The Must-Have Tools & Resources for Entrepreneurs & Startups

The Must-Have Tools & Resources for Entrepreneurs & Startups
Starting your own business can be scary. The flood of information is overwhelming, there's a lot of paperwork, and at the end of the day, you could use some help. But where should you even start? 

That's why we defined the best tools for startup founders to support you along your journey to entrepreneurship.

Startup Tools help streamline the process of starting your business, from naming and expanding your business to getting funding. There are various startup resources for 2022 for designing flawless marketing materials, hiring the right people for the job, or even boosting your team's productivity.

Those Tools exist to take some of the burdens off your shoulders so you can focus on what's next for your business. Since most Entrepreneurs usually start with little equity capital, many tools offer free trials or special pricing for startups to help keep costs low. So knowing what tools you need and when you need them is critical to ensuring your business's success.


Getting Started: Helpful Tools for Startups

We all have to start somewhere, and at the very beginning, you can feel overwhelmed. But don't fret too much. Entrepreneurial resource examples are tools that can advise or even help you find the perfect name for your business.

SquadHelp: Naming Your Business

SquadHelp hosts naming contests to find the perfect name for your business. Their lowest tier contest comes with a matching URL, but higher tier contests come with essential and premier branding, trademark checking, brand validation, and logos. Or you can search through their names for sale to find the ideal match for your business.

You can also sift through the names and URLs they currently have available and get the same benefits as hosting a contest, but it can cost a pretty penny. Then again, the name of your business is one of the essential marketing tools you can have, and a short name will put you leagues above the competition.

World’s #1 Naming Platform
Squadhelp is an innovative naming agency offering business naming services by crowdsourcing ideas from 300K+ naming experts specializing in Brand naming & rebranding.

Clarity: The Next Steps

Now you've decided to set up a startup. Clarity is an organization of startup experts from various fields who are available to provide advice on your business. Essentially, you post a request with the topics you need advice about and the dates and times you're available to take calls. Then the experts on the subject take your request and contact you.

They charge by the minute, and each expert has different rates, so keep that in mind when posting your request. Nevertheless, if you need expert advice, Clarity has you covered. They have experts on everything from social media to business legalities.


The Business Toolkit: Startup Resources You Need

It takes a lot to run a business—HR and recruitment, financial organization and funding, logos and branding, and so much more. However, the tools you need to run these essential functions are at your fingertips for startups and other small businesses.

You can choose what you need for your business from design tools so quickly you don't need to be a graphic artist to use them to all-in-one hr and recruitment tools.

HR/Holiday Management Tools and Recruitment

You may need a complete HR solution depending on how many employees you need. While it's not as big a deal for smaller teams, you need a more concrete HR solution if you hire remotely or have more than ten people on your team.

BambooHR: All-in-One HR Solution

BambooHR is an all-in-one HR software with options for vacation scheduling, secure data storage, and more. Bamboo is best for small or medium businesses with employees who can take advantage of the easy scheduling and mobile app.

While the pricing depends upon several factors, it scales with the number of people you have on the app. ten employees are $75 a month while 12 employees are $99 a month. However, the more people you have on it, the better value it becomes, as you won't need a separate department for onboarding or recruitment.

Breezy: Streamline the Hiring Process

If you have a minor team, then rather than worrying about HR, you worry about hiring the right people for the job. And getting the right people in at the right time is essential for starting and growing your business. This is where Breezy comes in. With access to over fifty job boards, all you have to do is list an opening, and soon you'll have qualified applicants appearing on your desk.

Of course, that's not all Breezy can also handle the preliminary rounds of hiring, prescreening candidates, emailing candidates, and receiving feedback from you and your team to find the perfect candidate for the job. Then Breezy can even integrate with HR software to automatically onboard new hires.

Breezy helps make the hiring process easy, and soon you'll have plenty of great candidates.

Modern Hiring Software & Applicant Tracking System | Breezy HR
Improve your entire hiring process with Breezy HR. Our applicant tracking system (ATS) helps you attract & hire quality employees in less time.

Finance Tools: Expense Management Tools for Funding and Organization

Business is about money, where it's going, and even more importantly, where it's coming from. There are plenty of options for securing money for startups, from borrowing money from friends and family to taking out loans or even attracting the interest of angel investors. And managing that money well is the center point of any business.

Luckily, enterprising entrepreneurs can use plenty of tools to secure and track funding, from money-tracking software to showcasing your business on different platforms to attract interest.

FounderSuite: Investor CRM and Getting Funding

Now, where is the funding to start your business going to come from? If you have already secured the funding you need, that's all well and good. However, if you're still looking for investors, check out FounderSuite.

It's one of the best communication tools and an excellent choice for those seeking documentation or knowledge management tools.

Product/Design Tools: Logos, Marketing Materials, and More

Creating a brand image is a lot easier to say than to do. Hiring a graphic artist or a company to hand it can get pricey, so if you're looking to keep costs down, it's often best to do it yourself. But design may not be your forte. However, with some software and tools, you don't need years of experience to create beautiful websites and social media posts.

