Getting your startup off the ground is challenging. You have a product to build. You need to find users (and customers!). In addition to all of these pressures, you also have limited money to spend on your business. Fortunately, there are many apps available for the Web and smartphones that make it easier to get your company started with little or no budget.
Personal Organization Apps
Staying organized is essential to running a successful startup. You may have a full time job and build the startup on evenings and weekends. Or you may be working with developers and partners from around the world. In any case, personal organization apps are necessary to make the most of your time
1. Remember the Milk
This free task management app (available via Web, iPhone, Android and other platforms) is my current task management tool of choice. You can set recurring reminders (e.g. review outstanding invoices on the first day of the month) and add notes to your tasks. If you are already knowledgeable in Getting Things Done principles, Remember the Milk is a great tool to put that methodology into action.
2. Google Calendar,
Keeping a calendar of appointments, meetings and other date based information is essential. In fact, author and computer scientist Cal Newport recommends fixed schedule productivity to help you get more done. For added benefit, use the email reminder feature so that you can get organized. Reminders make it easy to get prepared for each meeting.
3. Doodle
Scheduling meetings with people in your team doesn’t have to involve endless back and forth emails. Doodle makes saves time in confirming appointments with everyone on your start up team. This calendar app also connects to popular calendar application such as Microsoft Outlook, Google Calendar and Apple iCal.
4. Evernote,
What good are inspired ideas for products, blog posts and marketing if you can’t remember them? Evernote is the Web’s best notebook for all of your start-up ideas (and personal notes such as favorite hotels, bucket list ideas, recipes, books and more). To grow your start-up with Evernote, use the application to take notes during a walk, write notes following a meeting and clip interesting web articles for later review.
Resource: To make the most of Evernote, I suggest reading Brett Kelly’s excellent ebook Evernote Essentials.
5. Coach.Me
Did you know that habits account for approximately 40% of your daily actions? The Coach.me app makes it easy to build habits that move your start-up ahead. You can use the app to build sales habits (e.g. call 10 prospects each day), blogging (e.g. write 500 words each day) and other activities. If you need additional support, you can also hire Coach.me coaches to provide added accountability and guidance.
Collaboration Apps
Whether you are working with a single co-founder or a larger team, collaboration is an important activity to start-up growth. Use the following apps to make collaboration easy to manage.
6. Google Docs
Whether you need to create meeting minutes, sales letters or user manuals, startups need to produce documents. Rather than emailing files back and forth, it is much easier to use Google Docs. While power users of Microsoft Office may miss some features, Google Docs is a great solution for most of your document needs. You can create spreadsheets, presentation files and Microsoft Word compatible documents.
7. Skype
Voice communication remains one of the best ways to sustain and create relationships. You can use Skype to call other members of your team. For a small fee, you can call any phone in the world. Skype is a great tool if you ever need to cold call prospects to validate your latest offer.
8. Google Hangouts
Delivering a presentation to your prospects has long been one of the best ways to get your message out. With Google Hangouts, you can present slides and chat with attendees. Your start-up may use Google Hangouts to hold team meetings or present to webinars. You can also record your Google Hangout and post the file directly to YouTube.
9. Google Drive
Sending files back and forth by email is workable but it is also awkward to manage. An easier solution is to use Google Drive. At the time of this writing, Google Drive provides 15 GB of storage (files that other people share with you do not count against the limit). You can access Google Drive on your computer and on most smart phones.
10. PayPal
Managing money is an essential business activity, even for an early stage start-up. For example, you will likely have bills to pay for contractors, designers and other people. PayPal is a widely recognized and trusted payment processing company. With over 150 million users, PayPal is a great solution for handling money.
Tip: You can also issue invoices directly from a PayPal business account.
Publishing and Marketing Apps
Publishing new content such as blog posts, podcasts and videos is a key way to grow your online business. Use the following free and low cost apps to make the content publishing and marketing process easier. For added insight on how to make the most of blogging to grow your business, read the Copyblogger Blog.
11. BuzzSumo
Coming up with content ideas is one of the reasons why blogging is difficult. Fortunately, you can use BuzzSumo to make the research process easier. Simply enter a few words about your industry and you will immediately learn about popular articles. Do a few searches in BuzzSumo each day and you will soon have numerous content ideas.
12. Mailchimp
Email marketing remains one of the best ways to build relationships with prospects and make sales. Using a reputable email marketing provider is a key decision in the life of any start-up. Mailchimp provides free service for up to 2,000 email subscribers.
13. WordPress
WordPress is best known as the world’s most popular blogging platform. You can start a free blog by visiting WordPress.com. However, you can also use WordPress as a framework to manage content, run a membership site and many other functions. If you are seeking more control over your website’s design, many website hosting companies provide support to help you install and manage WordPress.
14. Bitly
Sharing and promoting content through the Web and social media is a key marketing tactic for many start-ups. As you start to market your content, you may encounter two problems. First, you may have very long URLs that are difficult to share. Second, you may find it difficult to track how many people are visiting your web pages. Bitly makes it easy to shorten URLs and provides free tracking.
15. Google Analytics
Have you ever wondered which parts of your start-up website are attracting the most attention? You can stop guessing as soon as you install Google Analytics. This free and powerful resource shows you where website visitors are coming from, which pages are most powerful and other useful information.
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