Entrepreneur/Startup Resources—May ’17 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)
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)
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
- Comparably (Compensation/salary data)
Email, Calendars & Scheduling
- Google G Suite
- Microsoft Office 365
- Doodle (Scheduling meetings)
Doc Management/Filesharing/eSignatures
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)
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)
- Fuze (Conference and screen sharing)
- AnyMeeting (Conference and screen sharing)
- Join.me (Conference and screen sharing)
- Mikogo (Basic screen sharing
- GoToWebinar (for hosting webinars)
- TeamViewer (Remote access)
Administration/HR/General Business Tools
- Expensify (Expenses)
- Quickbooks Online (Accounting)
- Quickbooks Payroll
- Bill.com (Billing)
- FreshBooks (Accounting & billing)
- IntelliCorp (Background checks)
- Zenefits (HR & benefits management system)
- Namely (HR, payroll & benefits management system)
- Gusto (Payroll)
- TheResumator (Applicant tracking system)
- TeamPassword (Password management)
- CommonKey (Password management)
Naming & Domain Registration
Logos, Design, & Production Services
Website/Software Design & Development Firms
- Lynq Media (Freelance web design & development)
- LiveWebMedia (Website development & marketing)
- New Leaders (Full-service software development)
- 14Zen (Full-service software development)
Website/App Tools & Services
- LaunchRock (Launching soon pages)
- Amazon Web Services (Cloud datacenter/hosting)
- Rackspace (Cloud datacenter/hosting)
- Pair (Hosting)
- SendGrid (System emails)
- Postmark (System emails)
- New Relic (Server/site monitoring & 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)
- Stripe (Payments)
- Square (Payments)
- BalancedPayments (Payments)
- Shopify (Online stores/ecommerce )
- Bootstrap (App framework)
- Wufoo (Forms)
Marketing & Testing
- VerticalResponse (Email)
- Constant Contact (Email)
- MailChimp (Email)
- Campaign Monitor (Email)
- Act-On (Campaign management & automation)
- HubSpot (Campaign management & automation)
- 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)
- Brown & Egusa PR (Tech reporter/bloggers lists)
- Marketo (Campaign management & automation)
- Hootsuite (Social media management)
- Buffer (Social media management)
- Splash (Event marketing automation software)
Investor & Equity Tools
- TruEquity (Cap table management)
- OptionEase (Stock option management and expensing)
- Gust (Angel funding)
- AngelList (Investor matching)
- The Funded (Investor & deal info)
- Caplinked (Investor relations)
- Term Sheet Generator (from Wilson Sonsini)
Banking
- Silicon Valley Bank (Startup and technology experts)
Technology Training/Education
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
- Lewitt Hackman (Law firm)–Los Angeles
- Fulwider Patton (Law firm)–Los Angeles
- Shaub & Williams (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
- Quickbooks Pay-As-You-Go (Workers’ Comp)
Shared Workspace (LA)
- Coloft–Santa Monica
- Nextspace–Culver City
- NextSpace @ Amplify–Venice
- Cross Campus–Santa Monica
- Hub LA–DTLA
- WeWork–DTLA & Hollywood
Recruiting & Startup Jobs
- Built in Los Angeles (local job board & startup news)
- elance (Freelancers)
- Dice (Tech talent)
- Meetup (Meetings)
- LinkedIn (Leverage groups )
- Decision Toolbox (Recruiter)
- AngelList (Startup platform)
- VentureLoop (Job board)
- StartUpHire (Job board)
- StartUply (J0b board)
- StartUpers (Job board
- F6S (Job/founders board)
- CodeEval (Programmers)
Misc.
- TR Trading (Used office furniture)–Gardena, CA
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
- U.S. Census Bureau
- Melissa DATA (Free data)
- Employer Identification Number registration
Other Tools/Resource Lists
