50 fantastic free tools for startups

Because Startups Deserve Great ToolsThe right tools can make a huge difference to your ability to run your startup and life. There used to be atime that great software cost more than most entrepreneurs could afford. No more. A highlycompetitive and innovative market has led to many companies using ‘freemium’ strategies to recruitcustomers, resulting in a proliferation of fantastic free tools.This guide contains 50 of the best that we have come across. Whether you are looking for something tohelp you create amazing presentations, manage your finances and projects or raise your startup’sprofile, we’ve got it covered. Some are completely free (often open source) and some are a free ‘liteversion’ with a premium paid version available. We also included a few extra paid tools that we cameacross just because they are so cool and useful and worth every cent (most come with free trials).Finally, some of the products, we use, have used or have tested. Some, our clients, colleagues andfriends have recommended , others are award winning and some just have great reviews. We hope youfind this guide useful.Martin SoorjooFounderInvestor Pitch Clinic LLC

OPENS 27 MARCH 2012 www.StartupCaffeine.com

PresentationsSlideRocket is a revolutionarynew approach to presentations.Its the only presentationsoftware that allows you tocreate stunning presentations,manage them intelligently, sharethem securely and thenmeasure the results.SlideRocket goes beyondtraditional presentation tools byharnessing the power of theInternet and making everythingavailable to you in an integratedand intuitive online interface.http://www.sliderocket.com/

PresentationsCreate astonishing presentationslive and on the web.Where a typical presentation isbased on individual slides with aset progression, the startingpoint for a Prezi presentation isone big page.On this blank canvas, you placeall of your elements for theentire presentation — images,text, even multimedia.http://prezi.com/index/

Edit ImagesPixlr combines image design andpaint tools with photo editingand adjustment features as wellas many other paid online imageediting programs.Whether creating an imagecarte-blanche, layering oneimage over another or using avariety of filters, effects andlevel adjustments to transformphotographs, Pixlr will delivergreat results.http://pixlr.com/

Advice for every pitch situation amodern day entrepreneur willencounterWhether youre pitching for funding, themedia, or to potential customers andpartners, to survive and succeed as anentrepreneur, you have to know how todeliver a high-impact pitch. Heres thePitch reveals powerful proven techniquesto get your audience to take the actionyou want.Youll learn the same strategies andtactics that have been used byentrepreneurs to raise millions ofdollars, secure partnerships, and win bigsales contracts.

CommunicationGoldMail is the easiest way tocombine your voice with yourcontent to create on-demandrich-media messages andpresentations. Don’t let yourcontent speak for itself online.Send a GoldMail!All you need are a few imageslides and something to say.Almost anything can beconverted to a GoldMail slide.You can import images files,PowerPoint presentations, insertscreenshots from yourcomputers clipboard.http://www.goldmail.com/

DocumentsAnytime, anywhere access toyour workGoogle Docs is securelypowered by the web giving youthe flexibility to be productivefrom your desk, on the road, athome and on your mobilephone, even when youreoffline.Works across operating systemsGoogle Docs works in thebrowser on PC, Mac, and Linuxcomputers, and supportspopular formats such as .doc,.xls, .ppt, and .pdf.Easily upload and share fileshttp://www.docs.google.com/

Content ReviewReviewBasics lets you exchangeideas and gather thoughts oncreative, interactive, motion,and written content in a breeze!Upload your content, and invitereviewers. Their feedback isreported back to you in real-time. Its Quick, Easy, andHassle-Free!http://www.reviewbasics.com/

Business ModelCreationThe Startup Toolkit businessmodelling canvas is a quick placeto write down what reallymatters about your startup, forfounders in search of a businessmodel.Document and update yourhypothesesStay focused on key risksCommunicate your businessmodelhttp://thestartuptoolkit.com/

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Email MarketingMailchimp is a anautoresponder that’s especiallywell suited for those just startingout with email marketing.It has a great, Web 2.0 interfaceand once you sign up and getyour account running, you canhave your first email campaignready in 15 minutes or less.Mail Chimp also offers designerand developers the ability toeasily customize their campaignsto the style they want.http://www.mailchimp.com/

