The world of business has changed dramatically over the past few years. In fact, if you are a startup or small business owner, it seems like every day there is some new tool, app or software that can make your life easier.
But with so many options out there, it can be difficult to decide which ones to use and which ones are actually worth the time.
To help you sort through them all, we’ve compiled a list of the top 10 free tools for startups that will help make running your business easier and more efficient.
Free Business Tools For Startups
Running a startup can be a costly venture. And finding the right tools for the right price can be a challenge. Especially when time and resources are limited…
In this article, our guest author Ayomide Joseph, recommends some of the tools he’s used to grow his own business. Giving you a list of 10 free business tools for startups.
Tools for new businesses
Have you ever for once thought about starting a new business, but when you think of the cost of certain tools that will help grow your business, you just want to scream your head off? …literally!!!
I mean, why won’t you? With the average cost of setting up a startup ranging from $10,000 to $1 million, you can see how anyone seeing that will most likely freak out.
And yeah, it’s true, good things are expensive — but not all though.
Here is the thing, kickstarting a new business is hard and costs quite a lot especially now that startups are at an all-time high.
Heck, Fundz records that 47% of Series A startups spend more than $400k or more per month.
Now that’s a lot of money, which makes launching, or even running a startup a no-child’s play. Especially considering the statistics on the number of startups doomed to fail.
But here is a kicker, for you to be able to launch a startup and run it successfully, you need to equip yourself with a vast knowledge of different factors that contributes to its success.
Some of these factors include risk management, team management, customer acquisition, customer retention, social media management, team communication, budget management, and so much more.
Now, you can’t possibly do all this alone, and no one expects you to, which is why you need certain tools to help you streamline the workflow process.
Below are free tools I’ve personally used to grow and keep growing my business, plus I also recommend them to the startups I’ve worked with.
TLDR: Take a jump
Trello for Project Management
Zoom for Video Conferencing
Hootsuite for Social Media Management
Calendly for Schedule Management
Mailchimp for Email Marketing
Slack for Instant Messaging
Enloop for Business Planning
Ganttic for Resource Planning
Canva for Graphic Design
Docracy for Managing Legal Affairs
10 Free Business Tools for Startups
- Trello for Project Management
Trello is a project management tool great for startups
Team communication, collaboration, and management are the three magic pillars holding every successful startup you see today. With Trello, you get all these things and even more.
Trello is a free, flexible, simple, and easy-to-use project management software. This web-based software offers you a visual representation of all your tasks and how to effectively manage them with your team.
As a result, every member of your team knows what others are up to, and how far they’ve come. This ensures everyone is on the same page, which in turn removes miscommunication from the team.
Kanban boards are a popular choice for project management because of their streamlined and visual design. You can, however, mix and match them with online Gantt charts for a more comprehensive project overview. Find out how in our article on mixing Kanban boards with Gantt charts for better project management.
- Zoom for Video Conferencing
Zoom is free video conferencing software great for all size companies because it’s free
Gone are the days where you can’t have a good business network without being there in person to either create it or manage it.
Video calls and conferencing have bridged the gap with networking in such a way where you can actively meet, and engage with your customers just as if you’re there in person.
There are a lot of web-based applications out there that can help you with your video calls, but none like Zoom.
Zoom is the number one service of choice for video conferencing and currently has over 300 million+ users all around the world, with an A+ rating on trusted websites like Trust Radius, G2, and Gartner.
As a startup, Zoom helps you connect better with your audience as it is built to support businesses of all kinds —including yours.
The free plan on Zoom allows you to host up to 100 participants at a time, plus you get unlimited one-on-one meetings which are quite okay for a new business.
- Hootsuite for Social Media Management
Hootsuite can help manage you social media profiles.
As a new business, it’s okay to want to dream big, stay up-to-date, and want to get up on everyone’s social feed as soon as you launch.
But perhaps you think it’ll be costly, stressful, and difficult to manage.
Well, I’m here to tell you it’s not.
With just a simple dashboard, friendly interface, plus an easy onboarding process, you’re good and ready to start managing your social media with Hootsuite.
And yeah, it’s free!
Hootsuite is a social media management tool that allows you to manage multiple social media profiles across different networks of choice. You also get to schedule your posts, track engagements, and keep track of useful analytics that contribute to your business’ growth.
The free version of Hootsuite allows only a single user and social media accounts. That’s more than enough to get you started on Facebook, Twitter, and Linkedin or perhaps Instagram — pick your favorite three.
