Entrepreneur & Startup Resources—December ’18 Edition
I am frequently asked for recommended resources and tools for entrepreneurs and startups. So here is a list of tools, blogs and other resources that I have personally used and would use again in my startups. There are many other options that aren’t on my list, but I have limited the list to options I’ve used or worked with recently. I also left some obvious options off because of little or bad experiences with them. I update this every so often, so it keeps fresh with the ever changing startup landscape and my recent experiences.
Blogs & Knowledge Resources
- Steve Blank (Created the Customer Development model)
- Startup Lesson Learned—Eric Ries (The Lean Startup author)
- For Entrepreneurs—David Skok (Entrepreneur and VC)
- Guy Kawasaki (The Art of the Start author)
- Lean Blogs—Ash Maurya (Lean Canvas creator)
- Search Engine Land (SEO)
- Ben Horowitz (Entrepreneur and VC)
- Both Sides of the Table—Mark Suster (Entrepreneur and VC)
- Seth Godin (Author)
- Andreessen Horowitz (VC firm)
Books
- Art of the Start 2.0—Guy Kawasaki
- The Lean Startup—Eric Ries
- The Startup Owner’s Manual—Steve Blank & Bob Dorf
- Business Model Generation—Alex Osterwalder & Yves Pigneur
- Crossing the Chasm—Geoffrey A. Moore
- The Founder’s Dilemmas—Noam Wasserman
- Running Lean—Ash Maurya
- How to Create the Next Startup—Tom Taulli
- Lean Analytics—Alistair Croll & Benjamin Yoskovitz
- Lean UX: Applying Lean Principles to Improve User Experience—Jeff Gothelf
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things—Ben Horowitz
- Zero to One—Peter Thiel (Controversial person but good book)
- The Startup Checklist—David S. Rose
- Traction—Gino Wickman
- Scaling Up—Verne Harnish
Startup & Entrepreneurship News & Events
- CrunchBase (Startup company database)
- TechCrunch
- VentureBeat (Funding news)
- socaltech.com (LA tech startup news)
- SiliconBeachLA (LA startup news & events)
- Built in Los Angeles (LA startup news & events)
- TheFunded (Funding and VC database)
Find a Co-Founder
Business & Startup Planning
- Lean Canvas (Lean startup business modeling)
- Canvanizer (Lean startup business modeling)
- Strategyzer (
Buisness model canvas and value proposition design) - Ideator (Innovation platform)
- Startup Financial Model
- XMind (Brainstorming tool)
- TheBrain (Brainstorming tool)
- Mindjet (Brainstorming and innovation tool)
- Slidebean (Business plan pitch deck slides)
- Foresight (Best practices and resources for financial modeling)
- Startup Equity Calculator
- Co-founder Equity Split
- Comparably (Compensation/salary data)
Email, Calendars & Scheduling
- Google G Suite
- Microsoft Office 365
- Doodle (Scheduling meetings)
Doc Management/Filesharing/eSignatures
- Box (Cloud doc management and file sharing)
- Dropbox (Cloud file syncing)
- Google Drive (Part of G Suite)
- Zoho Docs (Cloud doc management)
- EchoSign (e-signatures)
- SignNow (e-signatures)
- HelloSign (e-signatures)
CRM & Sales Management
Customer Support Tools
- Zendesk (Support platform)
- Freshdesk (Support platform)
- LiveChat (Chat)
- Olark (Chat)
- TeamViewer (Remote access)
Product Development, Project Management, and Team Collaboration
- Github (Code management)
- Slack (Integrated
omni-channel team chat and collaboration) - Atlassian/JIRA (Software project management)
- Pivotal Tracker (Software project management)
- Hipchat (Team chat)
- Flowdock (Team chat)
- Producteev (Task management)
- Asana (Project and task management)
- Trello (Project management)
- InVision (UX, wireframe & prototyping)
- Canva (Graphic design)
- Realtime Board (Visual collaboration platform)
- Basecamp (Team collaboration)
- Monday (Team and project management)
Airtable (Team and project management)- Aha! (Product management)
Telephone Solutions
- RingCentral (Scalable & robust)
- Phonebooth (Better for smaller needs)
- Grasshopper (Basic)
- SnapRecordings (Professional telephone greetings/messages)
- MightyCall (Full featured for startups)
- TalkRoute (Advanced forwarding)
- Google Voice (Forwarding & VM)
- Dialpad (Full featured for startups)
Conference Calls & Web Meetings
- UberConference (Best option for conference calls and basic screen sharing)
- Zoom (Conference and screen sharing)
- Join.me (Conference and screen sharing)
- GoToWebinar (for hosting webinars)
- TeamViewer (Remote access)
Administration/HR/General Business Tools
- Expensify (Expense management)
- Quickbooks Online (Accounting)
- Quickbooks Payroll
- Wave (Accounting)
- Bill.com (Billing)
- IntelliCorp (Background checks)
- GoodHire (Background checks)
- Sterling (Background checks)
- Namely (HR, payroll & benefits management system)
- Gusto (Payroll)
- JazzHR (Applicant tracking system)
- TeamPassword (Password management)
- CommonKey (Password management)
- LastPass (Password management)
- Xero (Accounting)
- Hire Vue (Technical candidate assessments)
- TTI Success Insights (Candidate assessments;
contatc me to urchase)
Naming & Domain Registration
- Domai.nr (Domain name generation and search)
