Useful tools for [tech] startups
I thought that I'd start the year by outlining some of the tools that I find useful when working with startups - please feel free to add / amend / even comment on stuff. At the moment it's predominantly geared toward tech startups, if this goes ok we could broaden it.... Please add your name if you contribute and feel free to hit me with thoughts too on @thulme or thulme@ideo.com
I've tried to roughly organise things into time of startup development (x-axis) and areas of focus (y-axis), each area of focus has it's own page:
UX / Site - Slide 3
Brand - Slide 4
Recruiting - Slide 5
Funding - Slide 6
Strategy / Pricing - Slide 2
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
Useful tools for startups
- please feel free to add / amend
How competitive is the market?
www.spyfu.com - estimates adwords pricing - added by @thulme
Or www.semrush.com - added by @thulme
Product ideas / feature requests from the community
Quirky.com or
ZenDesk.com - added by @thulme
Tenderapp.com - added @psalehi
Design the viral loop / marketing loop
Get inspiration from http://ProductPlanner.com - added by @thulme
http://www.cloudsponge.com/ by @davestone
Talk to market experts
Post market based questions on http://answers.yahoo.com/ - added by @thulme
or Quora: http://www.quora.com/ - added by @thulme
Follow specific curated topics on:
http://www.curated.by/ - added by @basti
Test demand
Survey tools: http://www.surveymonkey.com/ - added by @thulme
limesurvey.org/ - added by @joergrech
General inspiration around business models
Business Model Generation book by Alex Osterwalder– http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com/ added by @thulme and overview pres: added by @duediler
The killer startup book list from Y-Combinator: http://www.hn-books.com/ added by @thulme
Board of innovation http://www.boardofinnovation.com/ added by @fredooms
Strategy / Pricing
General inspiration sites http://swombat.com/ - added by @thulme
http://news.ycombinator.com/ - added by @thulme
General inspiration videos http://passionmeetsmomentum.com/ - added by @thulme
General inspiration blog
www.paulgraham.com/ - added by @thulme
blog.thebraintwist.com/ added by @fredooms
Lean Startup
http://theleanstartup.com/ - added by @robbschiller
"Why Accountants Don't Do Startups" http://bit.ly/beNKgR added by @cpresc
Idea Development
Idea building, collaboration, and cofounder networking
sparkmuse.com - added by @netmau5
http://cacoo.com - realtime group diagrams
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
Pricing
Don't just roll the dice - added by vanni (HN)
Useful tools for startups
- please feel free to add / amend
Iterate the product
A/B testing - http://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/ - by @thulme
http://whatusersdo.com - by @neilcocker
https://browserlab.adobe.com/en-us/index.html - by @globetreter
http://userfly.com/ - by @globetreter
http://mouseflow.com - by @shoptimate
http://www.usabilityhub.com/ - by @globetreter
http://fivesecondtest.com - by @kevinmctigue
http://optimizely.com/ - by @guido4000
http://www.hoptoad.com by @chcart
http://www.usertesting.com by @beanchips
http://johnnyholland.org/ by @joshr
http://Clicktale.com - user session recordings - by @freiert
http://www.notableapp.com by @davestone
http://browsersize.googlelabs.com by @davestone
http://www.bounceapp.com/ by @davestone
http://www.testrunnr.com/ by @danielrosewarne
Test effectiveness inside site
Crazyegg.com – see the clicks on your page
Google Analytics through the site - - added by @thulme
When you think your sites crashed but are unsure fail
http://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ - added by @thulme
http://wasitup.com added by @mjpizz
https://www.blamestella.com/ added by @solutious
Inspiration for Beta holding page
http://betali.st/ - added by @thulme
http://startupli.st/ - added by @nacho540
Tweak page layout
check wirify - added by @thulme
http://perfectomobile.com/ mobile testing @daveslocombe
Anonymize web page for feedback
lorumipsimizer - added by @cyberdees
Review site trends
http://webdesignledger.com/tips/web-design-trends-in-2011 -- added by @thulme
UX / Site
Concept development
http://linkvive.com�http://justinmind.com/ added by @globetreter�http://axure.com/ added by @globetreter�http://iplotz.com/ added by @chcart�Balsamiq Mockups (wireframing) by @freiert�Mockflow (wireframing) by @simonbooth
Keynotopia (wireframing on OSX) by @ImJMill
gomockingbird.com (site mockup)
Tracking issues & bugs
http://www.pivotaltracker.com/ - added by @haiyan
http://www.37signals.com/ added by @chcart
http://www.mantisbt.org added by @smadam9
http://www.testlodge.com - by @scottsherwood
Team cooperation
ProductEev.com - added by @benfwirtz
5pmweb.com - @chris_chard
mindmeister.com - @chris_chard
http://pivotaltracker.com - @joshr
http://yammer.com added by @andylenz
http://www.planzone.com/ - @ludivinehuche
Qualitative User Feedback
http://olark.com added by @mjpizz
http://getsatisfaction.com added by @christianoliff