File SharingFor YouPerson-to-person large filetransferSend files to recipients in real-timeReceive files into a personalDropboxFor Your CompanySimplest file sharing for endusersEasiest to manage for ITMore peace of mind with filetrackinghttps://www.yousendit.com/

File SharingThis tool caters for the basicneed of short to medium termfile storage & transferral.Using the very basic interface,you can upload a file of up to100mb and you’re given a linkthat goes directly to the fileyou’ve uploaded.Instead of emailing the large file,you email or IM the link to thefile.http://senduit.com/

File StorageDropbox allows you to sync yourfiles online and across yourcomputers automatically.2GB of online storage for free,with up to 100GB available topaying customers.Sync files of any size or type.Automatically syncs when newfiles or changes are detected.Shared folders allow severalpeople to collaborate on thesame files.See other peoples changesinstantly.https://www.dropbox.com/

FaxSend Your Faxes Via theInternet.No Fax Machine Required!http://faxzero.com/

PublicityNo such thing as free PR? FromThe New York Times, to ABCNews, to HuffingtonPost.comand everyone in between,nearly 30,000 members of themedia have quoted HAROsources in their stories.Everyone’s an expert atsomething. Sharing yourexpertise may land you that bigmedia opportunity you’ve beenlooking for.http://www.helpareporter.com/

PublicityPR Log is an online free pressrelease distribution and freepress release submissionservice.• HTML links in the press release body.• Search engine optimized dedicated web page & PDF version.• Multiple categories & tags.• Spam protection on your email address.• Free press release account.• Video Press release.http://www.prlog.org/

Publicityi-Newsire claim to be the fastestand easiest press releasedistribution service and freepress release submission online.Google News Inclusion in 1 hourof your Premium Press Releasepublication.Clients range from Fortune 500companies to many small andmedium sized businesses.http://www.i-newswire.com/

Video CreationAnimoto automatically producesbeautifully orchestrated,completely unique video piecesfrom your photos, video clips,and music.http://animoto.com/

Survey ToolCreate fast, easy surveysDeploy via email or the webAnalyze and share survey results Customer Satisfaction Surveys• Employee Satisfaction Surveys• Market Research Surveys Educational Surveys• Twitter Surveys Facebook Surveyshttp://www.zoomerang.com/

Survey ToolEasy-to-use web-based surveytoolCollect data via weblink, email,Facebook, or embed on yoursite or blogReal-time results24x7 customer supporthttp://www.surveymonkey.com/

Expense TrackingExpense Tracking andManagement From Any Device.Record your expenses via Email,iPhone, SMS, Voice, Twitter, IM,search box.Manage, Analyze, or ExportUsing tags, keywords, advancedsearch, or export to yourfavorite application or as RSS.Budgets, Per-Client Routing,Mileage Tracking, InternationalCurrency Conversion, ImportBank and Credit CardStatements, and more.http://xpenser.com/

InvoicingFreshbooks’ mission is to deliverfast and simple invoicing andtime tracking services that helpyou manage your business.Freshbooks:Will save you timeIs easy to useMake you look professional(think Fortune 500)Will let you manage your bookswithout an accountantSecure, encrypt, and back upyour dataBe available 24/7 fromanywhere with any computerhttp://www.freshbooks.com/

InvoicingInvoice Bubble is free invoicesoftware that lets you create aninvoice and send to your clientin seconds.Create professional invoices forfree!Get automated with recurringinvoicesGet paid online through PayPalhttp://invoicebubble.com/

InvoicingphpBMS is web-based, opensource, Business ManagementSoftware.phpBMS is designed forcompanies looking for anapplication to manage theirbusiness.A system that is capable ofcreating and printing salesorders, tracking clients andprospects, fulfilling accountsreceivable needs, and printingdetailed sales and purchasingreports.http://www.phpbms.org/

