I personally have germinated seeds by soaking the paper towel and waiting for tap root for years.
All methods that have been answered are great find yours and perfect it.
I’ve also transplanted autos and yes while it is true that you don’t want the plant to undergo stress, I have got some of my better yields on an auto moving them to a bigger container. I started some toof decays from Mephisto in red solo cups, as soon as the leafs got the same diameter of the cup I transplanted them. I wish I were on this site a lot sooner.. Happy growing!