Lack of productivity is one of the biggest issues faced almost once by everyone. And sometimes, when we have to do everything by ourselves, we tend to lose concentration which results in a massive decrease in our productivity. In such cases, taking help from productivity tools is the best thing one can resort to! Read on to find out the best startups productivity tools chosen by Founders!
Google Workspace
According to Alina Clark, Co-Founder of CocoDoc, Google Workspace is the real deal when it comes to managing a startup. CocoDoc is a software development business in LA. Take a look at Alina’s insight here:
“First, startup founders should really consider some free productivity tools. Forget the expensive productivity tool, I think that free deals like Google Workspace are the real deal when it comes to managing a startup.”
Google Workspace offers virtually every solution for the startup. For a start, one can use Google Drive as a collaboration hub especially if your team needs to work on the same document at the same time. Google meets is up there with any virtual meeting platform. Finally, Google Sheets have been a worthy project management tool when integrated with other project management platforms.
To think of it, Google Workspace is often underrated as a productivity tool. It’s handy, it’s available, and it offers great value. Given the possible integrations with other platforms, the amount of things one can do on Workspace becomes almost limitless.
Basecamp
According to Sam Shepler, Founder & CEO of Testimonial Hero, Basecamp is the most important tool for productivity. Testimonial Hero is a 7-figure location-independent services business. Sam is a career entrepreneur with 1X previous acquisitions. 150+ B2B revenue teams at Google, UiPath, Medallia, InsightSquared, and many others use Testimonial Hero to easily create customer videos that engage prospects, reduce friction in the sales cycle, and drive more revenue faster. Here is Sam’s tip in terms of best productivity tools:
“Depending on your objective, numerous tools can help you with multiple aspects of your company. You can use Wave for your finances, Google analytics for your website analysis, or Hootsuite for automatic social media management.
However, for me, the most important one from the start was Basecamp. It’s a tool for organizing your teams and individual employees in various groups by your choice, to communicate through different tasks, ideas, activities, problems, and any other minor issue that can be dealt with through chat.
It allows everyone to get updates on any current topic, add their opinion, new information, and anything relevant to it to reduce the long threads of emails or even worse, meetings. It helps us connect and communicate, with a straightforward and easy-to-use interface. For my company, communication is the key and this tool helped us resolve it in the easiest possible way.”
Smartsheet
According to Solomon Thimothy, Co-Founder of Clickx, Smartsheet is the best startups productivity tool. Take a look at Solomon’s insight below:
“The best productivity tool that helped us in Clickx is Smartsheet. Smartsheet allows us to align all our projects and processes with no fuss at all. Whether we have one project or multiple, running at a time, Smartsheet is able to keep up with the collaboration happening in the team. Our favorite thing about it is that it’s secure and easy to navigate. You don’t have to be a tech expert to understand what’s happening in the platform, which is why it’s the best tool for small businesses.
You want to focus on the important parts of your business and not try to navigate a tool. There are many tools out there that we’ve tried to help us become more efficient and productive, but those that work are separate apps. Smartsheet has everything we need in it, so there’s no need to use more tools that can lead to more confusion. When we started using Smartsheet, we were able to efficiently run more than one project at a time without any roadblocks or problems.”
Odoo
According to Jon Torres, Founder of Jon Torres Consultant, Odoo is the productivity tool that he uses for his digital marketing consultancy. This is what Jon would like to tell about this tool
“When I searched for a productivity tool for my business, I remained cost-conscious because things have been crazy since the pandemic as everything turned to remote work. I also wanted a system I could easily customize while paying only for the features I used. Ultimately, I chose Odoo because, along with being affordable, I could decide which apps to use and pay for as my business needs to be changed. It is also an open-source platform with a growing community, so finding hacks and fixes is no problem. In addition, I like that it gives us the choice to use Odoo Online (the cloud version we use) or Odoo on-premises, self-service, or with local support when we hit 50 users.”
Slack
According to Mike Chappell, Founder of Formspal, Slack is found to be very productive for our company. Mike has extensive experience in business development and is a former graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Business Administration and Management. This is what Mike would like to share.
“Slack is one of the productivity tools utilized by entrepreneurs. We nearly didn’t put Slack on the list since it is so well-known and frequently utilized. You might notice significant productivity advantages if you have a remote workforce and aren’t currently using Slack’s chat and document sharing platform. Among its polled customers, the business claims an average internal email decrease of more than 48 percent and a 25 percent average reduction in meetings. Plans for Slack for Teams vary from free to $12.50 per month per participant.”
Confluence
According to Ravi Parikh, CEO of RoverPass, Confluence is the tool that really contributes to their productivity. Here is Ravi’s insight below:
I’m sure many people will reference task-tracking apps and while those have helped me immensely, there’s one tool that’s helped a surprising amount: Confluence. If you haven’t used it, Confluence is essentially an internal wiki that can be used for virtually anything.
