13 Essential Startup Tools For Starting a Business In 2023

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A goal without a plan is just a dream. To turn your side project into a money-making business, you need a sound plan and the right set of startup tools.

The list of startup tools 

Here’s the list of 13 awesome startup tools we’ve prepared for you:

  1. IdeaBuddy
  2. nTask
  3. ZOKRI
  4. ProofHub
  5. Chanty
  6. SocialBee
  7. CallHippo
  8. Apploye
  9. Fiskl
  10. Engati
  11. BoldDesk
  12. LogoDesign.Net
  13. Cheqmark.io

OK, now let’s dive in and check what these tools are all about!

IdeaBuddy – a perfect tool for planning your startup

IdeaBuddy is an innovative business planning software that helps aspiring entrepreneurs and teams to develop their ideas, create a business model, validate a business concept, and get a modern business plan.

If you just came up with the idea for your business, with IdeaBuddy you can sketch it out in Idea Plan. 

You can develop your idea further with Business Guide, which will take you step-by-step through the entire business planning process and provide relevant examples along the way. Also, the Financial Plan will help you make your financial projections in a simple way (no hard maths needed). 

Key features 

  • Business canvas – quickly sketch out your business idea 
  • Step-by-step business planning guide – develop your business idea 
  • Automatic financial projections – easily forecast for performance 
  • Business plan builder – get a modern business plan 

Pricing 

Dreamer plan – $15 per month/$45 per year

This plan allows you to work on 1 idea (project). It includes a business canvas, a step-by-step business planning guide, and a financial plan, which you can export and share. 

Founder plan –  $25 per month/$85 per year

You are getting 3 ideas (projects). It has everything included in the Dreamer plan, plus you are getting a business plan builder.

Team plan $45 per month/$165 per year

Up to 30 ideas (projects), and it has all the features included in the Founder plan, plus you are getting a business plan builder.

***Lifetime plan***

This is a time-limited offer and it includes a lifetime subscription to a Founder plan with 3 ideas for only $178.

ideabuddy_lifetime offer

nTask for project management

nTask is a project management tool that will help you keep all your tasks in line. You can manage your tasks, track time you spend on each task, organize online meetings with your team – pretty much everything you need to manage your projects. 

nTask will save you time switching between several different tools and keep all your tasks in one place. And what’s most important – since you’re just starting out, nTask has a free basic version that will surely cover all your needs. 

nTask
Image credit: nTask

Key features 

  • Projects – track your project schedule 
  • Tasks – create, assign, and track tasks 
  • Meetings – organize and manage your meetings efficiently 
  • Timesheet – make time tracking hassle-free 
  • Issues – resolve issues quickly by defining issue severity, issue priority, and issue status
  • Risks – identify and analyze potential risks your projects are subjected to 

Pricing 

Basic – Free forever

Offers 100MB storage, 5 members per team, unlimited workspaces and tasks, meetings, timesheets and issues. 

Premium – $3.99/month

Offers everything in Basic plan with additional 5 GB storage, projects, Gantt and kanban view, bulk actions and custom filters. 

Business – $11.99/month

Offers everything in Premium plan plus 10 GB storage, feature for saving custom filters, risk management, custom roles, and advanced reporting/integrations. 

Enterprise – Contact their team for pricing

Offers everything in Business plan, plus custom onboarding, dedicated account manager and dedicated cloud. 

ZOKRI – OKR and performance management

Overview

ZOKRI is goal setting software for companies that want to move away from goals created only by management and then stored in spreadsheets. The type of goals that aren’t looked at by the teams doing the work. These don’t work. High performing teams are trusted and empowered to discuss, propose and create Objectives and Key Results that align with company objectives, then deliver. This way of setting goals as evolved over 20 years and has been adopted by pretty much every start-up and fast-growing tech company. ZOKRI has a free plan for SMBs and small teams with paid plans starting from just $5.

