When we were first getting started, I found that it was easy to spend a lot of time researching different software programs to use. However, the cost of making the wrong decision was often high and it wasn’t always intuitive what the best option was. It was also easy to sign up for a new tool without taking advantage of startup discounts.
Below is a list of tools and companies we use to help narrow your research process along with some tips on how to get them for free or discounted. Some of them are pretty obvious, others you may not know exist…hopefully the list helps!
Communication/Workflow
Data organization: Airtable
Wiki: Notion
Communication: Slack
Virtual office: Tandem
Calendar: Vimcal
Product design: Figma
Phones: Dialpad
Video conferencing: Zoom
Email and office basics: Google Workspace (GSuite)
Email updates: Mailchimp
E-sign: Docusign
Issue tracking: Linear
Customer Management/Product
CRM/Support: Hubspot
Organizing customer feedback requests: Canny
Feedback surveys: Typeform
Website: Webflow
How-to videos: Loom
Product tours: Lou
Payment processing: Stripe Connect
Team/HR
Finance
Bank: Mercury
Corporate card: Stripe Corporate Card
Quickbooks: Quickbooks
Subscription tracking: Profitwell
How to get discounts
Just about every company that sells to startups has some sort of startup discount program, so it’s better to assume they do than not. Here are some tips on how to find discounts:
Sign up for Stripe’s Corporate Card, they have a lot of great discounts
Ask your VCs (if you have them)
Google the company’s name + “for startups” or “startup discounts” and you’ll be surprised at what you find
There are some formal programs you can pay for that aggregate discounts like Product Hunt’s Founders Club, but I haven’t found them to be that great as companies often give away similar or better discounts from what I’ve seen.
If I’m missing something or you have recommendations, comment below!