Read on: See a few more tips on how to boost your content marketing team’s productivity.
- Calendly for Schedule Management
Calendly can help manage you calendars and schedules more efficiently.
Nothing kills a business faster than missed, or late appointments with prospects.
It doesn’t matter if it’s scheduling work shifts, events, conference calls, or meetings, without the proper management, it all falls apart.
And yeah, it’s never easy keeping track of everything especially if you don’t have an assistant to help you out.
This is where Calendly comes in to streamline the whole process while taking the load off your back so you can use your time for something better.
Calendly is a free, and easy-to-use, online appointment scheduling software. It pretty much takes care of scheduling your appointments, events, and meetings based on your availability.
Schedule your appointments easily and without stress
It doesn’t matter if the person booking time with you doesn’t use Calendly, you’re still good to go.
Calendly also comes with simple integration to your favorite apps such as Zoom, Gmail, Salesforce, Hubspot, Stripe, intercom, PayPal, Zapier, and so much more.
Many of us are dependent upon our GCals and Outlook Calendars to remember all our appointments and plans. If you find it hard to tear yourself away from your online calendars, you can instead try integrating it with your other startup tools.
Read on to see to how to sync Outlook and Google with Ganttic’s resource planner. Or find out how to tun your Google Calendar into a Gantt chart.
- Mailchimp for Email Marketing
Mailchimp is great for email marketing campaigns and is cost efficient for startups
New business? new to the email marketing game? Mailchimp’s got you covered.
One of the big questions on the lips of most startups is “how do we keep our businesses in the minds of our customers/audience?”.
With over 100+ answers to the question, email marketing is in the top 3 —and no better way to do email marketing than with Mailchimp.
Mailchimp comes packed as an all-in-one email marketing platform for every business you may find yourself in.
With the free version allowing you to send 12,000 emails to 2,000 subscribers, you’ve got yourself and your brand a good newsletter to keep your audience glued.
Some of its best features include beautiful templates, easy personalization, advanced analytics, retargeting, built-in photo editing, and so much more.
- Slack for Instant Messaging
Slack is a ubiquitous work tool and is good for messaging if you have a startup
It’s always a hassle when you have to go back and forth with emails, calls, texts, and all sorts of ways to communicate with your team.
Heck, you sometimes might get lost in the conversation and have to start all over.
Well, enough of that, Slack solves all those problems for you.
Slack is a messaging tool that allows teams to manage their conversations easier and better across multiple platforms and devices. It creates workspaces for everyone on the team to have private group discussions, messages, file exchange, apps, tools and so much more.
For the most part, Slack is free and covers most of the things your startup will need to function properly —some of which include a 5GB file storage limit, and 10 custom, or app integration.
- Enloop for Business Planning
Enloop is a great tool for startups that help with business planning
Every startup pretty much knows what it wants first hand —whether it’s remodeling their existing process or starting a new one.
But getting from point A to point B in a startup requires a well thought out plan and strategy for there to be any success, to begin with.
You obviously might not have the budget to hire someone to help you out, and even doing it yourself might be tedious, which is why you need a tool like Enloop.
Enloop is a simple, easy, and free-to-use online business plan writing software.
With Enloop, you can easily create a detailed, and professional-looking business plan that comes with a 3-year financial forecast reporting, account analysis, real-time performance score, and business plan score to save you time on trial and error.
- Ganttic for Resource Planning
Ganttic is a free resource management tool that’s perfect for startups and businesses of every size.
Building and running a startup requires proper management of available resources. Things such as financing, people management, equipment distribution, facility management, and others involve a steep learning curve that shouldn’t be handled lightly.
On the other hand, a resource planning tool will come as an advantage to help you schedule and plan all your resources to get the best possible outcome.
Ganttic is a resource planning and project portfolio management software that does an equally great job for scheduling people, projects, facilities, and equipment.
You can create schedules simply by dragging and dropping tasks. Customizing Ganttic to your needs is easy thanks to its flexible interface.
The software is good for scheduling and reporting, tracking milestones, and capacity utilization. You can sync Ganttic with Google Calendar and leave notes in the app to collaborate with your team.
Ganttic offers your startup a free option. If you have less than 10 resources, then you can take advantage of Ganttic for free, forever. Once you start growing and your business increases, you can choose exactly the kind of plan that works for you.
Plus, with costs way less than the average software, you’ll be able to save even more money when you do upgrade.
- Canva for Graphic Design
Canva is great for startups because anyone can make beautiful designs for free
Having a powerful, professional and visually pleasing digital presence has never been more important than now.
