Introduction

Every startup owner wants to keep their business costs as low as possible.

While some of these costs are unavoidable, you can integrate certain tools in your business practices that would minimize running costs, maximize efficiency and strengthen your startup journey.

You need to invest in tools that can help you optimize, automate, and improve every aspect of your business ranging from marketing, sales, team communication and reach outs. I will be listing 7 such tools below:

1. MindMeister

MindMeister is a Web-based Mind Mapping Application that lets you create, visualize and present your ideas to experts via cloud. You can use MindMeister for brainstorming raw ideas, map your ideas using elaborative themes and create dynamic slideshows.

It combines the Meistertask tool, which promises additional features such as:

Export and Embed: Embed maps in your project plans and export the plans to PDF or Word document

Comment and Vote: Allow the stakeholders to view proposed plans and vote on the suggested changes

Task Management: Turn your ideas into actionable tasks whereas these tasks stay synchronized between the mind map and the project board

Pricing (per month):

• Basic-Free

• Personal-$2.49

• Pro-$4.19

• Business-$6.29

2. Clarity

One of the most important aspects of business growth is sound and valuable advice. As an aspiring entrepreneur, it is very important to reach out to seasoned professionals and get guidelines on future course of action.

Clarity is a platform that connects entrepreneurs with top advisors & industry experts. You can browse through multiple categories: Business, Sales & Marketing, Funding, Technology, Management, Product & Design. 

Then you can browse through a list of Experts who’s profiles, reviews and Per minute call charges are mentioned. You can request a phone call for as low as $1 per minute.

3. Slack

Now that we have got you covered with idea creation and expert advice, let’s talk about communication within the team. Slack is our favorite tool for instant messaging for a variety of reasons.

Using Slack, you can create group discussions and private channels for different topics. You can attach files, initiate conversations, share documents and even begin Google meeting instantly. 

You can also employ Slack’s directory to integrate some of the existing tools you’re using with Slack to optimize workflow.

Pricing (per month):

• Free

• Pro: $6.67

• Business+: $12.50

• Enterprise Grid: Custom rate

4. Just in Mind

You do not have to be a design expert to create a prototype for your startup’s web or mobile application. Using Just in Mind, you can create interactive user interfaces for Web, iOS and Android apps.

Its liquid layout, Auto-resize UI and Advanced pinning features help you create interactive prototypes. You can also instantly preview the prototype on your mobile or desktop devices.

Pricing (per Month):

• Free

• Standard: $9

• Professional: $19

• Enterprise: Custom

5. Kissmetrics

As a startup, it is very important to track new site visitors, gain insights about user activity and consumer behavior.

Kissmetrics is an Analytics tool that will give you data to personalize the website experience and engage with your leads more effectively.

You can view detailed customer activity reports, revenue report, marketing funnel and other key metrics. 

Pricing (per Month):

• Silver: $299

• Gold: $499

• Platinum: Custom

6. Crunchbase

Crunchbase is a platform for researching information about private and public businesses. You can find information about investment and funding, founders, and management.

You can also research news, and industry trends and find out more about mergers and acquisitions made between companies.

Using Crunchbase, you can find active investors in your field, track your competitors by receiving personalized notifications on their business activity, and research industry trends to stay ahead of your competition.

Pricing (per month):

• Starter: $29

• Pro: $49

• Enterprise: Custom

7. Calendly

Calendly is a platform for scheduling meetings professionally and in an efficient manner.

On Calendly, you can set the specific times in which you will be available for meetings. Or, you can automate this by linking your Calendar with Calendly. 

You can share your Calendly link with people who can choose from your available time slots and this will automatically generate a meeting invitation link. 

Similarly, you can embed the Calendly link in your website to allow prospects to book time with you.

Pricing (per month):

• Basic: $0

• Essential: $8 per seat

• Professional: $12 per seat

• Teams: $16 per seat

• Enterprise: Custom

8. Superlist

Superlist is a task and project management app that helps people collaborate in a hybrid-working environment. Superlist has multiple features including ‘Manage your Day’, ‘Working with Team’ and ‘Plan a Family Vacation’.

You can manage both personal and team-based tasks on the platform by setting meeting, presentation and even workout reminders!

Superlist’s collaborative and easy to share features enable you to manage your workflow optimally.

Its cross-platform ability enable you to connect and share projects with your partner even if the two of you use different operating devices.

9. Timely

Timely is a time tracking software that allows you and your team members to clock in your work hours, or the hours that they are spending on a project which helps in building client reports.

In this way, you can track team and project progress.

You can also examine past costs, project profitability and efficiencies to determine the course of future projects.

Pricing (per month):

• Starter: $8 per user

• Premier: $14 per user

• Unlimited: $20 per user

• Unlimited+: Custom

10. ADP

Managing your staff’s pay and HR functioning is quite a complex process, to say the least, especially as a startup when you have a lot of work clogged in your pipeline.

Using ADP, you can easily manage your HR, payroll, recruiting and time management tasks.

You can also choose a select services and leave the ones that you do not need so that you’re only paying for the services that meet your needs.

The Pricing plans are custom and vary according to business needs.