The Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship
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Startup Tools

Getting Started

Lists of Tools from Others

Groups

Find a Co-Founder

Business Model Canvas/Customer Development Tools

Website Domain Names

Create Websites Automagically

Landing Pages

  • Unbounce - create, publish & test promotion specific landing pages
  • Instapage – create a free landing page
  • Atmio – mobile landing pages
  • Lander – create a landing page in minutes
  • Ion – create landing pages that convert

“How Big is the Market?” Tools

“How Do I Contact Customers?” Tools

Product Launch Tools

  • LaunchRock - Create a viral “coming soon” landing page
  • LaunchSoon – create a coming soon landing page
  • KickOffLabs - another viral “coming soon” landing page
  • Prefinery- Beta and Launch Mgmt software
  • Ooomf – iPhone app store build/push/launch

Product Demo Videos

On-Line Advertising Platforms (SEO)

Traditional Media

Search Engine Optimization and Tools

SEO and Analytics Tutorials

Web/Mobile/Social Analytics Tools

  • Google Analytics – web analytics and optimizer from the borg
  • Kissmetrics– actionable analytics
  • GetClicky – real-time web analytics
  • Swix – analytics for social media and online
  • Leadlander – marketing automation analytics
  • Seomoz – SEO and social monitoring
  • Wordtracker – find the best keywords and links
  • Serpico – monitor your competition, backlinks & rankings
  • Chart.io - easy analytics for business data
  • Mixpanel– real-time event tracking
  • Crazyegg– visualize analytics
  • Mint – site analytics
  • Visistat – web analytics measure marketing campaigns
  • Webtrends – analytics and segments
  • Chartbeat – website analytics for doers
  • Kontagent – user analytics for the social and mobile web
  • Forsee – web, mobile, social, contact center analytics
  • Comscore – ad agency/enterprise analytics
  • StatsMix – track and display internal & web metrics
  • Keylines – amazing email visualization tool (Palantir for the rest of us)
  • Ducksboard – very cool way to measure any online metrics
  • Cyfe – monitor social media, analytics, marketing, sales, support
  • Mention – media and social monitoring
  • Geckoboard – widget-driven business dashboard
  • Grappster – dashboard for your cloud apps
  • Leftronic – dashboard for real-time analytics

Mobile Apps Analytics / Ad Platform

  • Flurry - mobile app analytics and traffic acquisition
  • App Annie – Apple app store analytics
  • TestFlight – IOS beta testing on the fly
  • Tapjoy - mobile app turnkey ad platform
  • G6Pay – pay-per-install platform
  • Apsalar – mobile engagement mgmt
  • Burstly – mobile app monetization tools

Online Marketing Suites

  • Relead – turn website visitors into sales pipeline leads
  • HubSpot - online marketing and web analytics system
  • Eloqua – marketing automation
  • Pardot – marketing automation for multi-touch sales
  • Silverpop – end to end marketing automation
  • HipCricket – mobile marketing platform
  • Performable – personable web analytics/lifecycle marketing
  • Custora – customer retention, churn reduction, lifetime value
  • Zoho – free/cheap web customer relationship mgmt software
  • Highrise – small business CRM
  • Pipedrive – sales pipeline management
  • Zferral – affiliate and referral marketing on the web
  • Genoo – marketing automation software
  • MarketBright – marketing automation suite
  • HootSuite – social media dashboard
  • Intercom – CRM and web messaging tool for web apps
  • Salestrakr – low cost CRM
  • InviteBox – referral program platform
  • Crowdtap - Influencer Marketing platform

Email Marketing/Blasting

Surveys

Gamification

  • Bunchball – gamification for user engagement and loyalty
  • Hoopla – motivate employees, increase sales productivity
  • Badgeville – gamification platform
  • Gigya – social plugins, gamification

Loyalty Programs

Collaboration

  • Dropbox – free store, sync, and, share files online.
  • Box – online file sharing
  • Google Apps – free Email, Chat, Docs
  • LibreOffice – free wordprocessor, spreadsheet, drawing, presentation, pdf maker and database office suite
  • Skype- free voice and video communication tool
  • Typewithme – document collaboration tool
  • Google Hangouts – Googles uber Skyoe
  • Evernote - remember everything
  • Campfire – team collaboration
  • Wikispaces – wikis for everyone
  • Slideshare – share Powerpoints and docs with customers
  • Join.me – free screen sharing
  • Ning – Create your own social network
  • Yammer – free enterprise social network
  • Doodle – online group scheduling
  • Freeconferencecall.com – Free conference calls – awesome!
  • Speek – easy to setup conference calls, file sharing
  • Syncpad – collaborative whiteboard
  • Piktochart – make infographics

On-line Q&A Communities

Blogging Platforms

  • WordPress- king of blogging platforms…doubles as startup website
  • Tumblr – another blogging platform
  • Posterous – yet another blogging platform
  • Disqus – Comments Platform

