A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | AA | AB | |
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1 | Below are recommendations from Serial Marketer founder David Berkowitz, an agency and tech alum who has vetted thousands of tech startups and founded the Serial Marketers community. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | To share this, use https://mrktr.net/toptech | Note: the newest additions are shaded green. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | CATEGORY | USE CASE | NAME | FREE VERSION AVAILABLE? | ALTERNATIVE 1 | ALTERNATIVE 2 | ALTERNATIVE 3 | ALTERNATIVE 4 | TIPS & NOTES | |||||||||||||||||||
4 | Advertising | Account-based marketing (ABM) ads | Terminus | No | Rollworks | Terminus optimizes ABM ad campaigns | ||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | Advertising | Out-of-home advertising | Five Tier | No | (client) Good starter packages for out-of-home ads | |||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | Collaboration | File Sharing | Dropbox | Yes | Google Drive | |||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | Collaboration | Custom communities | Slack | Yes | Discord | |||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | Community management | Communities: Marketing | Serial Marketers | Yes | Online Geniuses | What, I can't put my own first? Online Geniuses is the biggest, and I'm a big fan of the team there. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | Community management | Subscriptions / payments | Spiffy | No | Launchpass | |||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | Content management | Content ideation & publishing (premium) | Content Launch | No | Answer the Public | Blog Compass (Google) | HubSpot Blog Ideas | Content Launch is very impressive for content ideation and also can source writers cost-effectively. Answer the Public is a great free resource | ||||||||||||||||||||
11 | Content management | Content scheduling | Buffer | Yes | Lately | I use Buffer all the time - it always delivers. Lately is very impressive AI-driven software to scale content publishing. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
12 | Content management | Content publishing (visual) | Planoly | Later | Planoly and Later were both recommended by trusted sources | |||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | Content management | Content sourcing (text) | Content Launch | No | Content Launch is a useful content management tool but especially good for finding high-quality, cost-effective writers to scale your efforts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | Content management | Copywriting (automated) | Copysmith | No | Use AI to generate product descriptions, social and search ads, SEO metadata, and blog posts. Use code SERIALMARKETERS for 35% off 3 months. It's impressive tech, and you can try it for free for a week. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | Content management | Image background removal | Remove.bg | Yes | Stickermule | Remove.bg is a free tool launched December 2018. Stickermule launched a free background removal tool in 2020, and you can use those images when printing products through them. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | Content management | Image production | Canva | Yes | Visage | Canva is very robust. Visage was recommended by my friend Devin B for creating images on demand | ||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | Content management | Image resizing (social, etc) | Promo Image Resizer | Yes | Promo has an amazing, free tool to instantly resize images a ton of ways for various social channels - a godsend if you're launching or relaunching a brand | |||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | Content management | Project management for content | CoSchedule | Yes | Loomly | I've used CoSchedule for this, and it's very robust with a wide range of plans. Basic free plan available but team functionality and full features are paid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
19 | Content management | Quiz production | Riddle | No | Apester | Riddle focuses on quiz development for lead gen. Disclosure: I'm an advisor. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | Content management | Social media management | Sprout | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
21 | Content management | Stock photos | Depositphotos | No | Pixabay | Scopio | Icon8 | Depositphotos has some great credit plans (and periodically shows up in Sumo deals); Pixabay is a good free alternative. Icon8 is a very interesting model where you can customize photos. | ||||||||||||||||||||
22 | Content management | Video production (enterprise/professional) | Storyhunter | No | Userfarm | Vidmob | WochIt | I used to work at Storyhunter; Wistia was recommended by a friend, and Userfarm is an impressive crowdsourced approach. Vidmob has a strong, streamlined offering. | ||||||||||||||||||||
23 | Content management | Video production (apps / tools) | Headliner | Yes | Invideo | Lots of options for creating custom videos for different lengths and social platforms | ||||||||||||||||||||||