MockPlus: Designing Wireframes and Prototypes on a Budget

If you want a beautiful website or app without hiring a developer to design it, you can make it yourself with MockPlus. It's a simple drag-and-drop design system where you can even collaborate with others to create the perfect look for your website or app.

Working with MockPlus can even help your UX and UI design, and they include helpful tips for intuitive systems for customers.

Mockplus
All-in-one product design platform for prototyping, collaboration, and creating design systems.

Canva: Graphic Design for Beginners

Want to save costs but can't design anything with professional software? Then Canva has your name written on it. Canva is the best way to save money on design costs by giving you the tools you need to design gorgeous material yourself.

While the designs on the basic free plan come out simplistic, chances are you won't be able to fully use the premium resources to grow your startup unless you invest time into learning the software.

Canva is great for saving money on design costs, so if you want to give your inner artist a shot, give it a try.

CRM: Customer Success Tools for Managing Customer Relations

Managing customer experiences and expectations have a lot to do with customer relations, but at the end of the day, your customers need a way to get in touch with you. The best CRM for startups will put you in contact with the customer.

No matter what business you'll be in, you'll have customers. And those customers will want to contact you with questions and complaints.

HubSpot: For Startups and Entrepreneurs Who Care

HubSpot for startups is all about customer contact and data. They offer helpful features like chatbots for getting in touch with customers, but they can also organize customer data and provide valuable tools for analyzing said data.

HubSpot is great for businesses with many customers, like B2C businesses and even small businesses with websites. You can design landing pages, automate emails and forms, and even ad management with their starter package that provides the perfect tools for startups.

Marketing Tools: Selling Your Products With the Right Sales Tools

Knowing when and how to market your product is just as crucial as marketing materials. After all, it doesn't matter how cool your logo is if you put it up where no one can see it. That's why marketing tools are so valuable. They can do everything from managing social media to telling you the ROI on certain advertisements.

Google Analytics: Data-Driven Marketing

Google Analytics is one of the most popular marketing tools out there. It tells you where traffic comes from and how many people clicked on a single advertisement. It gives you an excellent overview of your current traffic and marketing situation. It's one of the best free tools for startups available.

Hotjar: Web Analytics Tool

Hotjar gives you insight on all the activities that happen on your page. Where is the visitor staying the longest, which buttons did he click, where and how far did he scroll and where to they exit the page. This helps you to enhance your website appearance and your overall website performance. A nice website is always the best way to catch possible customers.

Hotjar: Website Heatmaps & Behavior Analytics Tools
The next best thing to sitting beside someone as they browse your site. See where they click, ask what they think, and learn why they drop off. Get started for free.

Other Useful Tools for Startups

Some tools are more focused on providing for basic business needs, like time-tracking, invoicing, paying bills, or more. These tools have a little of everything to get you started or just don't fit into one of the predefined categories above. However, they help your business run like a real business, without all the infrastructural fuss.

Freework: Project Management Tools

Freework combines the usefulness of several tools into one umbrella. Time tracking, client data, financial overviews, and more is available at your fingertips with this software. It helps you run your business like a business with easy project management and collaboration between employees.

Freework project planning boosts productivity and lets you know what's happening in your startup.


Different Tools for Different Startups

All startups are as unique as their founders. They have different products, structures, and different needs. Finding the best resources for startup founders is something for you to decide, along with the business you're in.

Calendly: Scheduling That Makes Sense

Scheduling can be a hassle. You must fill many timeslots with as many people as possible while juggling your needs. Calendly simplifies the process. It allows customers to find a timeslot that works for you and them without excessive rescheduling. It's one of the best scheduling tools available.

You can block off specific unavailable or closed times, and Calendly tracks the appointments as they get made, so you don't have to. No double booking, no wrong dates, just a clean calendar filled with clients.

Free Online Appointment Scheduling Software | Calendly
Calendly is the modern scheduling platform that makes “finding time” a breeze. When connecting is easy, your teams can get more done.

Down the Line: Startup Tools for the Future

As businesses grow, their needs change and grow with them. As a result, what may be helpful now may become obsolete in the future, and what is manageable by yourself at the beginning may grow out of your control. So when choosing the right tools for your startup, ensure you also plan for the future.

Summit: Financial Planning for the Future

Financial planning is the core of every business. What is your projected revenue, the cost of your business, the profit margin of your products, and everything else you need to know about the financial situation of your business? Summit gives you the tools and processes to crunch the numbers and come up with solutions.

Knowing What You Need: Resources for Entrepreneurs

Nobody knows your startup the way you do. So do your research, look for the pain points in your business where you need a little help, and get the right tools for the job. Many of the best tools for startups and businesses come with free trials, so you can cancel if it isn't what you're looking for.

Many also have free startup accounts and higher-priced plans to scale with. So plan for the future, save as much as possible, and get the right tools for the job.