From the type of images, icons, social media campaigns, flyers, animation (gifs and memes), and banners, you use for your brand, they all speak a whole lot more than you can imagine. All these put together dictates how people look and feel about your brand when they see it pop up on their phones, laptops, or TV screen.
If the goal of your marketing strategy is to look professional and eye-catching, then Canva is what you should be using.
Canva is a great graphic design platform that enables you to create visual content easier, faster, and better. With its ready-made templates and few clicks of a button, you can create social media profile headers, flyers, banners, logos, infographics, marketing ads, blog graphics, and so much more.
With the free version of Canva, you can get by on your budget marketing and make your digital presence stand-out in a sea of startups.
And you’ll be called a pro at the office too, I promise.
- Docracy for Managing Legal Affairs
Docracy can help manage your legal affairs and is a perfect tool if you are a startup
The fees alone for preparing basic legal documents can make you give up on ever creating your businesses.
And what about the cost of hiring a good attorney to help you out? That’s another one that will eat up your budget as a startup.
But hey, don’t panic, Docracy will help you out.
Docracy is an open-source website that curates legal documents for individuals and companies. The website allows for the sharing and signing of documents such as NDAs, wills, employment, and business contracts, trusts, and all other basic service agreements.
Note, you do want to have all documents you find on the website reviewed by a professional to avoid any complications that might affect your business.
On a final note,
Here is where I drop the pen or perhaps stop typing. With you now is the knowledge of tools that will help you attain success as you run or launch your startup.
Each of these tools will in one way or the other streamline your workflow more efficiently while maximizing your ROI in the process.
best tools for entrepreneurs
One of the biggest challenges we face as entrepreneurs is staying on top of everything. You have to respond to emails, make sure your website works perfectly, organize projects, keep in touch with your network, and avoid getting distracted by social media, cat videos, and tools that only make you less productive.
Shutterstock
The Internet does not just enable procrastination. It also offers solutions to busy entrepreneurs: there is an abundance of tools and services that were created to help you organize your life and business, so you can focus on doing work that matters.
These resources were created by people who know what it’s like to have a to-do list that never seems to end. Many of them can be used for free, so there’s no reason not to give them a try.
Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business
- Trello
Trello is a free project management tool that helps you get organized. It shows a board on which you can create lists filled with cards. When you open a card, you can add comments, upload files, create checklists, and more.
It is super versatile, so it can be used for many different types of things: to organize a specific project, write an ebook, create an email course, etc. It really helps you to keep a bird’s-eye view on your projects.
- Google Docs
Google Docs is an essential tool for working on a file with multiple people. Everyone can add or remove text, proofread content, and give comments for others to see. You can also see who else is working on the document and chat with them, so it’s a great tool for teams.
It’s also a big help for people who get confused when they have several versions of a work-in-progress.
Related: The 15 Most Popular Online Payment Solutions
- Asana
Asana is the ultimate tool for managing your projects more effectively. It works with tasks, projects, conversations, and dashboards. Teamwork has never been easier. You can turn conversations into actionable tasks, provide comments on other people’s actions, and immediately see what progress has been made – all without having to schedule meetings. - Dropbox
Dropbox is great for storage and backups. It has a huge amount of awesome plugin apps to improve your experience. Moreover, it provides apps for every device, which means you can access your files from anywhere. - Slack
Slack is a beautiful chat app is an amazing communication tool for teams and mastermind groups. Its smooth design is by far the nicest you’ll come across. Even though it’s relatively new, it is already very popular.
You can create several channels to discuss different topics, or you can have a private conversation. Slack also allows you to share files and to easily find messages, notifications, and files in your archive. Everything is automatically synced on all your devices, and you can easily connect it to other apps, like WordPress or Skype.
Start sharing your ideas with peers and get inspired by their questions, suggestions, and expertise. We’re all in this together.
Related: 5 Ways to Get The Best From Your Remote Team
- Momentum
Momentum is a homepage replacement app designed to inspire you and keep you focused throughout your work day. When you open your browser, Momentum greets you by name with an inspiring picture and quote.
I find Momentum immensely helpful when determining and completing my One Thing every day. Every morning, I tell it what my focus for the day will be. For the rest of the day, it reminds me of my commitment every time I open a new tab. This makes it much easier to stop wasting time on Facebook and the likes.
- Spotify
Listening to music really helps me stay focused and productive. Obviously, this is different for everyone, but many people seem to function better with music in the background.