24 | Creative & design | Face generator | This Person Does Not Exist | Yes | Generated.photos | Rosebud | This Person Does Not Exist uses AI to generate people who look 100% real but are 100% AI-generated. This can come in handy when you need headshots for mockups or other uses. Keep refreshing. | |||||||||||||||||||||
25 | Creative & design | Font identification | What the Font | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
26 | Creative & design | Headshot editor | Profile Pic Maker | Yes | Profile Pic Maker takes any photos, removes the background, and then gives you a ton of ways to customize it so you have a great headshot or profile pic. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
27 | Creative & design | Logo design | Tailor Brands | No | Tailor Brands has a good basic logo creator tool starting at $3.99/month, though I'm partial to going directly to Fiverr user bangbend from Indonesia who designed three logos for me so far | |||||||||||||||||||||||
28 | Creative & design | Presentation design | Beautiful.ai | Yes | Slides.ai | Beautiful.ai is a robust, free presentation design tool. Slides.ai is designed for startup pitch decks, and there is also a free version. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
29 | Creative & design | Word brainstorming | Related Words | Yes | Discover words that relate to others - but not just synonyms | |||||||||||||||||||||||
30 | Customer relationship management (CRM) | Customer Experience | Thryv | Haven't used it but recommended highly by someone in Serial Marketers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
31 | Customer relationship management (CRM) | Text messaging | Neo | Yes | Neo was the #1 product on Product Hunt when it launched in the fall of 2020. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
32 | E-commerce | Crowdfunding management | Backerkit | Jellop | Crowdox | I haven't had to use these, but I'm familiar with Backerkit, and the rest are highly recommended | ||||||||||||||||||||||
33 | Email marketing | Email service provider | Mailchimp | Yes | SendInBlue | ActiveCampaign | Mailchimp is not the cheapest but integrates with everything | |||||||||||||||||||||
34 | Email marketing | Email list cleanup | Neverbounce | Yes | Neverbounce has 1,000 free credits with lots of ESP integrations | |||||||||||||||||||||||
35 | Email marketing | Email personalization | Zembula | No | Zembula offers an easy way to simplify email personalization with a single snippet of code | |||||||||||||||||||||||
36 | Entrepreneurship | Business plan creation | Lean Canvas | Yes | Strategyzer | Turn any pitch or business plan into the Lean Canvas one-page approach that can replace an entire deck. Strategyzer has a ton of tools, many available for free. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
37 | Events | Speed networking | Upstream | Yes | Alex Taub's Upstream app has some of the best 1:1 speed networking functionality | |||||||||||||||||||||||
38 | Events | Virtual event platforms | Shindig | Airmeet | Hopin | Brella | ||||||||||||||||||||||
39 | Finance | Pitch deck creation | The Company Brief (NfX) | Yes | Very useful tool from the team at NfX that produces a ton of smart resources (NfX = Network Effects) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
40 | Fun | Face swapping | Reflect Face Swap | Yes | A very impressive and entertaining use of artificial intelligence (AI) for face swapping | |||||||||||||||||||||||
41 | Hardware | Printer | HP OfficeJet Pro 8720 | No | I love this printer, recommended initially via Wirecutter. It's a great all-in-one device, very fast, and easy to set up. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
42 | Hardware | Voice assistant | Google Home | No | Amazon Echo | Echo has more apps and is versatile, but Google is better for productivity, especially if you use other Google services | ||||||||||||||||||||||
43 | IT | Clean your PC / mobile | CCleaner | Yes | I've used CCleaner for ages - it's still the best | |||||||||||||||||||||||
44 | IT | Software subscription management | Intello | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
45 | Learning & Development | Audiobooks | Audible | No (well, few books are free) | Overdrive | Libby | ||||||||||||||||||||||
46 | Learning & Development | Book synopses | Readwise | No | Readwise is a great service to receive highlights from books you've read on the Kindle - a great refresher, with some other useful features | |||||||||||||||||||||||
47 | Learning & Development | Language learning | Duolingo | Yes | Lingvist | Quizlet | Lingvist is more basic but has a smart approach to flash cards | |||||||||||||||||||||
48 | Learning & Development | Events - marketing | Beeler.tech | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
49 | Learning & Development | Events - tech | Techmeme | Yes | Product Hunt | TechConferences.co | ||||||||||||||||||||||
50 | Marketing | Ad industry gossip | Fishbowl | Yes | AgencySpy | Fishbowl is an ad industry app with anonymous gossip and info-sharing | ||||||||||||||||||||||
