Files
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Startup Tools
Getting Started
- The Lean LaunchPad Online Class – FREE
- How to Build a Web Startup – Lean Launchpad Edition
- How to Create a $1M Web Business – Noah Kagan
Lists of Tools from Others
- HBS Startup Tribe Tools List – from Tom Eisenmann at HBS
- NYU Startup Resources Library
- PBworks startup tools List
- Startup Weekend tools list
- Y Combinator Startup Library
- Startup Foundry tools list
- Small Business tools list
- Market research list
- Software Advice
Groups
- Startup Weekend – Launch a Startup in 54 hours
- Startup America Partnership – access to Relationships, Opportunities and Knowledge
- The Lean Startup Machine - Launch a Startup in 48 hours
- Startup Monthly – Launch a Startup in a month
- Lean Startup Circle - Google Group for startup advice
- LUXr – Lean UX residency
- Women 2.0 – Launch a startup for women
- Meetup – Meet people you’re interested in
Find a Co-Founder
- FounderDating - premiere site for founders/co-founders
- CoFoundersLab - find a co-founder in any city
- YouNoodle - founder matching
- Angel List – Angel List jobs board
- Startup Weekend - Launch a Startup and meet a co-founder
- TechCoFounder - directory of developers
- FoundersHookUp - Invite-only find a co-founder
- PartnerUp- small business site to find partners, business opportunities, real estate, etc.
- Meetup - go to a Meetup!
- How to hire developers - mike greenfield
- Foundrs - co-founder equity calculator
Business Model Canvas/Customer Development Tools
- Founders Workbook – A Checklist for the Startup Owners Manual
- Business Model Toolbox – iPad app from the master himself!
- Business Model Canvas – free downloadable Canvas
- Business Model Press – business model plugin for WordPress
- Business Model Designer – a web Canvas tool
- Lean LaunchLab - share Bus Model Canvas/Customer Development progress
- Business Model Canvas Tutorial - steve blank
- Customer Development Tutorial - steve blank
- Customer Discovery Toolkit – Stanford d.school – awesome resource
Website Domain Names
- Knowem – domain and trademark search tool
- Domainr – domain name search
- GoDaddy - domain names, web hosting
- NameCheap - cheap domain names
- Picking a domain name – Jason Calacanis
Create Websites Automagically
- Edicy - Create a website
- Webs - Create a free website
- Squarespace - build an exceptional website
- Wix - free website builder
- Pagelines - build a website with WordPress
- Zozolo – start a website within Facebook
- Plinqs -simple web page creation
- GoogleSites - simple web host provider
- Weebly – get a website up quickly with no tools
- Yola - get a website up quickly with no tools
- How Much Does a Website Cost? - folyo
Landing Pages
“How Big is the Market?” Tools
- Google Trends - what are the search trends for key items
- Google Insights - breaks down the search data by location
- Facebook ads - check out the total available market
“How Do I Contact Customers?” Tools
- Jigsaw – business contacts
- Hoovers – phone and email contacts for sale
- Harrisinfo - sales leads for sale
- InfoUSA – email lists for sale
- ThomasNet – find any company
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
- DunkTank - create product demo videos
- MyBrainshark – online and mobile videos
- Apptamin – App videos and websites
- Switch Video – produce an animated video
- Grumo Media – product demo videos
- Loose Keys – product videos as stories
- Piehole.tv - product demo videos
- Thinkmojo – animated product videos
- Epipheo Studios - animated product videos
- How to roll you own - Grumomedia
On-Line Advertising Platforms (SEO)
Traditional Media
- Media Planning and Buying Calculators
- SRDS Media Buyers info - advertising rates and data
Search Engine Optimization and Tools
- How Does Google Adwords Work?
