Build the Perfect Tech Stack for Your Startup
Discover the essential tech tools every startup needs to streamline operations, boost productivity, and drive growth.
Starting a company is like setting out on an adventure. You’ve got your mission, your vision, and your team ready to conquer the market. Just like any adventure requires the right gear, your startup needs the right technology to thrive. That's where the startup tech stack comes in. We know that navigating the sea of tech tools can be overwhelming, especially when you’re juggling a million other tasks. We’re here to cut through the noise and help you build a tech stack that's not just a function, but also a game-changer for your business. Think of this as your startup's foundation. A combination of tools and tech to power your operations, streamline your process, and ultimately drive growth.
1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Having a great CRM is a simple way to centralize client data, enhance communication with clients, and align your sales and marketing efforts. With a small team, keeping track of leads, follow-ups, and customer interactions can quickly become overwhelming. With the tools below, you should be able to efficiently manage your resources.
Start simple! No need to break the bank here. Google sheet is a great way to track each of your leads and customers and it gets the job done. Check out the templates to find a sheet that works for you.
Hubspot is a great resource for those that are looking for a free CRM option with optional premium features. If your company needs a scalable CRM with the option to add more features as you grow, this is the perfect platform. It features contact management, email tracking, sales pipeline management, and meeting scheduling.
Start for free, then $15/seat.
If your startup is in need of a customizable CRM tool and the ability to integrate marketing and sales tools, Zoho CRM could be a great fit. Featuring lead and contact management, workflow automation, customizable dashboards, social media integration, and email marketing.
Free trial, then $14/user.
2. Sales
Sometimes your CRM tool will have some sales enablement support features, but when you’re ready to do forecasting, revenue management, meeting management, account management and more, having a sales-oriented software platform is crucial for startups. They assist in streamlining sales processes and allow the team to focus more on closing deals and driving growth. These platforms provide insights into the customer and sales performance, allowing for better data-driven decision making. Overall, a sales platform can foster efficiency, collaboration, and scalability, giving your startup a competitive edge in the market. Here’s a few tools the include in your tech stack:
Built to centralize sales efforts and empower users with a personalized sales playbook, Zinnia seamlessly integrates AI, providing a personalized sales strategy and background information for each of your clients, allowing you to save time and close more deals.
14 day free trial, $99/seat.
Calendly is your scheduling automation platform for eliminating the back-and-forth emails to find the perfect time — and so much more. It's a must-have for anyone who sends emails and has meetings for a living.
Always free for basic
From sales prospecting to closing deals, do it all with Sales Navigator. LinkedIn's deep sales platform, powered by AI, helps you grow, retain and acquire new customers.
Free trial, then $99.99/mo.
3. Marketing
Analytical tools and marketing automation platforms are essential for startups, transforming raw data into actionable insights and streamlining marketing efforts. These tools not only assist in better decision-making and strategic planning but also enhance your marketing and sales outcomes. They enable you to track KPIs, generate actionable business insights, and understand your demographic better. If you're working with a small team without a dedicated marketing expert, these tools are invaluable for scaling your efforts. They offer cost-effective, scalable solutions that not only build your brand but also provide valuable data analytics, essential for informed decision-making and growth.
Mailchimp provides a user-friendly experience to those who are looking to manage and build email campaigns, with some basic automation processes built in.
Free trial, then $20/mo.
ActiveCampaign is great for businesses looking for a platform with a strong focus on customer experience. It combines email marketing, marketing automation, sales automation, and a CRM into a single experience.
Free trial, then $15/mo.
Later is a platform that primarily focuses on social media management. As a tool designed to streamline social media processes, later helps businesses plan, schedule, and analyze their posts across multiple channels. Its user-friendly interface and cost-effective features make it an excellent choice for startups that need to maximize their resources while maintaining a strong, consistent brand identity online.
Free trial, then $30/mo.
Google analytics is one of the leading platforms for understanding your website traffic and its users behavior. Google Analytics provides real-time reports, audience reports, acquisition reports, behavior reports, conversion tracking, custom dashboards and more.
Google Analytics is a free tool.
SEMrush is a great platform for startups that are focused on building online visibility and optimizing their SEO efforts. The comprehensive SEO tools include keyword research, site audits, and even competitor analysis. This tool also has a social media schedule if needed!
Free trial, then $117/mo.
Hotjar is a great platform for better understanding how people are using your website, and is a great tool to use when considering improving user experience. Through heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback tools, this platform will allow you to understand exactly how your website is being used.
Free option, and then $32/mo.
4. Website builders
Having an online presence is crucial for any startup's success. A website building platform empowers entrepreneurs to create a professional, functional, and visually appealing website without the need for extensive coding knowledge! By using a website builder, startups can focus on their core business activities, while ensuring their online presence is strong and scalable.
