Best Tools for Early-Stage Startups, Free and Paid

In short: an early start-up runs on cheap tools for years. Miro, Canva, Slack or Discord and Freepik cover planning, design, communication and imagery for free. A keyword research tool such as Mangools, Notion for operations and Zoho for email are the three we think are worth paying for.

Finding tools that work for you at the beginning is a crucial part of getting things done and making progress. You do not have to get fancy about it either. Your main tool could be the notes app on your phone. All that matters is that it works for you and drives valuable outcomes. If a tool has a price, it has to generate some kind of positive value or be indispensable to the start-up's operations. Low budget tools are what your start-up will run on for years, even after you make your first few dollars, because staying lean is what keeps cash flow healthy.

So what are some early stage tools you should consider?

What free tools should you be using?

There are plenty of free tools that give you lots of runway without paywalls or heavy restrictions.

Miro

Miro gives you three boards for free, and you can take each board a long way. It is a great place to structure brainstorms, build moodboards, plan, design workflows and even sketch user interfaces. The free version lets you collaborate with team members and outside help.

Canva

You know it, you may even love it. Canva is a great tool for all kinds of marketing and sales work, whether that is social media content, quick logos, small designs, or sales and investor presentations. The free version has enough functionality that it has helped many entrepreneurs succeed, for all sorts of reasons.

Slack and Discord

Both give small teams and collaborators an easy way to work together remotely. Discord makes it simple to jump into a chat or a voice channel with one person or a group, and sharing your screen to work through something together takes seconds.

Slack is famous for its app integrations, which let you build workflows that give you back time. That matters when you are an entrepreneur with a growing pile of work.

Freepik

Every start-up needs pictures without worrying about copyright or legal trouble. Freepik is exactly the place for an entrepreneur looking for images for a website or social channels. Stock imagery without the headaches could be its motto, because that is what it delivers.

So what is worth the investment?

Mangools

Underestimated and underappreciated. A keyword platform can transform your start-up's progress. Mangools is one of the cheapest options out there, and if you are smart about it you can pay for a month every so often and make the most of it. A tool like this is critical for structuring a website with copy that drives traffic, finding business ideas and concepts, and validating your ideas and key messaging. It also helps you spot marketing opportunities, identify problems worth solving and keep an eye on competitors.

Notion

This may be the best investment you make for overall business operations and mental clarity. Notion is a multi purpose tool that is well priced for what it offers. It can serve as a CRM, a place for accounting and document storage, and your project management hub. You can run a good portion of your company on Notion, from distilling your brand for new team members to keeping one source of truth for your messaging.

Zoho

As a whole, Zoho has pretty much everything an entrepreneur needs. The one solution we consider a must is its email. It is easy to set up and use, at one of the most competitive prices out there.

Find the stack that fits you

Find the right tech stack for you and run with it. Another entrepreneur's tools may not be the right formula for you. We keep saying that entrepreneurship and your start-up journey is a no blueprint blueprint. Take pieces of what you know and what you see others using, and test it for yourself. One tool may click with you intuitively while another never does.