Financial ManagementMint pulls all your financialaccounts into one place. Set abudget, track your goals and domore with your money, for free.Stay on top of your finances. Seewhats happening with all youraccounts–checking, savings,investments, retirement–at anymoment of the day.Set a budget and create a planto reach your personal financialgoals. You can track yourprogress online or stay up-to-date with monthly emails.http://www.mint.com/

Financial ManagementTeaspiller helps you find anaccountant then gives you anelegant web-based platform towork with your accountant.Ask an Accountant. Ask any taxor accounting question andreceive a quick answer from oneof Teaspiller’s accountants.Find an Accountant. A freedirectory of accountants. Lookthrough Client Ratings andpractice areas of verifiedaccountants (certification isverified), and select the expertright for your tax and/oraccounting needs.http://www.teaspiller.com/PAID

Raising CapitalThe WSGR Term Sheet Generatorwill generate a venture financingterm sheet based on yourresponses to an onlinequestionnaire. It also has aninformational component, withbasic tutorials and annotations onfinancing terms.Because it has been designed as ageneric tool that takes intoaccount a number of options, thisversion of the term sheetgenerator is fairly expansive andincludes significantly more detailthan would likely be found in acustomized application.http://www.wsgr.com/WSGR/Display.aspx?SectionName=practice/termsheet.htm

Screen CaptureTake a picture or make a shortvideo of what you see on yourcomputer monitor.Share it instantly via web, email,IM, Twitter or your blog.Simple and free, Jing is theperfect way to enhance yourfast-paced online conversationshttp://www.techsmith.com/jing/

Screen RecordingCamStudio is able to record allscreen and audio activity onyour computer and createindustry-standard AVI videofiles.You can use it to createdemonstration videos for anysoftware program.Or how about creating a set ofvideos answering your mostfrequently asked questions?You can create video tutorialsfor school or college class.You can use it to create video-based information productsyou can sell.http://camstudio.org/

OrganizeEvernote makes it easy toremember things big and smallfrom your notable life using yourcomputer, phone, and the web.Chances are, if you can see it orthink of it, Evernote can helpyou remember it. Type a textnote. Clip a web page. Snap aphoto. Grab a screenshot.Evernote will keep it all safe.Everything you capture isautomatically processed,indexed, and made searchable.If you like, you can add tags ororganize notes into differentnotebooks.http://www.evernote.com/about/home.php

OrganizeTa-da List claims to be the webseasiest to-do list tool. Make listsfor yourself or share them withothers.Ta-da List works in the mostpopular web browsers (IE 6/7,Firefox 2, and Safari 2) on theMac, PC, and the iPhone.http://tadalist.com/

Password ManagerYour LastPass master passwordis the only password youll everneed.Easily log into your websitesseamlessly with a single click ofyour mouse button.Your data is securelysynchronized across all devicesgiving you access to it anywhereat anytime.http://lastpass.com/

RememberRemember everything!Seriously, whether it’s followingup on a good lead or picking upyour anniversary present, withNudgeMail you have no excuse.NudgeMail helps peoplemanage their time and emails bysynchronizing their importantupcoming events.Without leaving their inbox, auser can set a reminder farahead of time, simply bysending an email to NudgeMailabout a major event.http://www.nudgemail.com/

Manage TimeTrack your time - Without notesor timers.Chrometa automaticallycaptures and organizes the timeyou spend on your PC,facilitating your ability toaccurately bill all your time.With Chrometa, you just workwhile Chrometa watches in thebackground. It logs all yourcomputer activity and helps youcapture phone and meetingtime spent away from your PC.http://app.chrometa.com/

Manage TimeRescueTime is a web-based timemanagement and analytics toolfor knowledge workers whowant to be more efficient andproductive.RescueTime allows you to easilyunderstand and optimize howyou and your team spends theirtime and attention. One of themost important things aboutRescueTime is that there is nodata entry.http://www.rescuetime.com/

WebsiteWebsite Grader, from thoseclever folks at HubSpot, willanalyze any URL and assign agrade to it, depending upon anumber of features found onthe site.You can use Website Grader tocompare your site to acompetitor’s, find out whichaspects you are performing wellat in comparison, and whichaspects need attention.http://websitegrader.com/