51 | Marketing | Branded or custom URLs | Bit.ly | Yes | Loom.ly | |||||||||||||||||||||||
52 | Marketing | Email signature files | NewOldStamp | No | Sigstr | I started using NewOldStamp recently after seeing it promoted via AppSumo, and I'm impressed; it starts at $9/month. Sigstr is also a very strong player in this space. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
53 | Marketing | Event spaces | Splacer | PeerSpace | Bizly | Haven't used this yet but heard good things particularly about Splacer | ||||||||||||||||||||||
54 | Marketing | Influencer marketing (influencer identification) | Klear | GroupHigh | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
55 | Marketing | Media Monitoring | Talkwalker | Yes | Google Alerts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
56 | Marketing | Newsletter publishing (email) | Mailchimp | Yes | MadMimi | I use MailChimp's free version for my own newsletter, having downgraded from the paid version, and I still get 95% of the functionality. A friend highly recommended MadMimi (thanks, Julie S), and it looks great with various price points for SMBs and heavy email marketers. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
57 | Marketing | Newsletter spam test | Mail Tester | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
58 | Marketing | Persona development | Make My Persona (HubSpot) | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
59 | Marketing | Signature files | NewOldStamp | No | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
60 | Marketing | Social Alerts | BrandMentions | SpinRamp | Awario | Digimind | Fammio | I've been using Brandmentions, and it works well for basic purposes. I've done some work with SpinRamp, and they are very impressive. For more enterprise-level recommendations, reach out to me, as I used to work for Sysomos and know the social listening space well. | ||||||||||||||||||||
61 | Marketing | Swag | Vistaprint | No | Printful | Stickermule | I loved Stickermule for stickers until I compared prices with Vistaprint, and the Vistaprint quality is great, especially for their premium products | |||||||||||||||||||||
62 | Marketing | Twitter contact updates | Spoonbill | Yes | Monitors Twitter for changes in bios of people you follow | |||||||||||||||||||||||
63 | Office & Home Office | Business cards | Vistaprint | No | Moo.com | I was a longtime Moo fan, but the prices for Vistaprint are so much better, plus the variety is astounding, and the quality is surprisingly good | ||||||||||||||||||||||
64 | Office & Home Office | Business formation & documentation | Zen Business | Yes | LegalZoom | Most things cost money with Zen Business, but they do have some free offerings, and cost savings were significant over LegalZoom when starting an LLC | ||||||||||||||||||||||
65 | Office & Home Office | Coworking (Part-Time) | Croissant | No (but free trials) | Kettlespace | Spacious | ||||||||||||||||||||||
66 | Office & Home Office | Coworking (Full-Time) | WeWork | No | Galvanize | Nomadworks | Nomadworks was formerly Grind | |||||||||||||||||||||
67 | Office & Home Office | Finance & tax management | Quickbooks Small Business | Wave Financial | Freshbooks | I am a big Quickbooks fan. Via the link, get 50% off QuickBooks Online or 50% off QuickBooks Self-Employed for 6 months. I then started using Wave for invoices, and it makes it very easy to get paid. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
68 | Office & Home Office | Food delivery | Delivery.com | Yes (mostly no fees) | Seamless | I'm a sucker for Delivery.com's rewards system | ||||||||||||||||||||||
69 | Office & Home Office | Lunch deals | MealPal | No | Pre-pay for cheap eats from nearby shops | |||||||||||||||||||||||
70 | Office & Home Office | Proposals | Bonsai | Harvest | Proposify | I don't have favorites here but heard good things about these | ||||||||||||||||||||||
71 | Office & Home Office | Stationary (snail mail) | Handwrytten | No | Postagram | Thankster | I loved Bond for formal notes, but it ceased operations. Handwrytten looks like a strong alternative with some added features. Postagram lets you send a postcard with a photo, so it's less formal but cheap and perfect for more personal use cases (eg thank you notes for baby gifts). | |||||||||||||||||||||
72 | Personal Finance | Online Deals | Honey | Yes | RetailMeNot | Honey's the best browser plugin I've tried to automatically find discount codes. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
73 | Personal Finance | Refunds for lower prices | Earny | Yes | Depending on your credit card, this can save you a lot of money; I've received a bunch of checks in the mail after purchase prices dropped. This one sounds a little hokey, but it works (or at least, it can). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
74 | Productivity | Bookmark & Organize Links | Pinboard | Yes | Google Keep | Pinboard's best for long-term filing, | ||||||||||||||||||||||
75 | Productivity | Browser organizers | Toby | Yes | The Great Suspender | One Tab | Toby organizes all your tabs in one simple page so you can easily access them. It also works great for teams, and there's a free personal version. Note: I mostly use the Chrome browser. | |||||||||||||||||||||