http://uservoice.com added by @basti
Comprehensive Open Startup Machine
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
Recruiting / Team
simple application forms w. video
e.g. http://ycommonapp.com/ added by @thulme
freelancers
http://www.elance.com/ added by @thulme
odesk.com added by @startupbus
http://www.freelancer.com added by @ajhai
http://programmermeetdesigner.com/ (added by @dguaraglia)
http://vworker.com, used to be rentacoder. YMMV with this one. (added by @dguaraglia)
http://sortfolio.com/ added by @kyle.maloney
http://www.bootb.com/en/ added by @kullawine
http://jobs.freelanceswitch.com/ added by @TomDavenport
http://guru.com added by @ImJMill
interviewing
http://www.interviewzen.com - added by @jsummerfield
http://www.codility.com - added by @ioventures
Server monitoring
http://programmermeetdesigner.com/ (added by @dguaraglia)
Based on Open Source contributions
http://www.masterbranch.com - added by @nacho540
Useful tools for startups
- please feel free to add / amend
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
Co-founders
Superhacker & Phoneboy - added by @joshr
http://ifindkarma.typepad.com/relax/2005/01/superhacker_and.html
Equity Calculator - added by @joshr
http://foundrs.com/calculator/
Founder vesting - added by @joshr
http://cdixon.org/2009/04/21/founder-vesting/
Allocating Founder and Employee Equity - added by @joshr
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2011/04/how-to-allocate-founder-and-employee-equity.html
Co-founder Mythology - added by @joshr
http://www.bothsidesofthetable.com/2011/05/09/the-co-founder-mythology/
internships and job boards
Enternships http://www.enternships.com/
Tech City job board - http://www.techcityjobs.co.uk/
Silicon Milkroundabout - http://siliconmilkroundabout.com/
Work in Startups - http://workinstartups.com/
- added by @tstonez
What should I name the product?
Adwords enables you to trial name & keyword combinations - added by @thulme
KnowEm lets you check the availability of your name across channels - add by @mikkojarvenpaa
Brand font
http://wordmark.it/ added by @thulme http://flippingtypical.com/# by @kullawine
**Startup Metrics for Pirates!**
http://slidesha.re/aPYpfg added by @daveslocombe
Naming
http://www.visualthesaurus.com/ added by @thulme
http://namethis.com added by @andylenz
Building the Perfect Beast - Igor [PDF] - @joshr
Brand / Marketing
Colours
http://colorschemedesigner.com/ added by @thulme
http://kuler.adobe.com/ added by @globetreter
http://www.colorotate.org/ @joergrech
Email Marketing & Contact List Mgmt
http://mailchimp.com - added by @robbschiller
http://www.campaignmonitor.com/ - added by @globetreter
http://sendloop.com - added by @cemhurturk
Spread, Link shortening & Click Analytics
bit.ly added by @amylondra
http://goo.gl added by @globetreter
Domain Names
http://instantdomainsearch.com/ - @iburattini
http://www.namecheck.com/ - @joergrech
http://xona.com/domainhacks/ - @joshr
http://www.dotomator.com/ - @simonbooth
http://domai.nr/ - @coldclimate
Brand thinking /positioning
http://www.mindmeister.com/ by @kullawine
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, the book:
http://amzn.to/DhFSf by @kullawine
Rossiter-Percy Grid: http://bit.ly/fC0Bmi by @kullawine
There's a lack of 'brand positioning wizard'
and 'incredible new clients' needs mixer' I tnink ;) by @kullawine
Useful tools for startups
- please feel free to add / amend
Feedback collection
http://www.surveymonkey.com/ by @kullawine
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
User Acquisition / Gaining Traction
http://bit.ly/bab921 added by @seanleow
Funding
Raise cash without giving up equity?Cool!
www.kickstarter.com - added by @thulme
Get seed funding and a like minded network
www.hackfwd.com - added by @amylondra
first tuesday @daveslocombe
open coffee @daveslocombe
seedcamp @daveslocombe
Venturelab @VenturelabUK
Quality angels - Angellist.com - added by Ben Longstaff
Startupbootcamp added by @eoghanjennings
Crowdfunding & Financing help
http://profounder.com - added by @robbschiller
http://www.growvc.com - @iburattini
Business plan and case templates
http://score.org/business_toolbox.html - added by @guido4000�http://phase2generator.com - added by @tobiaskluge
Useful tools for startups
- please feel free to add / amend
Funding for graduate/student startups
Where can young entrepreneurs get startup funding? - added by @GradEntrepr
Pitching advice/tips
Top 5 tips for 2011 pitching - added by @VenturelabUK
Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 PowerPoint method - added by @VenturelabUK
Smarta: How to do a killer presentation - added by @VenturelabUK
Bootstrap funds
startupchile.org- added by @pepearaya
ß
time
idea building / Research
Development
Beta
Feedback & Iterate
α
Alpha
€ / ?
Scale
P2P SME Funding
Funding Circle - http://www.fundingcircle.com/ - added by @davidjwoodward
Bible of Capital Raising - venturehacks.com - added by Ben Longstaff
Dilution Calculators
http://www.ownyourventure.com - added by @insert_nick
http://hackfwd.com/dilution - added by @insert_nick