We have information about benefits up there, HR documents and policies, internal memos, company structure documents, etc. Anything our employees would benefit from reading is organized in Confluence which makes it much easier to find later. This keeps everyone on the same page and gives us a much more confident workforce when it comes to growth.
Simplr
According to Shaunak Amin, co-founder & CEO of STADIUM and SnackMagic, Simplr is one of the best productivity tools that can help startups. Shaunak is an experienced entrepreneur and operator and has helped launch and scale businesses in different industries. In addition to the entrepreneurial ventures, his career spans financial technology and investment management with senior roles at Novus – a fintech firm based in NYC, SAIL Advisors- a multi-billion dollar family office based out of Hong Kong, ING Investment Management, and SEI Investments. Shaunak also holds a BS from the University of Pennsylvania.
He started his first business, Tikka Foods, during his Sophomore year at PENN that initially started as a food truck and ultimately evolved into a wholesale delivery service of ready-to-eat, contemporary Indian food. Take a look at Shaunak’s insight below:
“Simplr. is an employee portal that connects and engages remote, hybrid, and on-site employees. Your portal can also foster company culture by including your mission statement, story, and behind-the-scenes videos. Links to informative online books, articles, and podcasts can help develop their professional growth. And with employee checklists, form templates, media assets, fun zoom backgrounds, and an employee directory, your remote workers will have the resources they need to perform well and be productive. But remember, designing an effective employee portal is an ongoing process. As your business is constantly improving, so too is your employee portal.*”
Optimizely and VWO
According to Jason Sherman, Founder of TapRm, optimizing the elements of your website is a must in order to create a user experience that keeps people on your site and leads to conversions. Jason is currently focusing on managing and scaling his first startup, TapRm, a beer e-commerce based platform acting as a launch vehicle for the next generation of brands. TapRm’s omnichannel platform builds beer, cider, and hard seltzer brands by combining traditional beer distribution with direct-to-consumer e-commerce for the first time in the United States. Prior to TapRm, he helped found Zx Ventures, the global incubator and venture capital arm of Anheuser Busch InBev, the leading global brewer.
There he grew the department to over 3000 people globally in 3 years and managed the investments and acquisitions into over 100 beverage businesses including e-commerce, CPG, technology, and logistics startups. Previously, he worked in M&A and real estate corporate law groups at Davis Polk and Wardwell. Jason holds a J.D. from Harvard Law School and a B.A. from Harvard College with a concentration in economics with time spent studying global finance at the National University of Singapore. Here is Jason’s productivity tools tip:
“A/B testing tools can take the pain out of A/B testing your website. As an eCommerce, optimizing the elements on your website is a must to create a user experience that keeps people on your site and leads to conversions. But testing a button color here and a font size there can be tedious- not to mention time-consuming. Tools like Optimizely and VWO offer easy-to-use and robust platforms that enable you to perform a split test and see the differences side-by-side.
You can even run dozens of tests at once. Point-and-click visual editors allow you to edit any element for testing without needing a developer, enabling you to test, analyze, edit, and target campaigns more frequently. And heatmaps and funnels provide actionable insights into how visitors interact with your page and where they drop off. These data visualizations take the guesswork out of website optimization.”
Cal.com
According to Nate Tsang, Founder & CEO of Wall Street Zen, Cal.com is the tool that really contributes to their productivity. Take a look at Nate’s insight below:
“My productivity tool pick is Cal.com, the open-source alternative to Calendly. As an entrepreneur your time is valuable but you’re meeting with so many people on a daily basis. This tool is fully customizable and integrates with virtually every calendar app out there. No more back-and-forth for meeting times—just give them the option based on your availability and forget about it until the meeting time arrives. I’ve cut down on nearly 100% of my scheduling emails and just leave it to Cal.com instead. Happy I made the switch, and no looking back, except when I want to tweak the themes and appearance of this wonderful open-source app.”
Asana
According to Robert Bolder, Founder of VPS Server, Asana is one of the most effective productivity solutions for small businesses startups. Robert is the founder of the VPS Server. He has personally been serving the complex needs of Virtual Private Servers in the cloud for more than 6 years. VPSServer.com provides fast VPS worldwide in more than 15 locations. VPS is the new way to ensure that your application, website, or online desktop runs at very high performance, including speed, privacy, control panel, management, the ability to upgrade at will, and several other amazing benefits for your ultimate purpose. Here is Robert’s tip below:
“Asana is one of the most effective productivity solutions for small businesses startups. Asana
enables your team to collaborate on ideas and manage projects without burying everyone in a sea of email chains and follow-up conversations. There are built-in templates, team pages, and to-do lists, and you can assign duties directly from Asana.”
