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.

Pricing: Costs range from $299 to over $200,000 (depending on your requirements).
Advantage: Benefits include a great name, a matching URL for the basic package, and better benefits at higher tiers.
Disadvantage: Disadvantages include the steep pricing for a business name you could imagine yourself.

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.

Pricing: Costs range between $1 to $20, depending on the expert you request.
Advantage: You can get honest advice from real experts to help your business.
Disadvantage: While you can decide who you request, they may not accept your request.

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.

Pricing: Dependant on the number of people using the app
Advantage: You won't need any other HR tools with this convenient software
Disadvantage: While this is an all-in-one app, apps specializing in certain aspects of HR may perform better than the similar functions of this app.

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.

Pricing: Free for their Primary account and up to $400 for their Business account. They include a startup plan for $150 to help get startups to the employees they need.
Advantage: An in-depth hiring and screening process, so you just need to worry about finding the best candidate.
Disadvantage: Breezy only handles recruitment, and while they help with the onboarding process, they are not a complete HR solution.

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.

Pricing: Costs vary between $0 to $62 a month. The Basic plan gives you access to the database but not much else. Meanwhile, the Silver and Gold plans offer a lot more value.
Advantage: You can easily find and manage investors with this app.
Disadvantage: All of your investor relations will be through this site, so you will always have to ensure you've paid this account. It's much harder to stop than to start with this site.

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.

Pricing: The Basic plan is free but can be $6 to $13 monthly for a larger project.
Advantage: If you want to make your systems, pages, and prototypes, this software is perfect for keeping costs down.
Disadvantage: There's, unfortunately, so much you can do with this software. While it's great for getting started, you'll eventually need a professional, so it doesn't scale with your business.

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.

Pricing: Basic plans are free, and their Pro plan is $120 a year for up to five people.
Advantage: It will help you save money on designing marketing material.
Disadvantage: The material depends on your skills, whether you're proficient or deficient in design.

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.

Pricing: You can expect to pay around $540 a year for their Starter package, $9,600 for the Professional package, and $38,400 a year for their Enterprise package. The Starter package is all startups need, but you have the option to scale up if you need to.
Advantage: Chat support and customer management tools for a great price.
Disadvantage: If you want better features, it costs a bit more to scale up.

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.

Pricing: Free if you get less than ten thousand conversions a month. After that, it works on a scale.
Advantage: Free analytical tools on marketing data.
Disadvantage: None. It's free and has excellent feedback and tools. Every entrepreneur should have this in their toolbox.

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.

Pricing: after a free 15-day trial, prices start at 89$ per month
Advantage: one of the best marketing analytic tools
Disadvantage: the more visitors the more you pay for your account

Branding5: Brand Positioning Tool

Branding5 helps your business define its brand identity and craft targeted marketing strategies using AI. This tool provides you with tailored brand reports with positioning statements, audience insights, marketing campaign ideas, content strategy, inspiration, identity insights, and actionable recommendations. This helps you enhance your online presence through brand awareness, setting yourself apart from other companies who may have a similar offering.

Pricing: prices start at 67€ per month.
Advantage: AI-powered delivery of tailored brand positioning insights enabling you to make data-driven decisions quickly and efficiently.
Disadvantage: The Agency plan may exceed the budget of smaller agencies scaling up, restricting their access to advanced features such as 24-hour support and white-label options.

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.

Pricing: The free Personal plan and the $7-a-month Team plan are perfect options for startups. Later you can scale up to their individually-priced Enterprise plans.
Advantage: Time tracking, financial overviews, and more get condensed into one reasonably priced plan.
Disadvantage: While they have the necessities of several tools in one package, individual devices may have more features. However, often these extra features are unneeded for startups.

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.

Pricing: Their Basic plan is free and perfect for most starts, but they have several other reasonably priced strategies for scaling up or automation tools.
Advantage: Easily schedule appointments with customers for free.
Disadvantage: It may not be suitable for larger businesses with many employees. While it does scale, you'll have to work closely with Calendly to ensure you get the necessary tools.

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.

Pricing: You can currently sign up for a free account.
Advantage: Powerful financial planning tools.
Disadvantage: Early access right now, but will likely cost money soon. The software may still have bugs due to its early access nature.

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.