76 | Productivity | Calendar Scheduling | Calendly | Yes | MixMax | MeetFox | I love Calendly the more I use it. It saves a ton of time, and the customizations and integrations are even more impressive for the price. | |||||||||||||||||||||
77 | Productivity | Calendar Templates | Smartsheet | Yes | Free templates for Google calendar | |||||||||||||||||||||||
78 | Productivity | Databases | Airtable | Yes | I still haven't totally figured out how and when to use it, but it comes highly recommended | |||||||||||||||||||||||
79 | Productivity | Distraction blocker | Freedom | No | Set rules for blocking social apps/sites, news, entertainment, or other sites/categories where you feel you spend too much time, for desktop or mobile | |||||||||||||||||||||||
80 | Productivity | Document scanner | Turboscan | Yes | Turboscan pro lets you save unlimited documents; the free version works great too | |||||||||||||||||||||||
81 | Productivity | Email client | Superhuman | Superhuman was recommended highly by my friend Charlene, and I will try it out as soon as I can | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
82 | Productivity | Feed Reader | Feedly | Yes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
83 | Productivity | Follow-up reminders | Follow-up Then | Yes | Follow-up Then is a low-tech, crafty way to get email reminders about anything you want follow-up alerts for; there's a solid free offering, and pricing for premium plans starts at just $2/month | |||||||||||||||||||||||
84 | Productivity | International clocks | World Time Buddy | Yes | FIO | Very useful tools to show multiple time zones, including ranges of times | ||||||||||||||||||||||
85 | Productivity | Messaging | Station | Yes | Franz | I loved Franz, but Station seems even more robust and better functioning to bring a lot of messaging apps and other utilities all in one desktop app. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
86 | Productivity | PDF reader / writer | Xodo | Yes | Xodo is a free alternative to Adobe with enough editing features | |||||||||||||||||||||||
87 | Productivity | Project Management | Trello | Yes | Notion | Monday | Asana | I've used Trello sporadically; a friend strongly recommended Notion (thanks Michael R.) | ||||||||||||||||||||
88 | Productivity | Outsourcing (quick) | Fiverr | No (free to browse, pay for projects) | Try putting a project up for bid instead of finding a freelancer directly | |||||||||||||||||||||||
89 | Productivity | Outsourcing (Longer term) | Upwork | No (free to browse, pay for projects) | FreeUp | Pangea | OnlineJobs.ph | I'm a big fan of Upwork but have sourced certain great hires from FreeUp. FreeUp vets talent and recommends 1-3 people at a time until you find the right one, and I use it often. Pangea is good for finding college student talent and recent grads. | ||||||||||||||||||||
90 | Productivity | Read / watch links later | Yes | Great for near-term organizing; Pinboard and Google Keep are for longer-term plans | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
91 | Productivity | Text replacement | TextExpander | No | TextExpander is a useful PC tool to autoreplace text via keyboard shortcuts | |||||||||||||||||||||||
92 | Productivity | Virtual assistants | CoPilot | No | Copilot has modest hourly rates and no minimum number hours to use; they use skilled workers with needs beyond standard 9-5 jobs | |||||||||||||||||||||||
93 | Productivity | Voice transcription | Rev.com | Yes | Cheap Transcription | Otter | TranscribeMe | Gong.io | Rev was recommended by several friends (thanks K.A.). John Biggs started Cheap Transcriptions in 2019 and it looks great (at 1/10 the cost). Otter got a lot of buzz Q3 2018, but it's all AI-driven, and it isn't useful yet if you need a fully baked transcript. | |||||||||||||||||||
94 | Professional Development | Coaching | HireClub | The code here gets you $20 off | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
95 | Professional Development | Employment lawyer | Steven Sack | Yes (free initial consultation) | Amazing lawyer, reasonable rates, and very knowledgeable. Call him to review a new contract or a separation agreement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||
96 | Professional Development | Introductions | Bridge | Yes | Bridge is my secret weapon for making and tracking introductions. I made so many more intros thanks to this app (150+). | |||||||||||||||||||||||
97 | Professional Development | Job search: agency | Siftly | Yes (for seekers) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
98 | Professional Development | Job search: executive | ExecThread | Yes | ExecuNet | ExecThread is a private community for executive-level jobs. ExecuNet has a lot of listings and charges for quarterly memberships. | ||||||||||||||||||||||
99 | Professional Development | Job search: remote | RemoteOnly | Yes | WeWorkRemotely | |||||||||||||||||||||||
100 | Professional Development | Job search: startups | VentureLoop | Yes | AngelList | Startup.jobs |