By Alycia Gordan
Are you currently in the process of building your own business? Are you overwhelmed with the many responsibilities you already have? Are you looking for opportunities that might enable you to function your operations more smoothly?
Startups, in particular, are short on money, time, and resources. In fact, more than 50% of startups fail due to incapability and lack of managerial experience. Lack of funds is also a significant hurdle that comes in the way of startups and their path to success. Luckily, most entrepreneurs understand that their creative business idea will not last long if they do not take measures to improve their business setup and thus invest in tools that enable them to salvage time, money, and effort.
Fortunately, the internet boasts many tools that assist the entrepreneurs in running their business and operations more efficiently. These tools not only make the lives of the entrepreneurs easy but also enable them to scale their business quickly.
Here, we have vetted thousands of tools and compiled a list of the 11 best tools that every startup should make use of. Not only will these apps enable your startup to remain afloat but also help you overcome some of the most common obstacles that one faces during the entrepreneurship journey.
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Slack
75% of employees agree that proper communication is a critical part of any organization. However, today, when we have more remote workers than in-house employees, collaborating physically on a single platform is nearly impossible. Luckily, with apps like Slack, the team can communicate on one platform regardless of their demographics.
Apart from discussions on both private and public chat rooms, Slack allows quick transfers of files as well. It can also integrate tools such as Trello, Dropbox, and Google Drive to enhance communication.
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MailChimp
MailChimp is a free email-listing provider that supports up to 2,000 subscribers. Besides making the process of creating email newsletter and managing subscribers easy, the most significant marketing automation platform makes it convenient for startup founders to assess which campaign works best through A/B testing modules.
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Dropbox
Dropbox is a digital storage service that gives almost unlimited space in the cloud for storing data that can be shared on many devices. A primary Dropbox account worth 2GB space is free of charge. You can also download free apps for the same on your mobile, tablets, and computer devices.
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Salesmate
Salesmate is a leading CRM system that enables startups to manage their sales pipeline and capture new leads. The CRM’s intelligence tool provides real-time data of every lead and makes communication easy with customers through notes, emails, calls, and even social media.
The ideal CRM for real estate, construction, small and mid-sized organizations, and for SaaS startups – Salesmate subscription starts at only $12 per month.
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Typeform
Typeform is an online form and survey building software. The unique feature of the app is that it allows the creation of dynamic forms based on the user’s needs.
In their initial days, notable companies such as Nike, Uber, and Airbnb also made use of Typeform.
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WordPress
WordPress needs no introduction. The content management system makes it easy for business owners to create user-friendly websites and display their products/services to prospects. The unlimited plugins, themes, and customization options make it one of the best platforms for professional and personal bloggers alike.
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Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an assessment tool that allows measurement of the traffic on your website and their performance according to the visitor’s geographical location, preference, etc. The Google Analytics Academy also provides free courses that allow novice entrepreneurs to learn how the tool can work for them.
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Google Docs
Google Docs makes it easy for businesses to create and share different types of documents. With Google Docs, teams can collaborate, track changes, and add comments without having to send files to each other repeatedly.
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Hootsuite
Social media is a powerful medium with over 2.46 billion users. Today, it is nearly impossible to survive the competitive marketplace without a proper social media strategy. However, as entrepreneurs are already short on time, juggling between the different social media accounts can be a hassle. With Hootsuite, they can conveniently maintain their social media presence from a single dashboard.
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Stripe
Stripe is a payment-processing dashboard that allows startups to accept credit card payments through their websites and apps. It is an ideal solution for e-commerce providers that have clients in different parts of the world and are looking for a reliable, secure, and fast payment gateway.
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HubSpot
HubSpot is all-in-one marketing software that provides tools for social media management, content creation, analytics, and SEO on a single platform. It is free to use and integrates easily with several third-party apps such as Gmail and Microsoft office suite.
Conclusion
There are many tools that can help your company reach newer heights. However, as a perceptive entrepreneur, it is important to ensure that you choose the tools that help you reduce the workload and increase business growth.
Alycia Gordan is a freelance writer who loves to read and write articles on healthcare technology, fitness and lifestyle. She is a tech junkie and divides her time between travel and writing. You can find her on Twitter: @meetalycia
Tools stock photo by SFIO CRACHO/Shutterstock