- Great SEO Programmers Tutorial
- Ad Contrarian - Grumpy old ad guy with great insights
- SEOBook Tools - Free SEO tools
- SEO Digger - Find the top ten keywords ranking to your websites
- SEMRush - SEO and campaign management tool
- Clickable - Pay per click management
- Spyfu - tells you how much adwords cost
- Market Samurai - SEO Keyword Analysis Tool
SEO and Analytics Tutorials
- Startup Metrics for Pirates – read this before you spend time elsewhere
- SaaS Metrics Tutorial – worth reading as well
- The Noob Guide to Online Marketing – great graphic and tutorial
- Analytics review – mixpanel vs kissmetric vs google analytics review
- Analytics blog – good analytics tutorials
- SEO for Startups – good tutorial
- Andrew Chen’s Essays – great web customer acquisition tutorials
- 5 Landing Page Metrics You Need to Know – simple tutorial
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
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
- Best email Subject-lines
- MailChimp - free basic email blast software
- Tout – email blast and mgmt software
- Constant Contact – email, event promotion, social campaigns
- Campaigner - email marketing suite
- Exact Target – social media and email marketing
- Postmark – email blast and mgmt software
- Mad Mimi – email blast software
- JangoMail – marketing and transactional email
- SendGrid – email blast software
- GroupVine – email marketing, community engagement, surveys
- Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) - pretty cool
- Campaign Monitor – basic email software
- Litmus – email previews and email analytics
- Emma – basic email marketing
- Postcron – schedule posts on Twitter or Facebook
- Mailjet – bulk and marketing email
Surveys
- Google Consumer Surveys
- Zoomerang - Free basic version, surveys polls, 150+ templates
- AYTM - Ask Your Target Market
- Ethnio - Recruit real people from your website for user research
- Qualtrics – cloud-based survey, free account
- KissInsights – survey visitors while they surf your site
- Wufoo - create contact forms, online surveys and event registrations.
- Poplytics – online surveys and analytics
- AskYourTargetMarket – market research surveys
- SurveyMonkey- granddaddy of on-line surveys
- QuestionPro – on surveys, plus templates
- SnapSurveys – online and mobile surveys
- Amazon Mechanical Turk – you can set up a question and get answers
- PickFu – A/B testing $5 for 50 opinions
- SurveyGizmo – free version, survey creation and data integration tools
- SmartSurvey – UK’s leading survey tool, complies with the Data Protection Act
- FormAssembly - Create order forms, service requests or registration forms and collect payment securely
Gamification
- Bunchball – gamification for user engagement and loyalty
- Hoopla – motivate employees, increase sales productivity
- Badgeville – gamification platform
- Gigya – social plugins, gamification
Loyalty Programs
- RewardStream - loyalty, customer referral
- 500Friends - customer loyalty program for ecommerce
- NextBee - customer referral and loyalty programs
- BigDoor - gamified loyalty and reward programs
- UrbanAirship - push marketing for mobile
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
- Stack Overflow - questions and answers for programmers
- StackExchange – expert answers to your questions
- Social Source Commons Q&A/tools for non-profit programmers
- Social Source blog- blog for non-profit programmers
- Quora – questions and answers for non-programmers
- Yahoo Answers - post questions, sometimes get answers
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
- A/B Testing Tutorial - read first
- Landing Page Tutorial
- Fivesecondtest – Landing page optimization
- VisualWebSiteOptimizer - A/B testing (split tests)
- Optimizely - A/B testing (split tests)
- Silverback – usability testing for designers and developers
- FeedbackArmy – web usability testing
- 37Signals Advice on A/B 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
- Clutch.io - A/B testing for Mobile Apps
- TestFlight - IOS beta testing on the fly
- Pusher - hosted API for realtime mobile/web apps
- Corona - mobile development platform
- PerfectoMobile - mobile app testing
- MobiReady - testing tool evaluates website mobile-readiness
- GoMez - test your website for “mobile ready”
- Rigor - test/monitor performance of mobile apps/websites
- W3C Mobile OK - test your website for mobile
- Google Page Speed - test your mobile speed
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
- Twitter Bootstrap - Twitter toolkit for development of slick, intuitive webapps and sites
- Bootsnip- - free HTML snippets for Bootstrap
- WrapBootstrap – Themes for Bootstrap
- Bootswatch – More themes for Bootstrap
- Buttons for Bootstrap
- Google Web Fonts - open API of 613 web fonts
- Google Font Pairs - how to mix fonts and finding ideal pairings
- Subtle Patterns - free tileable textured patterns
- iStock Photos - Royalty Free stock photos and images
- ColorSchemeDesigner – find complementary colors
- ColourLovers – share colors, palettes, and patterns
- Meteor - open source platform for building web apps