Calendly
According to James Diel, Founder & CEO of Textel, Calendly is his favorite productivity tool. Take a look at James’ insight below:
“One of the best productivity tools my team uses is Calendly. It helps us schedule meetings automatically without wasting time on email calendar requests. Since we’ve created personalized time blocks based on each of our schedules, we’re able to meet more often and stay ahead of our massive project timelines.
The tool also allows for time buffers, which allows teammates to account not just for the meeting time in their schedule, but the actual time costs of preparation and travel to and from the meeting spot. We’re able to book weekly team and one-to-one check-ins and have seen projects completed around 15% faster, thanks to the added productivity and accuracy that comes with better communication.”
Time Doctor
According to Ed Cravo, Co-Founder of Groundbreaker, Time Doctor is one of the tools which helps us in tracking employees along with increasing productivity. Ed Cravo is a marketing and sales leader with 11 years of experience in digital marketing, sales, recruiting, and building new services and products. This is what Ed would like to share with you
Time Doctor is one tool that tracks employees’ activities and helps them increase their productivity and become more engaged. It’s no secret that people tend to act differently when they know someone is watching, and making it known that their activities are being monitored is one way to keep them in the right ‘work mindset’ that sometimes doesn’t translate well when working at home
The founder of Content Mavericks, Chris Von Wilpert also like to share insight regarding Time Doctor:
“Employees need to stay focused and motivated and employers want to ensure productivity levels. This is one of the biggest reasons employers monitor employees. We make use of Time Doctor, an app for employee monitoring. It not only tracks work hours but also productivity through keystroke logging, screenshot, and internet usage tracking. When no keyboard or mouse movement is detected, it registers as ‘idle time’. Total idle time is then subtracted from the total work hours to get the actual productive time.”
Hive
According to Shiv Gupta, Marketing Director of Incrementors Web Solutions, Hive is one of the productive tools which helps us with workflow management. This is what Shiv would like to share:
“Hive is a centralized workflow management productivity platform that offers solutions for project management, proofing and approvals, reporting, and analytics. It uses artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide insights into team productivity, identify risks, and optimize processes such as resource allocation and client billing. It blends with over 1,000 SaaS tools, including Asana, Trello, Basecamp, and Smartsheet, and can ship tasks from them.”
Drip
According to Teo Vanyo, CEO of Stealth Agents, Drip is one of the productive tools for our company. Stealth Agent is a virtual assistant service company that can significantly minimize overhead costs for businesses. We have a solid foundation, built on advanced technology and a highly trained workforce. Our number one priority is to provide all clients with incredible results. This is what Teo would like to share:
“Drip is a marketing automation software for eCommerce. It helps organizations increase revenue by integrating email, SMS, and third-party solutions. It enables you to follow your clients from acquisition to retention. Additionally, it includes an integrated database that provides consumer insight to assist you in creating more engaging emails and converting one-time clients into repeat shoppers.”
Canva
According to Haris Bacic, co-founder and CEO of the largest price transparency website PriceListo, Canva is found to be very productive for our brand. PriceListo enables consumers to view and research pricing information for any business establishment for free. This is what Haris would like to share
Canva is an excellent, entry-level tool to use while you’re just getting started. Canva simplifies desktop design activities such as creating brochures, social media postings, report covers, and graphics-heavy documents. It has a plethora of photos and hundreds of typefaces, as well as drag-and-drop capabilities that simplify the process of creating visually appealing work. Canva is completely free for teams of up to ten members and $13 per user per month for larger groups.
Trello
According to Hutch Ashoo, Founder & CEO of Pillar Wealth Management, Trello is an ideal productivity tool for entrepreneurs. Mr. Asho has personally been serving the complex needs of high net worth and ultra-high net worth investors for more than 30 years. Hutch Ashoo is a published financial expert columnist in national journals and newspapers as well as legal and tax publications. He has been interviewed nationwide on radio regarding wealth management for the affluent. This is Hutch’s insight below:
“Trello is the best companion of the visual thinker. The card-based project tracking system enables your entire team to examine project overviews, assets, and checklists. Trello automatically syncs across all of your devices, ensuring that you’re always viewing the most up-to-date information. Trello offers a free plan, a commercial plan for $10 per month per user, and custom corporate plans.”
Conclusion
Productivity is a trait that cannot be taken as a joke, our entire workflow gets affected if there’s a decline in it. Hence, we came up with the idea to ask Founders to help us with creating tools they can swear by. We are sure that this topic will help hundreds of users in realizing that there is no harm in taking the help of productivity tools in a fast-moving world.