Wireframing Tools

  • Great list of rapid prototyping tools here - dan harrelson
  • Keynotopia – use PowerPoint/Keynote to create web/mobile apps – Cool!
  • Lean Design - design using HTML5-editor and automatically convert it to XHTML/CSS
  • Balsamiq– rapid wireframing tool. software mockups in minutes
    • Napkee - export Balsamiq Mockups to HTML/CSS/JS and Adobe Flex 3 at a click of a button
  • Draw.io – draw diagrams online
  • MxGraph – client side JavaScript diagramming library
  • Pencil- Firefox add-on to do GUI prototyping and simple sketching
  • Lumzy – quick mockup creation and prototyping
  • CSS Hat – Turn Photoshop layers into CSS3
  • Mockflow – online/offline, extensible wireframing tool w/design library
  • OmniGraffle – it’s been around before the web even existed
  • JustinMind– define web and mobile apps with interactive prototypes
  • JustinMind UserNote - get user feedback/test usability
  • Wirify – turn any webpage into a wireframe
  • LucidChart – Cloud-based drawing tool
  • InVision – UX Prototyping from jpg, .png or .gif files
  • Cacoo – free online drawing tool
  • Axure – Wireframing, prototypes: buil-in widgets and shapes
  • HotGloo – Online Wireframing Tool
  • Mocksup – Share your web site mockups
  • Mockingbird - Mock it up and share web site wireframes
  • Protoshare – website wireframing
  • Gliffy – Online Diagraming
  • Keynotopia - wireframing + high fidelity (pixel perfect) prototyping tool
  • Free Wireframe templates for iPhone, iPad and Web
  • Wireframing Tutorial

Web Drawing Libraries

  • Paperjs - vector graphics scripting framework runs on HTML5 Canvas
  • Raphael – vector graphics JavaScript library – best for older browsers
  • Processingjs - vector graphics scripting framework runs on HTML5 Canvas

Website Usability Testing/Heatmaps/Mouse Tracking

  • Usertesting – $39 live users testing your site – cheap
  • Userfy – live user testing of your site
  • Experimently – heat maps, A/B testing experiments
  • FiveSecondTest – fine-tune landing pages
  • TryMyUI- watch videos of users using your site
  • FeedbackArmy - $20 website usability testing
  • WhatUsersDo - UK live usability testing
  • Clicktale – watch live clicks and browsing, optimize usability
  • Usabilla – Micro usability tests
  • OptimalWorkshop – tool suite for remote user research
  • Clickheat – heat map of a website (where do users click)
  • Mouseflow – attention heatmaps, mouse tracking and video playback
  • Clixpy – tracks users clicks and browsing
  • Openhallway – lets you remotely record user test scenarios

Website A/B and Landing Page Testing

Website/Browser Testing

  • AdobeBrowserLabs - preview web pages across multiple browsers and OS’s
  • Sauce Labs - cross-browser testing in the cloud
  • Browerstack - test websites across all browser w/debugging tools
  • CrossBrowserTesting - pick an OS, pick a browser, pick a website
  • Testling - cross browser testing
  • Browershots - free  browser testing makes screenshots in different os’s and browsers
  • 99Tests - Crowdsourced software testing

Phone/SMS Cloud Apps

  • Twilio - add mobile and sms to your app
  • Tropo – add voice and sms to your app
  • Callfire – add voice and sms to your app
  • Voxeo – voice recognition and IVR to your app
  • Jajah -telephony api
  • PlumVoice- IVR Systems

Mobile Testing/Build Tools

Website Designers

  • 99 Designs - marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design
  • IconFinder - great way to find free graphic icons on the web
  • xScope - measure, align and inspect on-screen graphics and layouts
  • Scoutzle - curated community for the best mobile designers

Website Design Tools

Web Application Frameworks

Cloud Services and Tools

NoSQL Databases

Development Tools

  • Twisted – easy to implement custom network applications, event-driven networking engine written in Python
  • Perl Object Environment - Perl framework for reactive systems, cooperative multitasking, and network applications
  • jQuery - cross-browser JavaScript library
  • Codeacademy Labs - program in Ruby, Python, and JavaScript online without downloading a code editor or IDE
  • Kodingen – cloud development environment, code editor, hosting service, collaboration platform
  • CircleCi – Continuous integration and deployment tool for web apps
  • TeamCity – continuous integration and unit testing, code quality analysis, pre-tested commits, reporting on build problems
  • yUML – sketch uml diagrams.
  • WebSequenceDiagrams -sketch sequence diagrams. automatic links to generated images
  • Rietveld - asynchronous code reviews on changesets
  • Fluid – turn webapps into Mac OS X apps
  • TextMate – code and markup editor
  • Coda - one-window web development app for the Mac
  • Coderunner - Edit/run code in any programming language with a click
  • SourceLair & SourceLair API- cloud coding platform C, Python, Ruby and API
  • WebBiscuits – framework for web apps for smartphones and tablets
  • Best free programming books
  • CodeAcademy - learn to code