- ThemeForest - site templates cheap
- Scraster- Record screen and webcam. Simple editing. Perfect for screencasts or user studies
- Microsoft WebMatrix - Web server, database, and ASP.NET and PHP
- AppMakr – Mobile Ap Creator create quick mobile apps
- EditMe - create collaborative websites
- NewRelic - manage and tune website performance for Rails
- GooglePageSpeed - optimize your web pages
- Launchbit - online web site class for novices
- Zencoder – online video converting/encoding/transcoding service
- Google: HTML, CSS and Javascript from the Ground Up
Web Application Frameworks
- Really Helpful Guide to technology choices - Danny Boice
- Web Application Frameworks - start here
- Comparison of Web Application Frameworks – continue here
- Visual Basic, PHP, Rails, Node.js next? - Andrew Chen
- PHP
- CakePHP – a PHP open source framework
- Symfony – another PHP framework
- Zend – yet another PHP framework
- PHP Tutorial and PHP Manual and Freaks
- Python
- Ruby
- Ruby on Rails – open source framework for Ruby
- Capistrano - Rails deployment tool
- EventMachine - simple event-processing library for Ruby programs
- Ruby on Rails Tutorial - Michael Hartly
- Ruby on Rails Guides - great tutorials
- RailsCasts – Ruby on Rails Screencasts
- Why’s (Poignant) Gude to Ruby – intro to Ruby with chunky bacon
- Tech*if*er0*urs - blog on roadmap for learning rails
- Sinatra - another Ruby framework
- Ruby on Rails – open source framework for Ruby
- Node.js - event-driven I/O server-side JavaScript environment based on V8
- Express - web development for Node.js
- JSON - lightweight data-interchange format, subset of Javascript
- SproutCore - open-source JavaScript framework
- Drupal – open source content management platform
- Joomla – another open source content management system
- Learn to Code – Stanford Computer Science classes – free
Cloud Services and Tools
- Web Hosting Tutorial
- Heroku - Ruby, Node.js, Clojure, Java cloud platform - Platform as a Service
- AppHarbor - Heroku for .net
- CloudFoundry – deploy and scale apps in seconds- open source Platform as a Service
- Amazon Web Services - Amazon’s cloud solution - Infrastructure as a Service
- Amazon Web Services very basic primer
- Amazon CloudWatch - Monitoring for Amazon EC2 and RDS DB
- Scalr - Tool to manage scaling servers in Amazon’s cloud.
- Amazon EC2 developer tools
- Amazon AWS developer tools
- Joyent – high performance cloud - Infrastructure as a Service
- Rackspace - Managed and cloud hosting- Infrastructure as a Service
- Linode - Linux virtual servers in the cloud
- Google App Engine - Googles version of a cloud solution
- Google SQL – Googles version of MySQL in the cloud’
- Windows Azure – Microsoft Cloud Platform
- DotCloud - Build and deploy any application to the cloud
- Storage Room – content mgmt for web & mobile apps
- Firehost – secure Cloud hosting
- Wowrack – managed Cloud hosting
- Bitnami – one-click Cloud hosting
- Enomaly - complete “cloud in a box” solution
- Wistia – video hosting for businesses
- AppDynamics - Cloud Performance Mgmt
- Epicnms - flexible data collection and plots
- Engine Yard - Ruby and PHP Cloud Hosting platform
- Netflix experience in moving from datacenter to cloud
NoSQL Databases
- NoSQL list – start here
- Hadoop - distributed processing of large data sets across clusters
- Hive - data warehouse for Hadoop
- Cassandra – scalable database no single point of failure
- Couchdb – document database
- Redis - data structure server
- MongoDb – NoSQL database
- Riak - NoSQL database implementing Amazon’s Dynamo
- MemSQL – SQL in memory
- Rdbhost.com - browser SQL database hosting.Python/Javascript APIs
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
- jQuery UI - official jQuery user interface library. interactions, widgets, effects
- Javascript tutorial – jQuery
- Cappuccino - JS development framework
- JSFiddle - preselect/add JavaScript frameworks and test your code
- 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
- Git Introduction - learn Github
- Git the Simple Guide – the basics
- Unfuddle - Git and subversion hosting
- Bitbucket – cloud hosting for Git or Mecurial projects
- Mercurial – free, distributed source code control management system
- Kanban versus Scrum - description
- Kanban Tools
- Kanban Tool – Another Kanban tool
- KanbanFlow – free Kanban tool
- Swift-Kanban - enterprise Kanban
- Kanbanery - Simple online team or personal kanban board
- LeanKit Kanban - Great for visualizing work of product development
- Kanban Pad - “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool
- Scrum Tools
- TeamPulse -Scrum and Kanban
- RallyDev - Automates Agile / Scrum development
- YoDiz - agile/scrum tool, issue tracking
- VersionOne – agile product management and Scrum tool
- ScrumPad - Agile tool collaborative product life-cycle
- Scrumy - project management tool loosely based off of Scrum
- OnTime Development Suite (and here) – provides bug tracking, scrum project management
- Acunote – Agile project management and Scrum
- Banana Scrum - A tool simple as Scrum itself.