SEO TOOLSA fantastic array of free and paidweb based SEO tools created bySEO Guru Aaron Wall.If having your website foundonline matters to you, then haveto check out SEOBOOK.http://tools.seobook.com/

SEO TOOLSSEOmoz is a giant in the world ofSearch Engine Optimization. LikeAaron Wall’s SEOBOOK, SEOmozoffers a wide range of free andpaid SEO tools.http://www.seomoz.org/tools

AnalyticsClicky takes analytics to a wholenew level. Clicky is a real timeweb analytics service. Thismeans that when you login andview your stats, you are seeingup to the minute data on thetraffic to your web site.Real time data lets you react tochanges in your traffic as theyoccur. For example, if you hadan article that hit the front pageof a popular site like digg.com,you would see the traffic spikein Clicky immediately, along withlinks back to the sources sendingyou the traffic.http://getclicky.com/

Video Analytics& SyndicationIf you use video to market yourbusiness then you needTubeMogul.TubeMogul InPlay is the leadingonline video analytics solutionfor publishers, online videoplatforms and video sharingsites.TubeMogul OneLoad provides asingle point for deploying videosto the top video and socialnetworking siteshttp://www.tubemogul.com/

User TestingUserTesting.com is a"crowdsourcing" service thatprovides fast and cheap usabilitytesting.UserTesting.com gives youaccess to a large panel of users,on-demand. You get to "lookover the shoulder" of theseusers while they performcommon tasks on your website,to see and hear where they getconfused and frustrated.PAIDhttp://www.usertesting.com/

OPENS 27 MARCH 2012 www.StartupCaffeine.com

A/B TestingCreate multiple versions of yourwebsite in a visual designerDefine what you want yourvisitors to do (buy, sign up,download, etc.)Split your website trafficamongst different versionsSelect the best performingversion. Make extra $$$.PAIDhttp://visualwebsiteoptimizer.com/

WireframingWith Balsamiq, using Mockupsfeels like drawing, but becauseit’s digital, you can tweak andrearrange easily. Teams cancome up with a design anditerate over it in real-time in thecourse of a meeting.Product managers, designers,developers, and even clients cannow work together in the sametool to quickly iterate overwireframes, before writing code.PAIDhttp://balsamiq.com/

Advice for every pitch situation amodern day entrepreneur willencounterWhether youre pitching for funding, themedia, or to potential customers andpartners, to survive and succeed as anentrepreneur, you have to know how todeliver a high-impact pitch. Heres thePitch reveals powerful proven techniquesto get your audience to take the actionyou want.Youll learn the same strategies andtactics that have been used byentrepreneurs to raise millions ofdollars, secure partnerships, and win bigsales contracts.

Disk ImagingDont compromise your dataintegrity. Macrium Reflect usesleading data compressiontechniques to create accurateand reliable images of your harddisk or partitions on your disk.With Macrium Reflect you canschedule Images to run at anytime. Disk space managementensures that you optimize theavailable space on externaldrives.http://www.macrium.com/reflectfree.asp

Online MeetingsYour own meeting room online.Talk through your computerfrom anywhere in the world. Orconnect to any phone or mobiledevice at no extra charge. Inviteguests – up to 15 at a time. It’sfree for them. No downloads orheadaches.PAIDhttps://www.imeet.com/

Virtual Business CardsBusinessCard2 makes it easy tocreate, manage, and leverageyour online professional identityby enabling you to create anonline business card.Once created you can easilyshare your card by placing it inyour email signature orembedding it on any website.http://businesscard2.com/

Virtual PhoneToll free or local number - localor national presenceUnlimited extensions - fordepartments & employeesCall forwarding - work fromanywhereVoicemails via email - playonline or on cell phoneManage online or by phone - nohardware to purchasePAIDhttp://grasshopper.com/

CRMSugarCRM helps companiescommunicate with prospects,share sales information, closedeals and keep customershappy.Free Community Editionhttp://www.sugarcrm.com/crm/products/editions.html

