The path to success isn’t easy, especially for startups as they tend to experience their fair share of difficulties. Having stringent budgets, inadequate resources, and uncertain outcomes, startups must seriously consider practical ways to accelerate and speed up their operations.
Fortunately, there are a plethora of excellent tools available to assist you in optimizing your work and making your startup journey quicker, more powerful, and much more enjoyable.
Finding the correct tools and resources can be difficult. It’s a cut-throat competition out there, and there’s a dizzying array of options to pick from. But don’t worry! Here’s a collection of the best tools for startups that can help accelerate growth and productivity in 2021.
This post sheds light upon a wide variety of tools and services that can be useful from the concept level to the development, scaling, and growth stage of a business.
- Best Project Management Tools – Trello & Asana
Whether you are a freelancer, an entrepreneur, or a start-up, these online tools would be your best bet for managing projects, creating project schedules, and maintaining transparency with clients. So let’s look into the best project management resources to help you stay on board and hit your milestones.
- Trello
Trello tracks tasks and projects using the Kanban process and making it simple to handle both individual projects and workflow. Its user-friendly interface allows users to make personalized boards and lists with cards that can include photos, folders, connections, checklists, due dates, and more.
Free Plan: Unlimited boards, unlimited cards, unlimited lists, 10 team boards, one Power-Up per board, 10MB per file attachment.
Business Class Plan: $9.99/month per user, inclusive of all free plan features, unlimited team boards, unlimited Power-Ups, 250MB per file attachment.
- Asana
Asana is one of the best project management tools for startups, assisting teams in coordinating and managing their jobs. Asana’s performance has elevated it to the forefront of all emerging companies around the globe.
It enables businesses to move more quickly by ensuring that everyone is aware of the team’s schedule and process. This tool enables the project team to delegate tasks based on their position, recruit new team members and track activity, display reports, and much more.
Companies like Uber, Google, PayPal, Facebook, and some of the world’s best teams use this platform to stay on board and improve efficiency.
Key features: Timeline, portfolios, projects, automation.
Pricing: Free version is available for individuals or teams who’ve just made a start with project management.
Premium plan: Starts from $10.99/month to $24.99/month for the business plan.
- Best Email Marketing Tool – MailChimp
MailChimp is a free email marketing software that allows startups to get the ball rolling in email marketing. This tool offers pre-designed email templates, opt-in popups, audience segmentation, and personalization.
Users with no design skills can easily come up with professional emails using MailChimp’s drag-and-drop templates. Registered users also get a smartphone app that allows them to monitor campaign results and submit emails in a few taps.
Free Plan: Offers 2,000 subscriber limit, 10,000 emails per month, basic email templates, landing pages and popup forms, single-step automation, and basic reports.
Essentials Plan: $9.99 per month, 50,000 subscriber limit, 500,000 emails/month, access to all email templates, A/B testing, and 24/7 email and chat support.
Standard Plan: $14.99/month, 100,000 subscriber limit, 1.2 million emails per month, behavior-based automation, multi-step automation, and time optimization
- Best Outsourcing Tools – TaskShift & 99Designs
Startups are often short on manpower and specialized resources mainly due to a lack of budget. Here outsourcing comes into the picture.
And as a new business, the best way to outsource your projects is to pick and choose the most affordable freelance marketplace to hire expert freelancers.
TaskShift
TaskShift, being one of the fastest-growing freelance platforms, is the best place for startups to outsource their projects. As startups are on a budget, they ultimately look for affordable resources while at the same time requiring top-notch services.
From graphics design specialists and digital marketers to content creators and video editors, TaskShift is an all-inclusive outsourcing solution for growing businesses.
Whereas some freelance sites charge a commission from both the client and the freelancer, TaskShift is absolutely free of cost for clients which means no subscription fee is required. You would only have to pay for the services you buy from the freelancer.
99Designs
99Designs is one of the best sites for crowdsourcing your projects. For example, if you need a logo design for your start-up, you can launch a logo contest on this platform by putting in all the specifications of the design.
When you post a contest, hundreds of designers will work on your design and you’ll be flooded with countless submissions. This will let you have quite a lot of options to cherry-pick the most suitable design for your new business.
- Best Team Communication Tool – Slack
Slack is a free online communication tool that offers real-time messaging, feedback, and collaboration. It was created to eliminate the inefficiencies and delays associated with email correspondence.
Users may use this tool to build networks that are structured around a subject, team, mission, or even a client. Channels may be public and accessible to all Slack account holders, or private and only accessible by invitation.
Free Plan: Search up to 10,000 messages, up to 10 third-party app integrations, one-to-one video and voice calls, 5GB storage per workspace.
Standard Plan: $8/ month per user, unlimited message search, unlimited third-party app integrations, one-to-one video and voice calls, group video calls up to 15 people, screen sharing, 10GB storage per user, guest accounts and shared channels, and priority support.
Plus Plan: $15/month per user per, 20GB storage per user, all standard plan features, user management, and 24/7 support with four-hour first response time.
- Best Document Management Tool – Google Workspace
Google Workspace is an excellent choice for small businesses looking to build an accessible, interactive, cloud-based work atmosphere without the expense of costly software.
Businesses can start by establishing a branded email address via Gmail, one of the most common mail apps in the market.
Google Calendars for team scheduling; Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides for real-time sharing on notes, spreadsheets, and presentations; Google Drive for cloud storage; Google Chat for team messaging; and Google Meet for video meetings are among the other useful resources.
Free Plan: Personal email account, one-on-one chat, personal calendar, Google Docs, Google Sheets, and Google Slides, 15GB Google Drive cloud storage.
Google Workspace also offers premium plans including Business Start from $6/month per user, Business Standard for $12/month per user, Business Plus for $18/month per user, and Enterprise plan.
The Takeaway
The online resources do not only ease the tasks but also cut down on costs and production time, thereby optimizing efficiency. Since you’ve now discovered the best tools and resources for startups, it’ll be easy for you to get a move on your operations and kick off your venture.