- 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
- MediaValet – for agencies, creatives, enterprise
- Celum – digital and video asset mgmt.
- Canto Cumulus – digital asset mgmt
- ThirdLight - digital asset mgmt
- WebDam -
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
- JobVite – recruiting software, applicant tracking
- Zoho Recruit – applicant tracking
- Resumator - applicant tracking and social recruiting
- RecruiterBox - recruitment software, applicant tracking
- ActiveInterview - Video interviewing
- JobPage - applicant tracking and social recruiting
- Zartis – social recruiting
- MasterBranch – show off your skills
- VidCruiter – video interview software
- LinkedIn – the uber connector
Misc Office Help
- SharedDesks – Coworking and Office Space
- Google Apps – cloud mail server, calendar, docs, etc.
- Grasshopper – virtual phone system
- Hoiio - business communications apps
- Ringio – cloud phone system
- RingCentral – cloud based phone system
- Freedom Voice and FreedomIQ - $3.95 800 #’s, hosted VoIP telephony
- InDinero – easy business finance software
- ZenPayroll – delightful employee payroll software
- Expensify – billing, expenses, receipts
- BambooHR - Employee Records, Benefit Information, Payroll Data, etc.
- Xobni – Outlook plugin to search
- QuoteRoller – create, deliver and negotiate proposals online
Outsourcing/Freelance Help
- Amazon Mechanical Turk - set up any task and get answers
- Elance - find/hire freelancers
- Odesk - hire low-cost international engineering talent
- Freelancer - outsourcing for small business
- VWorker - find/hire freelancers
- GroupTalent – developers and designers on demand
Chip/Hardware Resources/Tools
- Lady Ada - embedded applications and kits
- Adafruit - embedded applications and kits
- Arduino - open source hardware platform
- Raspberry Pi – $25 credit-card sized computer board
- Raspberry Pi App Store - apps & tools
- circuits.io – free circuit editor/pcb layout in your browser
- Upverter – collaborative circuit design
- OSH Park – community circuit board design
- Advanced Circuits – one day printed circuit boards
- Fritzing – opensource hardware community
- Microsemi (Actel) smartfusion: A low power development board full of peripherals and an FPGA chip
- Digikey, Mouser, Newark, Future, Arrow, Avnet, Allied, Sure and Sparkfun for general components
- Hacked Gadgets
- Sunstone - Printed Circuit Boards
- TI, Cypress, and Analog devices for microcontrollers and IC’s
- Baskville- if you need parts in New Zealand
- Low cost CAM Software - Deskproto, VisualMILL, madCAM, MeshCAM, Mayka
- Guerrilla guide to CNC machining, mold making, and resin casting- awesome
Custom Machine Parts/Industrial Supplies
- makerbot – Replicator 3d printer
- RepRap – open source 3d printer
- eMachineShop – machine custom parts online
- onlinemachinist – more custom parts online
- Protolabs -
- Hackerspaces -
- TechShop – Bay Area and Raleigh N.C. open machine shop, ClubWorkshop – Denver
- Instructables – shared maker community
- Quirky – shared social inventor community
- i.materialize - 3D parts printing service
- 3-D Prototype Design – 3D professional parts printing
- McMaster-Carr - 480,000 parts of hardware heaven
- RepRap – open source 3D Printing
- MakerGear – homebrew 3D Printing
- W.W. Grainger - Industrial supplies
- Fastenal - more industrial supplies
- Octopart – search engine for electronic parts
Manufacturing Resources
- Digikey - Electronic components distributor that offers products including semiconductors, passives and interconnects.
