Go beyond web tools such as Google Docs or Drive and find tools that manage more than your files. Business startups have wildly different demands depending on their industry, but these tools seek to assist any entrepreneur with some of them across the board hurdles.
. QuickBooks
Accounting is a struggle for many companies, and startups don’t usually have the funds available to hire a CPA. The solution for small businesses that need to scale quickly is QuickBooks. Owned by Intuit, QuickBooks has been around for a long time and proven itself as reliable, versatile, and exceptionally valuable.
For those new to QuickBooks, their website has a wealth of resources available to ensure that you use every function or feature that you could possibly need. What makes this accounting software great for startups is that it’s really an entire accounting department in one system.
You can issue payroll checks and calculate your quarterly sales taxes from the same system. It’s also helpful to know that all of your accounting information is secure and available at any time. Solutions like QuickBooks Cloud Hosting powered by Cloud Desktop Service can be helpful for remote bookkeeping.
. Slack
Although Slack can operate as a bare-bones project management system, it works best as a communication platform. As a startup, you’ll likely have people working after they finish their day job, through weekends, or at all hours of the day or night. Startups are known for their flexibility with time and Slack makes that flexibility easy.
You can start a slack account and invite users in for free. It’s a great way to keep your email inboxes clean while also having a documented record of communications between your team. You can separate conversations with different tags, create different “chat room” style environments, and even limit who can be part of which discussions.
You can even set up a specific discussion to track communications or decisions made regarding vendors. Handling issues such as procurement and invoices requires thorough documentation.
. Asana
A simple solution that’s all function and no fluff. Asana lets you orchestrate projects on any scale. Create a project that requires input from many users, with several individual tasks, and you can track each contributor progress.
The thing that users really love about Asana is that you have three primary views. First, you see your tasks due soon on the home page, then under another page, you see all of the tasks assigned to the person in a single list. Finally, you can view the entire team’s scheduled assignments on a calendar.
For anyone managing multiple departments or who has a few major projects going on at once, Asana can make life much easier.
. Pipedrive
A sales management tool that even startups can afford. Amidst the CRM landscape, it’s easy to focus on getting qualitative data into a numeric format, but the missing element is the actual sales data.
Pipedrive offers many of the same functions as a CRM, is much more affordable, and it caters to what salespeople need. Your salespeople are likely stretched thinly enough as it is, gives them a hand and let them help your company grow.
As a CRM, Pipedrive does track leads and where a customer is at in your sales funnel. But it helps your salespeople identify where they can act and how they can close the deal with each customer.
. Google Analytics
Of all the Google tools that businesses are told they need; Google Analytics is probably the only one that you can’t do without. If you have a website, you need to monitor your traffic and other performance metrics. Google Analytics is the best way to ensure that your marketing campaigns are effective and that your site is performing on the level it should.
Use Google Analytics to increase conversion rates and achieve your overarching business goals. It’s the only effective way to monitor your website strategies and find problems before they cost you sales.
. Shopify
Are you really bootstrapping it? Are you bringing together everything you possibly can and using every resource possible? Shopify solves many problems for startups. Through Shopify, you can set up an entire online store, as well as marketing and even shipping. For some companies, Shopify is the only reason that they got off the ground at all.
Not every startup-entrepreneur can manage the interweaving of setting up their own marketplace on their site, coordinate shipping and execute a marketing plan. For the startup owner who’s on their own, Shopify can be a lifesaver.
. Amazon Payments
Have you seen a site that has a handy “Checkout through Amazon” button and it makes checking out so much easier? You can offer that same ease to your customers. Amazon Payments allows businesses to redirect customers to their Amazon account for fast and secure checkout.
This does not mean that your guests are going to Amazon to purchase your products, and you don’t need to be an Amazon store owner or affiliate. Amazon Payments simply provides another secure payment platform for your customers.
. Emma
Campaigns, email marketing, and everything else that fits into your marketing strategy can seem overwhelming. Startups often struggle with building an email list, creating unique and enticing designs, writing content, and they’re often doing all of this without much insight into its impact.
Emma offers email campaign designs as well as full reporting. Essentially you focus on building your email list, and Emma will take care of everything else. You can easily see which email campaigns are useful and which are floundering. If you plan to get into people’s inbox and grab attention, you’ll need help, give Emma a try.
. SumoMe
When it comes to building your email list, you have tools available to help. SumoMe is a tool that builds email lists through web analytics. It performs well beyond its base function of email list building as it also optimizes landing pages and can even increase social shares. SumoMe is a great way to seal the deal on an effective marketing strategy.
Put Your Tools to Work
All around utility apps such as Evernote and OneDrive are base level tools. You need tools that will make handling your startup easier. Use the tools here to boost the impact of your marketing strategy, connect with customers, make your sales team more productive and streamline communication.