Project Management

  • Github - Free public repositories, collaborator management, issue tracking, wikis, downloads, code review, graphs
    • Bitbucket – cloud hosting for Git or Mecurial projects
  • Mercurial – free, distributed source code control management system
  • Kanban versus Scrum - description
  • Kanban Tools
  • Scrum Tools
  • Basecamp- web-based project management and collaboration tool
  • Pivotal Tracker - Agile project management tool real time collaboration
  • Trello - team collaboration around “boards”
  • Rally – agile product management
  • Clarizen - cloud project mgmt tool
  • Webplanner - online collaborative project management application.
  • ChiliProject - web based project management
  • Kiln - Version control and code review
  • Fogbugz -bug tracking, project mgmt, customer support
  • Preceden - simple way to make timelines for presentations
  • Intervals - time tracking and task management
  • Asana - shared task list for your team
  • Teambox -combines social networking and project management
  • Milestone Planner - planner for deadline/outcome driven environments
  • 5pm – Online project management tool
  • AgileZen - project management visually see and interact with your work
  • GoPlan – collaborative project management
  • Unfuddle -hosted project management solution for software teams
  • Taskpoint – online project mgmt and collaboration
  • Lighthouse – Issue Tracking Tool
  • Toggle – time tracking tool
  • Tabb – online time mgmt and to-do
  • Jira – Bug, Issue and Project tracking tool
  • Bontq – hosted bug tracking and project management needs.
  • Managewith.us - Collaborative Task Manager
  • Mavenlink - manage project communications, documents, schedules, budgets, payments
  • Industrial Logic – Agile eLearning

Web Server Stress Testing

  • Google Page Speed - test your web page speed
  • Httperf- HP Web Server Performance tool
  • Siege - http load testing and benchmarking utility
  • Jmeter - java-based server load testing
  • Tourbus - ruby website load testing tool

Digital Asset Management

Billing/Subscription Management/E-Store

  • Square - accept credit cards from ipad/iphone/android
  • Stripe - accept credit cards on the web
  • Chargify - Recurring billing without the headaches
  • Recurly - Subscription billing
  • Paypal – the standard for payment
  • Paypal Payments Pro - accept debt and credit cards on your website
  • Braintree - online credit card merchant processing
  • Aria - online billing platform
  • Shopify – create an online store
  • EStoreApp - a webstore in 5 minutes
  • Vindicia - on demand billing and fraud management
  • Volusion – shopping cart software
  • CheddarGetter - online recurring billing
  • Cloudware City - online app store for subscription services
  • Spreedly - sell subscriptions on your site. signup, upgrade, trial pricing
  • Zuora - online subscription management
  • FeeFighters - find the cheapest credit card processors
  • HealPay - Collections made easy

Customer Support/Feedback

  • Tender - support, knowledgebase tool for your site
  • GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers
  • Zendesk – web help software
  • Clickdesk – Help desk, live chat, social toolbar
  • SnapEngage - live chat integrates with your apps
  • Freshdesk – completely unique never seen before web help software
  • Testimonial Monkey –  integrate customer feedback into your site
  • Kayako – Help desk
  • UserVoice - turn customer feedback into action
  • Kampyle – turn customer feedback into sales and relationships
  • Ideaffect - customer feedback, vote, comment, manage
  • Olark - live customer chat and customer loyalty
  • Assistly - Support customers by Web, email, chat, and social networks
  • Vision Helpdesk - Support for multiple companies from one place
  • OneDesk – ideation to delivery and support issues, tickets, tasks
  • HappyFox – collate, categorize and respond to all requests
  • HelpSpot – Helpdesk software
  • Webengage – website survey, feedback and notification tool

Recruiting Tools

Misc Office Help

Outsourcing/Freelance Help

Chip/Hardware Resources/Tools

Custom Machine Parts/Industrial Supplies

Manufacturing Resources

Medical Device Resources

__________

Market Research Tools

Your local business school, should have a subscription to some or all of these

__________

Starting and Running a Startup Advice

Entrepreneurship Reading List

Entrepreneurship Online

Angel/SuperAngel Investors

Crowdfunding

Incubator List/ Startup Jobs

Advice on Raising Startup Capital

Cap Tables / Valuation

Education Financing

 

Venture Capital Financing

Boilerplate Venture Funding Documents

Intellectual Property Advice

Best Startup Advice

Founder Equity Issues

Executive / Advisory Board Compensation

Public Relations (PR) For Tech Companies

Finance 101 for Entrepreneurs

Web/Mobile Revenue Models

Product Pricing 101 for Entrepreneurs

Lawyers/Legal

List of Investment Platforms

Must Read Blogs