- Custom Circuit Boards - Printed circuit board manufacturer (USA) for prototype and production quantities
- Alibaba.com
- GlobalSources.com
- Sourcing in China
- Sourcing Blog
- Smart China Sourcing
Medical Device Resources
- BMESource – Biomedical resource portal
- Medical Device Glossary
- MDD – Medical Device & Diagnostic Industry site
- QMed – equipment suppliers for med device companies
- OECD Market Size Data
- CPT Codes – coding/billing info
- Biodesign - book website
- Understanding the FDA
- Working with the FDA
- First steps in the regulatory process
- 510K versus a PMA
- Investigational Device Exemptions
__________
Market Research Tools
- Clipular – Camera for the web/great research clippings
- Business Research LaunchPad - start here
- Private “pay for market research” firms
- Gartner, Forrestor, Yankee - IT
- Frost & Sullivan – mulitple industries
- NPD – entertainment
- IMSHealth – health care
- MedMix – lifesciences
- CMR – chemical
- API – petroleum industry
Your local business school, should have a subscription to some or all of these
- Public or University library Resources:
- Standard & Poor’s Industry Surveys
- Encyclopedia of Emerging Industries, Gale Research
- Encyclopedia of American Industries, Gale Research
- Encyclopedia of Associations, Gale Research (find Trade Associations)
- Harris InfoSource Business Directory
- Lifestyle Market Analyst, SRDS – used for collecting psychographic data
Market Research Resources Online
- IOS / Android Market Size - Installed base
- Edsurge – educational software
- Alexa – competitive website info
- Silicon Valley Bank Analytics
- Compete – see competitive website traffic
- SEC EDGAR – research on public U.S. firms
- MarketReseach.com – Retailer of private market research reports
- ZapData.com – Dun & Bradstreet offers free statistical industry data
- Thomas – find any company in any industry
- BizStats.com – free business statistics and financial ratios
- SBDC - National Information Clearinghouse of the U.S. Small Business Administration
- Encyclopedia of Associations
- U.S. Bureau of the Census
- ESRI– Has free demographic data available by zip code
- EASI – estimated demographic statistics within a user-specified radii for any address
- Claritas – psychographic information and analysis of zip code areas
- Standard and Poors – Industry Surveys
- International Trade Statistics -
- NVCA – venture capital industry data
- PWC MoneyTree – more venture capital data
- Chemical Industry data
- FDA News – medical device and drug data/news
- Asymco – great market intelligence blog
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Starting and Running a Startup Advice
Entrepreneurship Reading List
- Books for Startups my favorite business books.
- Tech Entrepreneurs reading list
- My class and presentation slides!
Entrepreneurship Online
Angel/SuperAngel Investors
- Venture Hacks Angel List – raise money with angel investors
- Gust – Platform for Startup Funding
- Guide to Super Angels – Chubby Brain
- Types of Angel Financing
- Angel Financing Tips and here
Crowdfunding
- Kickstarter - crowdfunding
- Indiegogo – crowdfunding
- Rock The Post – crowd funding
Incubator List/ Startup Jobs
- List of Startup Incubators
- A Quora list of Incubators
- Jobs in Startups
- Lunch with Entrepreneurs
- Techcofounder – find a technical cofounder
- Founder Dating – find a cofounder
Advice on Raising Startup Capital
- Startup Valuation Advice - Mark Suster May 2011
- Fundraising 101 Checklist – Walker
- Pitching a VC - Mark Suster Advice
- How VC’s Evaluate Startups – Thomvest Ventures
- VC Experts
- Seed Stage Valuation Guide - Jordan Cooper
- Alternate Funding Ideas – Business Inside
Cap Tables / Valuation
- Cap Table Template - Fred Wilson
- Awesome Valuation/Equity Calculator
- Simple CapTable calculator - David Miller
- How VC’s Calculate Valuation - Mark Suster
Education Financing
- Edsurge - educational software
- K-12 Education VC Blog - Jennifer Carolan @ NewSchools
