The Software Every Startup Needs

Running a startup is no small feat. Traditionally, it comes with challenges such as task management, workflow management, creating an online presence, handling payroll, and much more. Fortunately, we live in an era of advanced tech, which allows us to use a wide range of tools that help overcome the most common startup headaches. Here’s our list of tools that might come in handy when you launch a startup. 

Manage projects with Asana

Many newly-minted businesses turn to Asana because it is a simple-in-use tool that allows them to plan the workflow and manage tasks effectively. Asana offers project teams up to 15 people to work for free with limited functionalities. You will be able to assign tasks to team members, add new members, keep track of tasks’ progress, view reports, share information, and much more. 

Features: 

• Activity feed
• Add assignees, attachments, and hearts to tasks
• Automatic updates to email/inbox
• Create custom calendars and views
• Email bridge
• My Tasks list and Focus Mode
• Track tasks and add followers
• Get notifications and reminders
• iPhone support, HTML5 mobile site
• Multiple workspaces
• Project Sections and Search Views
• Real-time updates
• See team members’ tasks and priorities
• Set goals, priorities, and due dates
• Set project permissions
• Project and task creation
• Comment on tasks
• Task dependencies
• Timeline
• Kanban support

Pricing: Free plan; Premium plan $9.99 per member/mo; Enterprise Plan By quote.

Handle day-to-day tasks with Todoist

Todoist best suits small teams. It’s a powerful tool for management and collaboration that allows us to assign priorities and team members to each task, set deadlines, attach files, and add comments. Todoist is mobile-friendly, so you can use it on the go. A free version comes with 80 active projects up to 5 team members. 

Features:

• Available on 10+ platforms
• Recurring due dates
• SSL secured connection
• Sub-tasks & sub-projects
• Task priorities
• Pin favorite projects, labels & filters
• 200 active projects
• 25 People per project
• Labels
• Reminders 
• Add tasks via email
• Comments
• File upload to comments (inc. files, audio, emoji)
• Automatic back-ups
• Project templates

Pricing: Premium for $29 per year; Business 30 days, and plans cost $3 per user per month or $29 per user per year.

Communicate with your team in Discord

Over the past few years, Discord has gained a reputation of a free alternative to professional communication platforms like Slack and Skype. Initially designed for PC gamers, this group messenger lets anyone create an environment for connecting with friends or coworkers over theme-based channels. 

Features:

• Text chat
• Voice chat
• Message board
• Web and mobile version
• Lower-latency voice chat
• Screen sharing
• Video calls

Pricing: free donation

Create a website with Wix

If launching a website is on your to-do list, Wix is a good option. It offers plenty of templates so you can design a good-looking website without engaging programmers. Wix has a free version with baseline website structures, including blogs and retail sites. You will pay a monthly fee only in case you want to personalize or safeguard your websites with a password. 

• Intuitive Website Builder
• 100s of Designer-Made Templates
• Customizable Designs
• Free and Reliable Hosting
• Optimized Mobile View
• One-Pagers
• Drag n’ Drop Website Editor
• Image Editor
• Text Editor & Free Fonts
• Add and Organize Pages
• HTML Embed Code
• Page Protection
• One URL for website & mobile site
• Easy-to-add blog
• Facebook comments
• Social Feed
• Automatic blog styling
• Social Buttons (Google+, Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest)
• Wix App Market
• Online Store
• Email Marketing
• Display Events
• Live Chat
• Multiple Payment Methods
• Contact Manager
• Personalized Google Mailbox
• Financial Tools
• Marketing Tools
• Communication Tools
• Site Analytics – Google Analytics

Pricing: Free; Connect Domain $4.50/month; Combo $8.50/month; Unlimited $12.50/month; eCommerce $16.50/month; VIP $24.50/month.

Manage your client relationships with Zoho CRM

With Zoho CRM, you can easily follow your leads and clients throughout an entire sales pipeline. Your sales team can easily track who accompanies which client. The software also comes with task assigning, monitoring and analysis features. The basic version is free for up to ten users. 