Spotify is a great place to find the right music for every moment. You can choose what you want to listen to, or you can let Spotify surprise you. Find out what type of music keeps you focused and alert. It’s great to help you through the early afternoon dip.
- 7-Minute Workout
The 7-Minute Workout is an app that helps you stay fit and focused with short workouts. Each workout consists of 12 exercises of 30 seconds, with 10-second breaks. All you need is a chair and a wall, so this is the perfect workout app in your (home) office.
If you’re trying to find inspiration, doing a short workout can really help you get there. A short workout will get both the adrenaline and the ideas flowing!
Related: This Entrepreneur Lives in the Back Room at a Gym While Building His Business
- Boomerang
You can temporarily remove messages from your inbox to be reminded of them later. This really helps you focus on the task at hand, without getting distracted by other things on your to-do list. Boomerang archives the email(s) and brings them back to your inbox at your chosen time.
You can also use this app to write an email and send it later. You tell Boomerang when you want the email to be sent, and they take it from there. Moreover, it will remind you if you don’t hear back from someone, so messages won’t slip through the maze.
Take control of your inbox, before it becomes an uncontrollable mess.
- Voila Norbert
It can be very frustrating and time-consuming to look for someone’s email address on their (company’s) websites. This was a massive problem for me when looking for potential guests for my podcast.
Voila Norbert finds the right email addresses, even when they’re not explicitly mentioned on a website. You just have to know the name of your contact person and the domain name of their company.
- Sidekick
Sidekick is a brilliant email add-on tells developed to tell you whether someone has opened an email you sent. It shows you when, how many times, and from where the recipient has opened your email.
This can be very useful when you’re doing a round of cold emailing, trying out a new marketing campaign, or starting a newsletter. Observe people’s behavior and learn from it!
Related: Top 10 Best Chatbot Platform Tools to Build Chatbots for Your Business
- 99 Designs
99 Designs is perfect for finding a logo or landing page that you really love. I used them for the design of my book cover.
The process is easy: you fill out a design brief, buy a package, and launch a contest. Designers from all over the world can sign up, create one or more designs, and send them to you. After receiving the results, you can choose the best one and pick the winner.
- Canva
Canva is an online graphic design platform. I often use it to create artwork for my website. No, it’s not a place where you find designers – you’re the designer.
It is a simple drag-and-drop design tool with a library of more than 1 million photographs, graphics, and fonts to choose from. It offers free access to a wide assortment of design tools and options. You can create anything from book covers to infographics.
- Fiverr
Fiverr is a cheap yet effective marketplace (everything starts at $5) that offers fast graphic design, translations, SEO enhancement, business cards, and anything else you could need for your business. You can also pay someone to write your message on their belly and do a jungle dance – if that’s what you’re into.
It’s the go-to service if you need something done fast.
Related: Repealing Obamacare Will be a Disaster for Freelancers and Entrepreneurs Who Rely on Them
- Clarity.FM
Want to get advice from an expert? Stop wasting your time browsing blogs. Clarity.FM connects you with a community of experts. You can look for professionals by name or by expertise, depending on the type of advice you’re looking for.
Have a personal conversation with an experienced entrepreneur is the ultimate way to get the answers you need. Want to know what Brian Wong or Chris Brogan would do in your situation? Just ask them!
Related: Looking for a New Payment Company? You’re ‘Due’ for Some Good News.
- Typeform
Typeform is free service you can use to create awesome looking surveys. We all use online forms to get feedback from our readers, listeners, and customers. Unfortunately, boring surveys are likely to be ignored, which makes it harder for you to know if you’re going in the right direction.
Typeform’s beautiful, clear, and mobile-friendly surveys can help you get the valuable feedback you need, without extra effort.
- Hack the Entrepreneur: How to Stop Procrastinating, Build a Business, and Do Work That Matters
Are you stuck and don’t know what to do next? Do you want to control your destiny, do work that matters, and have the freedom to travel?
Hack the Entrepreneur: The Book contains 50 hacks by brilliant entrepreneurs, who have turned their startups into successful businesses. Find out how to get started, deal with failure, and learn from your mistakes. Your business will thank you later.
Entrepreneurs typically want to do everything themselves and be in charge of their business. But sometimes that’s easier said than done. In reality, we don’t have enough time to take care of every single aspect of our business on our own. Let these tools and services help you organize your day, on a professional and personal level.
Stop wasting time on futile tasks and take control with these simple tools. Allow yourself to see the forest for the trees and do work that really matters.
Conclusion
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