Managing a startup to a self-sustainable level today has become a hardship. There are many trials and challenges startups have to face in the early days.
Apart from the competition and funding, a common problem faced by modern startups is not being able to survive through the first stage due to poor understanding of the utilization of resources.
This can be overcome by using proper tools. Almost every post millennium startup company use cloud based technologies to survive in the field. There are some great free tools for startups out there to accelerate the productivity of a startup to achieve its goals easily.
Here we talk about 4 major free tools for startups that can help startup companies survive through its difficult times. Some of them are free to be used and as you grow it’s worth paying for their services as well.
Google Drive
Google Drive is the most advanced free cloud based file storage and word processing system on the web. While a user gets 15GB of free Google online storage, there is a premium service that allows you to host your own domain to be used with all the apps in Google.
As an online word processing software, Google drive is very powerful and flexible. The package consists of a word processor, spreadsheet manager, presentations maker, form designer and a drawing tool.
Google Drive is a great online file management software as well. You can upload your files and keep them safe forever in the cloud. You can share them with your team securely as well.
Creately
Creately is an online diagramming and collaboration software. While it can be used to design any type of diagram, most startups use it as a flowchart software. Just like the drive, its platform is independent. You can use it on any operating system with a browser that supports flash.
You can save and share your diagrams while collaborating in-real time regardless of the geographical location of your team. There are many diagram templates and examples available to get started quickly as well.
Creately comes with a free to try package for 5 public diagrams. You can move to the paid package as your company grows.
Slack
Slack is a very powerful team communication tool that can be used by your team to communicate and collaborate. Slack brings all the pieces and people you need together so you can actually get things done.
It consists of a real-time messenger (limited to 10000 messages) in the free version. It also includes Audio/Video calling and a powerful file sharing methodology just like in Skype, Viber and WhatsApp.
The most amazing feature in Slack is the ability to integrate other services like Google docs, memo services and even marketing reporting tools like Google Analytics.
Since you can use various plugins with Slack (such as…), you can free up space on your phone by removing apps that you would otherwise have to install. It’s a central solution that works in mobile as well.
You can go for the paid version for enhanced capabilities like more space for messaging archive.
Social Media
Social media offer the best free platforms for your business to talk about your products, services and achievements. When it comes to marketing, social media channels have become indispensable to business regardless of their type, size and location.
There are a few ways that social media can add value to startups. First of all you can build an audience that is interested in your company and what you do. You can passionately talk about the work you do. This can be done without spending a penny.
If you want to grow your audiences faster, there are paid services in social media websites as well.
You can use social media to talk about the product and services you offer. You can advertise them to your audience directly based on their information such as interests, age, and gender. This is the most important benefit a startup can gain especially if it offers services online.
Another important benefit of social media is the ability to listen to the customers. Your customers can talk to you about their problems and concerns about the products/ services you offer directly through the channel.
Rather than saying it somewhere else, this way you get to know them directly, and this allows you to provide immediate solutions to your customers.
Most recommended social media platforms for startups are Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Google Plus.
Using these tools the right way would increase your productivity while increasing the chance of making your venture a success.
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