POSLemon is an open source Pointof Sale software targeted formicro, small and mediumbusinesses.MySQL is employed for datamanagement and storage, andcan be used a single databasewith many POS terminals on anetwork.http://lemonpos.org/index

SalesCommunicationCrunchConnect brings socialnetworking into meetings,presentations & email withoutsoftware downloads, so youhave more opportunities toconnect with customers.(BETA) GET INVITEDhttp://crunchconnect.salescrunch.com/

Customer ServiceZendesk is a web based helpdesk software with supportticket system and self-servicecustomer support platform.PAIDhttp://www.zendesk.com/

MindMappingFreeMind enables you toorganize thoughts on a page asthey connect to each other andto the larger picture. You shape,place, and name that masteridea, then create child or siblingspokes that relate to it.FreeMind includes a wide rangeof features, including scads oficons and color formattingoptions to help you visuallyorganize concepts. It alsosupports hyperlinks, which allowyou to link Web sites and evendocuments to a map.http://freemind.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Download

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Project ManagementBasecamp is the world’s leadingonline Project ManagementSoftware that helps in projectcollaboration.Basecamp facilitates keepingcommunications about a projectall in one place by the use ofmessages, which can be:Organized into different,customizable categoriesUse check marks to specificallynotify selected or all projectmembers via emailBe associated with and/orcomplete milestones andhavefiles attached.PAIDhttp://basecamphq.com/

Project ManagementPivotalTracker is an easy to use,agile project management toolthat brings focusedcollaboration to softwaredevelopment teams.Built by Pivotal Labs , itembodies proven agile methods,based on experience on over100 large scale, commercialsoftware projects.PAIDhttps://www.pivotaltracker.com/

Social MediaTweetDeck is your personal real-time browser, connecting youwith your contacts acrossTwitter, Facebook, MySpace,LinkedIn, Foursquare, GoogleBuzz and more.Jampacked with features,Tweetdeck is the first choice formany who market using socialmedia.http://www.tweetdeck.com/

Social MediaCompose, communicate, andconverse with HootSuite.Manage multiple social mediaaccounts, customize searches,upload photos, receivenotifications, view click stats,and more.Simple, elegant, and powerful,HootSuite allows you to sendand schedule social mediaupdates from anywhere.http://hootsuite.com/

Social MediaLazyscope Beta offers X-rayvision for Twitter. See throughshared links in your Twitterstream without visiting. You canfollow any non-Twitter sites.You can also follow any non-Twitter sites. Discover andfollow streams from any websitealong with Twitter, in a singlereal-time stream.http://www.lazyscope.com

Microsoft Toolsand PlatformsMicrosoft BizSpark is a globalprogram that helps fast-trackthe success of early stagetechnology startups withresources, including software,support & marketing visibility.BizSpark provides fast and easyaccess to current, full-featuredMicrosoft softwaredevelopment tools, platformtechnologies, including theWindows Azure platform andproduction/hosting licenses.Application Required.http://www.bizspark.com/Pages/home.aspx

OfficeOpenOffice.org 3 is the leadingopen-source office softwaresuite for word processing,spreadsheets, presentations,graphics, databases and more. Itis available in many languagesand works on all commoncomputers.It stores all your data in aninternational open standardformat and can also read andwrite files from other commonoffice software packages. It canbe downloaded and usedcompletely free of charge forany purpose.http://www.openoffice.org/

Office For MacNeoOffice is a full-featured setof office applications (includingword processing, spreadsheet,and presentation programs) forMac OS X. It is an office suitethat is adapted to the uniqueneeds of Mac users.http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

BusinessZoho provides a wide, integratedportfolio of rich onlineapplications for businesses.With more than 20 differentapplications spanningCollaboration , Business andProductivity applications, Zohohelps businesses andorganizations get work done.http://www.zoho.com/

‘Helping Startups Launch, Get Funded & Win Clients’San FranciscoT: +1 650 373 2036E: coaching@investorpitchclinic.comW: http://investorpitchclinic.com

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50 fantastic free tools for startups

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