is everything with digging down to lower levels, you need to be sure you have elevators and excavations done BEFORE your payday so you can start immediately on sometimes long constructions.
lastly, on Ironman: I tried and had varying levels of success, but, honestly, I am too busy these days to suffer "THAT'S XCOM!". Sometimes you just get totally screwed by your map or a key injury or a badly timed panic shot and it's not through any mistake you made as a gamer. That might be realistic, but it's fuckin buzzkill man and i'm getting too old + I have too full a steam library to put up with that shit or make 200 attempts to finish a game
