31+ STARTUP TOOLS

both online and offline

By Holly Cardew from Pixc.com
 1. TRELLO
Trello is a collaboration tool that organizes your projects into
boards. I use it when I am making lists of investors, advisors, and
mentors to contact and need to move them along to another list (e.
g. ‘to be contacted, ‘contacted’, ‘follow up’ etc.). Other people use it
as their everyday task list.
 2. ASANA
Asana is my favourite task tool. You can create detailed task lists
for projects with your team. I highly recommend it. It free too up to
15 members.
 3. GOOGLE DRIVE
It has never been so handy to work on collaborative documents
with the team. No need to save and update or sync the latest files. I
use Presentations, Sheets and Docs for our team.
 4. WHATSAPP
I have a distributed team, as well as customers in 200+ different
cities. Whatsapp is a great way to instantly message anyone in the
world for free.
 5. BUFFER
Need to schedule a lot of social media posts across all different
platforms? Use Buffer. You can also schedule pins to Pinterest now.
 6. SNIP.LY
Get rewarded for sharing other people’s content and posts.
 7. GROWTH GEEKS
Need some growth experiments done? Hire a growth geek.
I have used Growth Geeks for a few tasks and there are some great
people on it, but there are also others that are clearly just
outsourcing the work. The quality has varied over time.
 8. STOCKSY
Beautiful stock images (that don’t look ‘stock-y’) to get your
website started. Images from only $10.
 9. UNSPLASH
Free stock images — they have a great range!
(Including the image that I used for the cover of this slide deck)
 10. OUTREACH
This is the latest software that I have been using as a sales tool to
contact potential customers. Even though they have raised $2m, it
still needs a bit of work but I am looking forward to seeing what
they do.
 11. CLOSE.IO
I have only tried Close.io for a limited period of time and it wasn’t
for us but it looks fantastic for sales teams. They also produce great
videos to help you.
 12. INSTAGRESS
Grow your Instagram fan base (with real fans). Try it for yourself...
you will know what I mean after three days!
 13. INTERCOM
Again another favourite! Intercom is essentially a CRM and live
chat tool in one. It’ll require some tech skills to integrate with your
site but after that it’s very easy to use. I can built email funnels to
get in touch with leads and customers, I can see how many times
customers have been on the site and when they placed an order,
and I can also send them targeted in-app messages and emails.
 14. UPWORK &
FREELANCER
They’re great if you need a task done and don’t have the time to do
it.
 15. PRESSFRIENDLY
Get your PR done via PressFriendly as a monthly service. I have just
signed up so I will let you know how it goes.
 16. PIXC
Product image editing and optimization for your eCommerce store!
(You can also use it for your LinkedIn profile or team page — yes I
am biased!)
 17. INSTACART
Being busy, I found that I started getting lazy and reaching for the
closest snack. In San Francisco, this is usually a pastry, cookie or
muffin at the closest coffee shop. So, yes, I outsource my shopping
when I stay at the office until 10pm and need my groceries
delivered. I now have no excuse not to be healthy!
 18. MOQUPS
Moqups allows you to quickly sketch up wireframes for your
website / landing page layout which you can then easily pass to a
designer.
 19. INVISIONAPP
I have only recently started working with a Product Manager.
Previous to this, I was the product manager and I would spec
everything out in a word document and in moqups. Now, we use
Invision which allows everyone to add comments on the
wireframes and design. We are definitely more efficient.
 20. 99DESIGNS
Need a logo? Throw it up on 99Designs, run a contest and see what
you get back
 20. CREATIVE MARKET
A marketplace full of fonts, graphics, icons, photoshop brushes and
more.
 21. ENVATO
Envato is collection of multiple websites and tools (started by an
Australian couple in 2006) but my favourite is ThemeForest where
you can get all these themes you want to start a website. If you are
bootstrapping your company, I definitely would not design
something from scratch.
 22. LINKEDIN
Duh! — Although... it is not that common in Australia to use
LinkedIn however it sure is the best way to network and keep in
touch with everyone around the world.
 23. ANGELLIST
If you haven’t already, create an AngelList profile for you and your
company. This is the best way to recruit and connect with
investors.
 24. FOUNDER'S
NETWORK
I am part of a small members only network in San Francisco which
allows me to build close and honest relationships with other
founders. I think when you are building a company, this is really
important.
 25. MEETUP
Use MeetUp to attend events that you are interested in. Be careful
that you don’t get caught up attending any old event if you are busy
building a company. This will suck your time.
 26. 500 BRUNCHES
Go to brunch with a group of people that has been carefully
curated. This is a great way to meet other people in San Francisco.
 27. WEAVE
Think Tinder meets LinkedIn. Swipe right / left to meet people in
your industry. I have met all sorts of people from marketing,
growth, technical, to artists.
 28. ZOVA
Keep fit while you are working at home from your desk. Download
Zova.
 29. UBER & LYFT
I could not live without Uber and Lyft. You can get anywhere you
need at the tap of your phone.
 30. NUTRIBULLET
Best (offline) tool of them all! I bought a NutriBullet and I blend
everything. Kale, spinach, quinoa, LSA, bananas, beetroot, carrots,
celery.. basically anything I have in the fridge including raw eggs.
 31. GETAROUND
Getaround is peer-to-peer car rental which I use when I want to
drive beyond San Francisco. I have had some bad experiences with
Getaround but last weekend was great! We rented a Mini Cooper S
which was $11/hour and 5 minute walk from where we had lunch.
The app allows you to book within 5 minutes and unlock the car
with your phone.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Holly is building her own company, Pixc.
Over the past year she has used hundreds of tools and thought it
would be great to share them with other business owners and
startup founders.
Holly loves eCommerce, food and travelling.

Follow Holly on Twitter @hollyccc