If you're starting or launching a startup, you already know that there's no shortage of tools, services, and apps available to help you with everything from designing, marketing, operating, and even selling your product or business. But these choices and options can be overwhelming and costly, especially for someone who already wears many hats. With limited time and resources, it can be extremely valuable to turn to an outside source for advice on the best of the best.
It's one of the many things we've heard from thousands of small business owners and entrepreneurs who are the primary users of 99designs, the world's largest online marketplace for graphic design. With that in mind, we polled these users, along with several small business influencers and advisors, to come up with a list of cheap or free online services, tools, or apps that every entrepreneur should know about.
Related: 16 tools you need to be a badass business
We discovered 68 tools for startups in our 99designs blog. Here are some of our favorites.
For collaboration and communication:
1. slack
Slack is the best way to communicate quickly in groups or one-on-one, organize discussions by topic, and have everything in one place so it's easy to find. You won't believe how much time you save when you don't have to write an email for every quick phrase exchanged with your team. And of course, Slack comes with a mobile app and integrates with a bunch of other apps you probably already use. It has also just launched voice and video calls for its premium users. Slack offers plenty of extra features like this for paid users, but its free tier will likely meet most of your needs as a newbie entrepreneur.
2. Google Hangouts
When it comes to video conferencing, it's a no-brainer, especially if you're using the Google suite. It's free and easy to set up on Gmail. However, you should always check with third parties before scheduling a Hangouts session, as it may not work on computers without Google Suite activated.
Project Management:
3. Trello
Trello provides the easiest and most collaborative way to organize, visualize, assign and monitor team tasks. It allows you to organize projects and tasks into boards (headings), which are made up of lists (to-do lists), which in turn are made up of cards (tasks). While great for project management, Trello also works for brainstorming, agenda planning, and any other list-based activity. Like Slack, Trello operates on a freemium model where the free tier provides all the functionality a small team would need.
4. Asana
I can personally vouch for the tool as I used it when building my e-commerce website. The interface is very intuitive and easy for a new user to get familiar with. I found it especially useful for working with remote developers in a different time zone.
Presentations:
5. Prezi
Prezi lets you create truly dynamic cinematic presentations to help you secure that funding and more. The downside is that the Prezi presentation format doesn't work with every content structure you might have in mind for your presentation. One type of structure where it thrives is one that starts with giving the full picture first, then digging deeper into each piece of that puzzle.
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Planning and schedules:
6. Calendly
This app lets you skip boring email strings to schedule calls and meetings. Calendly lets you share your calendar link with anyone and allows those people to book time directly in your calendar. It syncs with all your emails, and in addition to avoiding conflicts, you can set rules for booking times. When a meeting is booked, it sends an automatic invitation to both people's calendars. People really like the feature that allows them to create a widget of their calendar and include it on their website, to make scheduling product demos easier. Calendly's basic features are free.
7. x.ai
With x.ai, your personal assistant, “Amy Ingram”, will take care of your entire meeting schedule. Because Amy is great at probing human context and understanding email, she can pick up the conversation and ask the right questions of the other person to work out the details of the meeting. All you do is CC on the exchange, and it will jump into the email conversation as needed. Free of charge for up to five meetings per month.
Other administrative assistance:
8. HelloSign
With HelloSign, you can skip tedious printing and scanning activities. With this tool, you can fill, sign and share even legally binding forms and documents. As a contractor, this can be your go-to for signing NDAs, consulting agreements, independent employment contracts, and anything else your attorney might suggest. HelloSign is free for up to three documents per month.
Of course, this list is just the tip of the iceberg. New services and tools are emerging every day. What are some other apps or tools you as an entrepreneur can't live without?
Related: 11 Epic Life Hacks from Crazy Successful Entrepreneurs
