Some time ago, starting a business would require investing heavily in human resources and if you are looking for the best, then be ready to spend a fortune. Also, most things weren't as optimized as they are now. It took a lot longer to plan a strategy, information sharing was crude and communication was limited. To make up for the inefficiency at the time, entrepreneurs had to put in hours of work. Now, with a laptop and a handful of employees, an entrepreneur could run a successful global business from his living room. Yes, technology is optimized to make running a business much easier. To show you how we will be sharing 10 tools and resources that can that you can use to ease your startup journey. 

GrowthHacker.Tv

One question on the mind of every founder is “how can I grow my business?” Growth can be difficult to achieve. It might even seem as if successful entrepreneurs just happen to stumble upon it. But that is not true. At GrowthHackers.tv, you can learn the secret to growing your business from successful entrepreneurs all over the world. You can watch all new interviews on GrowthHackers.tv for free. But you would need to subscribe if you want to see past interviews. 

TED Talks

Ted Talks is the place to go if you need to gain new insights, shift your perspective, stimulate your curiosity, or simply get informed on the latest and greatest. At Ted Talks, experts in many fields get to talk about many different things. With access to over 4000 Ted talks, who knows, you may just happen to stumble upon the next groundbreaking idea.

MailChimp

Marketing is a core part of growing any startup. There are many tools that are effective in running a successful marketing campaign. But very few are tailored towards startups as MailChimp. Mailchimp offers four plans that meet the needs of different businesses. The free plan provides all essential tools for building your business and growing your audience. However, it has a daily limit of 2,000 emails and a monthly limit of 10,000 emails. With less than 20 Euros, you can get the essential or standard plans all of which offer the tools and resources to meet the needs of any small business.

Moosend

This is a good alternative to Mailchimp. Moosend is also great at what it does and many of those who aren’t using Mailchimp are likely using Moosend. One of Moosend’s competitive advantages is the ease of using it. Unlike many other email marketing campaigns, you don’t need any knowledge of coding to use Moosend. The UI is interactive and easy to navigate. You have pre-made templates to choose from, simply drag and drop to create stunning landing pages, you can choose from several visibility options and yes, anti-bot protection. Pricing is a bit steep compared to Mailchimp but you have a 30 days free trial to find out if it’s all worth it or not. 

Hootsuite 

Social media provides a great opportunity for startups to build brand awareness. But managing so many social media accounts can be very complicated. That’s where Hootsuite comes in. With Hootsuite, you can manage all your social media accounts in one place. You can publish, engage, monitor, advertise and analyze how your customers respond to your products or services. You can start with a 30-day free trial and when you’re ready to subscribe, there are four options to choose from; professional, team, business, and enterprise. Each one is tailored to meet the specific needs of your organization. 

Asana

While testing out ideas for your company, you and your team may have to manage several projects simultaneously. It can get messy, but it doesn’t have to be. Asana was developed at Facebook with the aim of improving workflow. As it turns out, the platform was great and soon became the go-to project management platform for many organizations. Asana has several nifty features that make teamwork a breeze. You can access the platform via a mobile app and on the web. With more than 200 plus integrations, Asana makes it possible to communicate, collaborate and coordinate a project all from one place

Wave

Are you bad at handling finances? You’re not alone, I’m sure many people would instead leave it for the experts. But for a small startup, hiring a financial expert may not be budget-friendly initially, but then you still have to sort out the finances. In that case, you can make use of Wave, an online accounting tool. With Wave, you can track your business expenses, and manage your invoices, accounting, and banking (the US only) all for free. Wave is completely secured so you don’t have to worry about data losses or theft. It is also available in both web and mobile apps. 

Glasshat

Many startups increase brand awareness through blog articles. This is a great marketing strategy but not all blog articles get seen by the right audience. To make it easy for your audience to see your content, you need to apply the right SEO guidelines. Glasshat is an online SEO software that you can use to increase traffic to your website and blog and it’s perfect for small businesses and startups. With Glasshat you can track your website’s ranking, manage links, build and track your keyword performance, monitor your site’s traffic with the Google Analytics integration, manage your contents and make them SEO friendly, monitor your competitor’s website, and know how they draw traffic. 

Amazon Web Services

Amazon web services (AWS) is a web hosting service offered by Amazon. AWS is one of the best web hosting service providers, especially for startups. New AWS customers are automatically eligible for the free tier program that allows you to use the platform for 12 months free of charge (terms and conditions apply). In terms of features, AWS packs a punch. It offers over 90 services and solutions depending on the use case, industry, and type of organization. It also offers free virtual training by role (developer, architect, etc.) or by solution (data analysis, machine learning, etc.)

SemRush

SemRush is a digital marketing platform that is similar to Glasshat. But aside from providing you with over 22 billion keywords, on-page SEO, site auditing, and position tracking, the platform can also be used for competitor research. Knowing what your competitor is up to can help you better position yourself in the market and grow your market share. 

Conclusion

Growing a business is an art, and knowing the right tools for the job pays. In this article, we’ve talked about 10 tools and resources you can use to grow your startup. But this list isn’t exhaustive. There are so many helpful tools available out there, and more are being developed daily. So feel free to experiment and find which one works best for you. Note, that Epirus Ventures isn’t affiliated with any of these tools or its company. We only suggest them based on our personal experience as well as the trusted opinions of thousands and even millions of users. 

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