Features:

• Reports 
• Dashboards, a document library
•  Defined roles and profiles
• Scoring rules
• Sales forecasting tools 
• Call center connectors 
• Mass email 
• Integrate all your favorite products. 
• Tons of customization options.

Pricing: free options for all plans; Standard £10/mo; Professional £16/mo; Enterprise £30/mo; Ultimate £36/mo.

Launch email campaigns with Mailchimp

Lead generation is impossible without email marketing. To reach out to a base of prospects, startups need an easy-to-use budget-friendly tool. Mailchimp is a tool that needs no introduction. As the market leader in the field of email tools, Mailchimp offers its users transparent contact management, intuitive email design, and numerous tracking and reporting functions. With Mailchimp’s “Free Forever” plan, startups can send up to 12,000 emails to up to 2,000 subscribers every month for free.

Features: 

• A/B Testing 
• API 
• Activity Dashboard
• Automatic Notifications 
• Campaign Analysis
• Campaign Management 
• Campaign Segmentation 
• Content Management
• Customizable Branding 
• Customizable Templates 
• Data Import/Export 
• Drag & Drop Interface 
• Email Marketing Management 
• Engagement Analytics 
• Monitoring 
• Multi-Channel Marketing 
• Real-Time Analytics 
• Reporting & Statistics
• Social Media Integration 
• Third Party Integration 

Pricing: Free with up to 7 marketing channels, Essential $9.99/mo; Standard 14.99.mo; Premium $299/mo.

Find verified email addresses with Hunter.io

If you take care of PR yourself, Hunter will help you find and verify professional email addresses quickly. After you enter a medium where you want to be featured, the tool will sift through a pool of emails to find suitable email addresses. You can use take it for a spin with a trial version. 

Features:

• A/B Testing
• Auto-Responders
• Customer Surveys
• Drip Campaigns
• Dynamic Content
• Event-Triggered Email
• Image Library
• Landing Pages/Web Forms
• List Management
• Mobile Optimized Emails
• Reporting/Analytics
• Subscriber Management
• Template Management

Pricing: Free trial, Starting Price: $49.00/month, Growth – $99/mo Pro – $199/mo Enterprise – $399/mo.

 Hold video conferences with Zoom

Zoom is software for virtual meetings that offers a free version for small teams. However, three or more participants in a group conversation will be limited to 40 minutes, which can be an advantage in your startup’s meeting culture. On the other hand, this tool lets you do video conference for free and share your screen. In many cases, this would be enough for productive communication. 

Features:

• Use from anywhere, on any device
• Security solutions 
• Screen sharing
• HD video and audio calls
• Support for up to 1,000 video participants and 49 videos
• Meet securely with role-based user permissions
• Streamlined calendaring services with Outlook and Google
• Built-in recording and transcripts
• Team chat both for groups and one-on-one messaging
• Access to extra features like webinars, chat, and phone

Pricing: Basic Free, Pro $14.99/mo, Business and Enterprise $19.99/mo.

Handle accounting with Invoice Ninja

Invoice Ninja is an open-source accounting tool. It offers a convenient overview of total earnings, the number of invoices created and sent, and recent activities. The free version comes with a wide range of functions, for example, professional templates, 40 payment interfaces, and project management features. It’s a perfect tool for startups with up to 100 paying customers.

 Features:

• Quotations and invoices
• Create tasks, projects
• Time tracking
• Customized invoices
• 40+ payment options 
• Accept deposits and partial payments
• ​Recurring and auto-bill invoices

Pricing: Forever Free: Free, Ninja Pro $10/month, Enterprise (1-2 users) $14/month; Enterprise (3-5 users); $26/month; Enterprise (6-10 users) $36/month; Enterprise (11-20 users) $44/month. 

 Afterword

We believe that every entrepreneur does everything possible to have a better shot at success, and having the right tools can help immensely at this. Hopefully, now you have enough ideas for the best tools for your startup. Contact us to get advice on software from our experts.