Venture Capital Financing
- MoneyTree – PricewaterhouseCoopers
- Fenwick and West – Venture Financing
- NVCA – National Venture Capital Association
- Venture Capital Survey – San Jose Mercury News
Boilerplate Venture Funding Documents
- Orick’s Legal Documents for Startups – priceless
- Scott Walker Advice on Termsheet Provisions
- YCombinator Series AA Equity Financing Documents
- National Venture Capital Association - model legal documents
- Series Seed Documents - Fenwick & West Seed Investment Standard Forms, used by most angels
- TechStars Model Seed Funding Documents - Cooley Godward
- WSGR Term Sheet Generator
- Orrick, Herrington Term Sheet Generator
- Founders Institute Plain Preferred Term Sheet - WSGR
- Docracy -Free Legal Documents
- ScottEdWalker – this legal blog is gold for a startup
Intellectual Property Advice
- Patents – U.S. Patent Office
- Trademarks - U.S. Patent Office
- Intellectual Property in the “Real World”- Antone Johnson
- “Nuts and Bolts” of Intellectual Property - Antone Johnson
- Intellectual Property for Startups - Mashtag
Best Startup Advice
- Best of Y- Combinator Startup Advice
- Tom Eisenmann Platform & Networks – Harvard Business School
- Uber list of Startup Resources – Legal, Equity, etc. – Bottom Line Law Group
Founder Equity Issues
- Fred Wilson Advice and spreadsheet
- Intro to Stock and Options – David Weekly
- Venture Hacks equity section
- Dilution – Mark Suster
- Joel Spolsky Advice on fairness
- Awesome Valuation/Equity Calculator - OwnYourVenture
- Splitting the Founders Pie - Frank Demmler
- ScottEdWalker - this legal blog is gold for a startup
- TruEquity Mgmt Tool - cap table management, free for founders
- Valuation on Revenue – Bill Gurley Above the Crowd
Executive / Advisory Board Compensation
- The Funded Standard Advisor Template
- Comp Study – Executive Compensation Website- unbelievably useful
- Expert CEO Compensation page – also incredibly useful
- SaaS Sales Team Compensation – Philippe Botteri, Bessemer Venture Partners
- VentureHacks on Startup Advisory Boards – great basics
Public Relations (PR) For Tech Companies
- Tech Reporters Contact Info - Conrad Egusa’s gift to us all
- Beginners Guide to PR
- 7 steps to get press coverage - Leo Widrich
- How to get media coverage - Leo Widrich
Finance 101 for Entrepreneurs
- MBA Mondays – Fred Wilson’s Tutorials
- How to Read a Financial Report, and here – Merrill Lynch
Web/Mobile Revenue Models
- Web/Mobile Revenue Models – Fred Wilson
- Advertising Revenue Models – Fred Wilson
Product Pricing 101 for Entrepreneurs
- Product Pricing Wiki Page – great links to pricing models
- How to design Web Pricing Pages - from Smashing Magazine
Lawyers/Legal
- Orick’s Legal Documents for Startups - priceless
- Walker Law: Tips for Entrepreneurs
- Top Ten Legal Mistakes for Entrepreneurs
- Startup Law 101 – George Grellas
- Intellectual Property Law For Startups Blog
- Yoichiro “Yokum” Taku – Startup Company Lawyer
- Startup Law Blog – Davis Wright Tremaine, Joe Wallin
- Orrick – Startup Legal Tool Kit
- Goodwin, Proctor – Founders Workbench
- Law & Disorder: ARS Technica Legal Blog
- Likelihood of Confusion-trademark, copyright and Internet Law
- Technology & Marketing Law Blog
- American Bar Association Best Legal Blogs
- Music Law – one of the best legal blogs period. Read all of it.
List of Investment Platforms
- Trusted Insight - Social marketplace for institutional investors
- CapLinked - manage and close business transactions
- SecondMarket - marketplace for alternate investments
Must Read Blogs
- Best Blogs Every Entrepreneur should read
- Top VC Blog List
- Fred Wilson – A VC
- SK Murphy
- Marc Andreessen
- Paul Graham
- Hacker News
- Brad Feld
- Chris Dixon
- OnStartups-Dharmesh Shah
- Both Sides of the Table – Mark Suster
- 37signals
- Eric Ries – Startup Lessons Learned
- Venture Hacks and http://twitter.com/venturehacks
- Andrew Chen
- Dave McClure
- Venture Made Transparent