ZOKRI
Image credit: ZOKRI

Key Features

  • Create a Mission, strategy and goals that align in one place
  • Use OKRs to define ambitious stretch goals with measurable outcomes
  • Track KPIs and set targets for business-as-usual metrics
  • Get updates on progress, plans and problems weekly
  • Alerts and notifications keep everyone on track and focused
  • Free guides and video tutorials coach you on how to use OKRs

Pricing

Team – Free

1 team of up to 10 people. Includes: Strategic Objectives, OKR Management, Check-ins, Notifications & Alerts, Meeting Management, Knowledge Base, Email Support and SSO User Management.

Essentials – $5 per month / per user

OKR Software for unlimited teams. Includes: Strategic Objectives, OKR Management, Check-ins, Notifications & Alerts, Meeting Management, Knowledge Base, Email Support and SSO User Management.

Performance – $10 per month / per user

Performance Management Software for unlimited teams. Includes: All Essential Features, Personal OKRs, Personal Development Plans, Wellbeing Surveys, Custom Surveys, Manager Support, Culture & Values and HRIS Support.

ProofHub

Overview

ProofHub is called an all-in-one project management and collaboration tool for a reason.

It’s a comprehensive project management and collaboration software designed to streamline workflows and improve team productivity. It offers a wide range of features, including task management, document sharing, team collaboration, time tracking, and more. It has been trusted by thousands of businesses and teams worldwide.

 

ProofHub

Key Features

  • Manage your tasks effortlessly using boards, table view, and workflows
  • Review and proof files with markup tools and approve them right where you are
  • See events, reminders, tasks, and milestones all in one place

Pricing

Free Trial
Essential – $45/month
Ultimate Control – $89/month

Chanty – startup tool for instant communication 

Overview 

Chanty is a tool that helps you communicate with your coworkers in a quick and easy way. Yes, most of your business communication should go through emails, but for some parts of the business, it’s quicker to solve issues with your team on the spot. With Chanty you can easily share your ideas, issues and fixes via instant messaging, voice messages and improve overall communication by integrating it with other tools you use.chanty

Image credit: Chanty

Key features 

  • Unlimited message history, conversations and tasks
  • Teambook hub with members, tasks, conversations and all the shared content
  • Powerful conversation actions
  • In-app media content player
  • Instant search for messages, files and other content
  • Seamless file sharing

Pricing 

Free Plan – for teams with up to 10 members

Offers 20 GB per team, unlimited public and private conversations, unlimited searchable history, unlimited one to one audio calls, unlimited voice messages, built-in task management, one guest user and up to 10 integrations.  

Business Plan – $3/user/month

Offers 20 GB per team member, unlimited public and private conversations, unlimited searchable history, unlimited one to one audio calls, unlimited voice messages, built-in task management, three guest users per member for free, unlimited group audio calls, unlimited one to one video calls, unlimited screen sharing and unlimited integrations. 

SocialBee – a platform for social media management 

Overview 

SocialBee is a tool that will help you maximize your social media management efforts. Marketing without social media is now simply a no-go, if you don’t have social media, you practically don’t exist. Social media management is important but can take up a lot of your time that can otherwise be spent on developing your business. SocialBee helps you save up to 8 hours a week and get the most out of your social media marketing. 

socialbee
Image credit: SocialBee

Key features 

  • Post on all major social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google My Business
  • Reshare your evergreen content 
  • Analyze your audience and spy on your competitors 
  • Customize each post for each social network
  • Advanced content analytics
  • Use categories to structure your content

Pricing 

Bootstrap – $19/month

Includes one workspace, one user per workspace, 5 social profiles, 10 content categories, 10 RSS feeds, 1000 posts per category, post recycling and all audience tools.  

Accelerate – $39/month

Incudes one workspace, one user per workspace, 10 social profiles, 50 content categories, 50 RSS feeds, 5000 posts per category, post recycling, and all audience tools. 

Pro – $79/month

Includes five workspaces, three users per workspace, 25 social profiles, unlimited content categories, unlimited RSS feeds, 5000 posts per category, post recycling, and all audience tools. 