- Nameboy (Domain name generation and search)
- NameStation (Domain name generation and search)
- Sedo (Domains for sale)
- NameCheap (Domain registrar)
Logos, Design, & Production Services
- 99designs (Crowdsourced design)
- Fiverr (Small design projects)
- Envato (Digital goods marketplace)
- Themify (WordPress themes)
Animole - Animaker (Animated video creator)
- Wideo (Animated video & presentation creator)
Website/Software Product Development Firms/Consultants
- Lynq Media (Freelance web design & development)
- LiveWebMedia (Website development & marketing)
- New Leaders (Full-service software development)
- 14Zen (Full-service software development)
- Koder (Full-service software development)
- Upwork (Freelance developers)
Website/App Tools & Services
- Amazon Web Services (Cloud datacenter/hosting and software tools)
- Rackspace (Cloud datacenter/hosting)
- Pair (Web hosting)
- WP Engine (WordPress Hosting)
- BlueHost (Web hosting)
- SendGrid (System emails)
- Postmark (System emails)
- New Relic (Server/site monitoring & performance management)
kissmetrics (User & performance management)- Pingdom (Monitoring)
- TRUSTe (Privacy & compliance)
- Google Analytics
- MixPanel (User analytics)
- RapidSSL (SSL certificates)
- Verisign (SSL certificates)
- Zapier (API/web services integration & management)
- BrowserStack (Browser testing tool)
- Loop11 (Usability testing)
- Qualys (Security & compliance)
- Chargify (Subscription based billing)
- ChargeBee (Subscription based billing
- Fusebill (Subscription based billing
- Recurly (Subscription based billing
- Stripe (Online Payments)
- Square (Retail/POS Payments)
- Shopify (Online stores/e-commerce )
- WooCommerce (e-commerce for WordPress)
- Bootstrap (App framework)
- Wufoo (Forms)
- Webflow (Websites)
- UsabilityHub (UX testing)
Marketing & Customer Discovery/Validation
- Constant Contact (Email)
- MailChimp (Email)
- Campaign Monitor (Email)
- Drip (CRM & email)
- Insightly (CRM & email)
- Act-On (Campaign management & automation)
- HubSpot (Campaign management & automation)
Hatchbuck (CRM & campaign management)- AdSpeed (Online ad serving & management)
- Facebook ads
- LinkedIn
ads - Google Adwords (Search advertising)
- Bing Ads (Search advertising)
- Moz (SEO and social media management)
- Positionly (SEO)
- Unbounce (Landing pages, A/B testing)
- Optimizely (A/B testing)
- SurveyMonkey (Online surveys)
- Publicize (Tech reporter/bloggers lists)
- Marketo (Campaign management & automation)
- Hootsuite (Social media management)
- Buffer (Social media management)
- Splash (Event marketing automation software)
- LaunchRock (Launching soon/idea testing pages)
- Invoca (Call tracking & analytics)
- Ytel (Omni-channel marketing)
- Mapovate (Customer journey mapping)
- Intercom (Bots & live chat)
Investor & Equity Tools
- TruEquity (Cap table management)
- Solium (Stock option management and expensing)
- Gust (Angel funding)
- AngelList (Investor matching)
- The Funded (Investor & deal info)
- Term Sheet Generator (from Wilson Sonsini)
- PitchBook (Investor & deal info)
Banking
- Silicon Valley Bank (Startup and technology experts)
Technology Training/Education
- Udacity
- Codecademy
- Code School
- Udemy
- Coursera
- General Assembly
- Stanford University Free Online Courses
- Codify Academy
- Khan Academy
Law Firms (Startup Experience) & Legal Forms
- Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth (Contact: Mark Skaist)—OC
- Stubbs Alderton & Markiles (Contact: Kevin DeBré)—Los Angeles
- Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati (Top startup firm in Silicon Valley)
- Homeier & Law (Contact: Jor Law)—Los Angeles
- Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe (Free startup forms and agreements)
- Cooley LLP (Privacy Policy Generator)
Intellectual Property (IP) Law Firms, Research, & Services
- Stubbs Alderton & Markiles (Contact: Kevin DeBré)—Los Angeles
- Lewitt Hackman (Law firm)—Los Angeles
- Fulwider Patton (Law firm)—Los Angeles
- United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO)(IP search)
- Trademarkia (Trademark search and filings)
Accountants/CPA (Startup Experience)
- Prager Metis (Contact: John Gosch)–Los Angeles
Insurance Brokers (Startup Specialists)
- Costello & Sons (Broker)
- Quickbooks Pay-As-You-Go (Workers’ Comp)
coverstartups (Online Broker)Foundershield (Online Broker)
Shared Workspace (LA)
- Coloft—Santa Monica
- Nextspace—Culver City
- NextSpace @ Amplify—Venice
- Cross Campus—Santa Monica
- Hub LA—DTLA
- WeWork—DTLA & Hollywood
Recruiting/Hiring & Startup Jobs
- Built in Los Angeles (local job board & startup news)
- Upwork (Freelancers)
- Dice (Tech talent)
- Meetup (Meetings)
- LinkedIn (Leverage groups )
- Engage2Excel (Recruiter)
- AngelList (Startup platform)
- VentureLoop (Job board)
- StartUpers (Job board
- F6S (Job/founders board)
Misc.
- TR Trading (Used office furniture)–Gardena, CA
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Melissa DATA
- Employer Identification Number registration