CallHippo – easily manage your sales and support 

Overview 

CallHippo is a business telephony system that helps you connect with your customers and clients. It’s easy to use, but it also offers advanced features like Power Dialer and Automatic call distribution. It offers extensive reporting and integrations that help sales and service teams have effective conversations with customers.  

callhippo
Image credit: CallHippo

Key features 

  • Auto Dialer
  • Call Center Management
  • Call Monitoring
  • Contact Management
  • IVR / Voice Recognition
  • Predictive Dialer
  • Reporting/Analytics
  • Telemarketing Management
  • VoIP

Pricing 

Bronze – $14/user/month

Includes free number, forward-to-device, SMS, voicemail, teams, SDAP, and shared inbox.

Silver – $24/user/month

Offers everything in Bronze plus unlimited incoming calls, call recording, IVR, live call, call queuing, and intelligent reports and analytics.

Platinum – $35/user/month

Offers everything in Silver plus power dialer, call transfer, 3-way calling, the route to the external number, and custom caller ID.

Enterprise

Offers everything in Platinum plus personalized onboarding, advanced integrations, custom integrations, custom reports, and a dedicated account manager.

Apploye – Time tracking and scheduling app

Overview

Apploye is a smart solution for time tracking, monitoring, and scheduling. It supports the startup mostly, but other medium and large organizations can equally use the software for better improvement. The software is very friendly and easy for the user with a sorted dashboard and features. 

startup tools - apploye
Image credit: Apploye

Key Features

  • Online time tracking, billable and non-billable hours tracking, manual time entry,
  • Customizable timesheet, offline tracking, daily, weekly, monthly review,
  • Keyboard and mouse movement tracking, screenshots, apps and URLs tracking, GPS location tracker,
  • Attendance, scheduling, shifting duties, leave and vacation tracking,
  • Productivity level monitoring, project, and task tracking,
  • Comprehensive reports, payroll and invoices,
  • Available in Windows, Linux, Mac, Android, Web. 

Pricing

TimeTrack – $6/user/month
FieldTrack – $7/user/month
RemoteTrack – $8/user/month

Fiskl – startup tools for finance management 

Overview 

Fiskl is a set of startup tools that lets you scan receipts, create and manage invoices, quotes and expense reports. Small or large businesses can automate and manage all expenses and billing activities they need. Keeping a close eye on all of your expenses will help you get a grip of what parts of your business should be improved, and how you should model your prices. 

startup tools - fiskl
Image credit: Fiskl

Key features 

  • Customized invoices
  • Over 150 supported currencies with automated, live exchange rates
  • Recurring invoices
  • Invoices and estimates with status tracking
  • Payment integrations 
  • Send invoices via email, WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage
  • Intelligent expense management
  • Banking integration 
  • Built-in, easy-to-use timer 

Pricing 

Free plan free for one user

Create invoices for up to 7 clients, log up to 250 items, no recurring invoices, banking integrations, no white labeling possible. 

Solo plan – €10/m for one user

Unlimited invoices, log unlimited items, create recurring invoices, integrate with one bank account, remove Fiskl branding from your account. 

Pro – €15/m for two users

Unlimited invoices, log unlimited items, create recurring invoices, integrate with three bank accounts, etc.  

Prime – €25/m for five users

Unlimited invoices, log unlimited items, create recurring invoices, integrate with unlimited bank accounts, etc.

Engati – chatbot tool for your startup

Engati is the world’s leading multi-lingual Digital CX platform, and it is a one-stop platform for powerful customer engagement. With the intelligent bots, they help you create the smoothest of customer experiences, with minimal coding. And now, they are even helping you answer your customers’ most complicated questions in real-time with Engati Live Chat.

startup tools - engati

Key features

  • Omnichannel Conversations
  • One-view Inbox
  • Advanced Routing
  • Real-time administration
  • Extensible Integrations
  • Rich Analytics
  • e.Sense Proprierty NLP
  • Conversation Flow Builder
  • Deployment Models
  • Mobile SDKs
  • Exhaustive UI customization
  • Multilingual
  • Bot Building & Solutions
  • Human Takeover
  • Voice Bots

Pricing

If you want to check their price plans and special offers, you can check out their pricing page

BoldDesk

Overview

BoldDesk is a top-notch customer support software known for its user-friendly interface and robust features. With BoldDesk, businesses can efficiently manage customer inquiries, track support tickets, and streamline their support operations.

BoldDesk
BoldDesk

Its automation tools and customisable workflows help teams deliver timely and personalised responses, enhancing the customer experience.

Key Features

  • Email-to-ticket conversion
  • AI features
  • Knowledge base
  • Unlimited Agent pricing
  • Workflow Automation
  • Multilanguage support
  • Integrate with your favorite applications.
  • Multi branding and Customization.

Pricing

There are several plans available to help you choose according to your budget needs:

Agent-Based plans:
  • Starter: Starts $12/agent/month
  • Growth: Starts at $20/agent/month
  • Enterprise: Starts at $40/agent/month
Unlimited Agent plans:
  • Standard: Starts at $199/month
  • Pro: Starts at $499/month
  • Business: Starts at $999/month

LogoDesign.Net

Overview

Logodesign.net is one of the startup tools that let you create a unique brand identity with premade logo templates. Each template is created by expert graphic designers who have worked in the industry for years. You’ll see some top-notch quality, tons of editing options, and a hassle-free process. Even if you don’t know much about graphic design, the tool is super easy to understand and get a hang of. In no time, you’ll see browsing through the pages and short-listing your favorite pieces. 

startup tools - logodesign

Plus, the interface is also quite user-friendly.

The customization studio is a promising feature of this tool. It lets you modify the design details such as icons, colors, and fonts. You can also add effects, flip the design, play with alignment, or even do a bit of kerning (letter spacing).

If you are serious about your business, you need to build it as a brand. A logo is a visual element that helps you with that. It lets people visualize the brand and even connect with what it has to say.

So if you need a logo, try logodesign.net and see what it can do for you. 

Key Features

  • Online logo maker – No need to download anything. Everything is browser-based.
  • Search option – You can search designs by industry or by specific keywords.
  • Professional design – Each design is created by a professional artist. 
  • Custom logos – Original logo designs for exclusive branding.
  • A step-by-step process – Perfect for design novices. All it takes is simple clicks.
  • Customization – Editing panel that lets you modify colors, fonts, and other design features
  • Complete branding – Branding elements such as envelopes, business cards, and t-shirt designs available. 

Pricing

There are three packages to help you choose according to your budget and branding needs:

Basic Plan: Current discounted price: $39; Original price: $78
  • Includes only the logo design
  • High-res files in JPG and PNG formats
  • The vector file in PDF
Standard Plan: Current discounted price: $57; Original price: $114

Cheqmark.io

Overview

Cheqmark, an ultimate free checklist maker tool, has been designed to elevate daily routines and revolutionize your approach to productivity.

Unlock a world of possibilities with Cheqmark beautifully pre-designed templates, crafted to cater to any need. Craft your own designs, save them to your personal collection, download them in a PDF format, and even bring them to life by printing them out. Cheqmark has a range of useful templates such as habit trackers, daily checklists, monthly calendars, goal trackers, and much more.

Cheqmark.io

Key Features

  • Create customizable checklists for free
  • Download, print, bookmark and save them to your own collection
  • Access Premium features with affordable plans

Pricing

  • Free plan
  • Premium Quarterly Subscription – $5
  • Premium Yearly Subscription – $15
  • Premium One-time Template – $7

 

What are the other startup tools you need?

Depending on the business you plan to start, the set of startup tools you need will certainly change, but these are the must-haves for every type of business. For example, if you’re planning to start a retail business, you’ll certainly need POS software. In case you want to start an online business, you will need to select a merchant service provider.

If you’re not sure what startup tools you might need, try planning out your business with IdeaBuddy. With the intuitive business planning guide, you’ll learn more about each part of your future business, and get a better idea of what startup tools you might need to lift it off the ground. 

So, no more postponing, start with turning your dreams into reality. 🚀

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