Wix is ideal for entrepreneurs that want a high degree of design freedom. It's great for creating blogs, portfolios, and even ecommerce websites. Having a drag and drop editor, hundreds of templates, and SEO tools.
Starting at $17/mo.
Squarespace is great for creatives and entrepreneurs.Their platform offers templates that allow for easy launching of products and services. It's excellent for small to medium-sized online stores with the eCommerce features as well.
Business plans starting at $23/mo.
If you want to have a highly customized website without having to code, Webflow is for you. It is a great platform for complex websites, and has a library of hundreds of templates. Features advanced design capabilities with a visual CMS, custom animations, SEO management, and even eCommerce options.
Free options, then $14/mo.
WordPress is a great option for startups looking for extensive customization. It has an intuitive dashboard for managing content, themes, plugins, and settings. WordPress is great for blogging, general business, eCommerce, and even community sites.
Starting at $20/mo.
5. Customer Support
Customer support is key to keeping your startup's customers happy and loyal. When you;re just starting out, every interaction matters. Great support can turn customers into your biggest fans! A solid system helps you handle questions, solve problems, and build trust, which is crucial in growing your business.
Zendesk is a great platform for startups that are interacting with customers through multiple channels. If you’re looking for a robust support system to manage increasing customer queries efficiently, this is the platform for you. Featuring a ticket system, help center, live chat and messaging, analytics, automation, extensive integration abilities, and AI to provide instant answers to common queries and streamline support operations. Overall this is a great scalable, all-in-one support solution.
Starting at $19/mo.
Intercom is ideal for startups focusing on customer engagement and personalized support. It's great for businesses needing a seamless onboarding experience for new users, offering proactive support with automated and personalized interactions. Featuring live chat and messaging, conversational bots, customer data, product tours, automated workflows, an inbox, and integrates with popular platforms.
Starting at $29/seat.
7. Communication and Collaboration
Communication and collaboration with others is essential for keeping momentum with a startup. Having a centralized location for messages and information to flow will significantly decrease the odds of missing notifications. Below you will find a few easy to use platforms that will allow you and your team to manage communication, whether they are in person or work from home.
Known for its extremely user-friendly interface, Slack is super easy to become familiar with. Compared to other platforms, Slack offers integrations with thousands of third party apps and services, increasing communication ease.
Starting at $7.25/user.
If you utilize the Microsoft 365 Suite, this is a great platform for communication between your team and partners. Featuring text chat, voice chat, file sharing, task management and more, Microsoft Teams is great for any size organization.
Starting at $4/user.
8. Project Management
Managing multiple projects can be challenging, especially if they vary in intensity and time needed. A proper project management tool may be able to better assist you in prioritizing tasks and utilizing your time efficiently. If you’re looking for a way to organize tasks, set deadlines, and track progress look no further than the tools below.
Monday is a great option for those that are seeking a highly customizable and visual project management tool. It features customizable workflows, project templates, task assignments, timelines and more, allowing you to assign any task along the way.
Free option, then $9.80/user.
Trello is best for teams that are looking for a simple way to manage tasks and projects. Featuring lists, cards, task assignments, due dates, checklists and more, Trello is a fantastic simple tool option.
Free option, then $5/user.
Asana is a great tool for those needing a more versatile tool with in-depth project and task management capabilities, featuring task management, project timelines, custom fields, dependencies, workload management, and integrations.
Free option, then $10.99/user.
9. Document Management
It's just as important to have proper document management as it is communication management. Especially for startups that may utilize interns or hire frequently, having a centralized place to store relevant documents will cut searching times down significantly. Depending if you prefer Google or Microsoft, each has a great option.
Google Drive is extremely user friendly and makes file sharing a breeze. Its simplicity, scalability, and integration with all of google's services make it ideal for startups. Sporting cloud storage, file sharing, collaboration tools, integration, access controls and permission, advanced search, and team drives, Google Drive is extremely easy to organize and manage.
Starting at $6/user.
If you prefer Microsoft, OneDrive is the place you want to look for document management. Integrated with Microsoft 365, it offers excellent collaborative tools for document editing and sharing.
Starting at $5/user.
9. Financial System:
You need a system to track your business activities for tax filing and reporting to management and stakeholders. This system should provide key financial reports like profit & loss, Balance Sheet, and Cash Flow statements. It is important to keep these records accurate and up to date! The tools below should help you manage invoice, expenses, and overall financial health.
Get an in-depth guide on building an entire financial tech stack and a brief list below:
If you're looking for an easy-to-use financial system for day-to-day accounting, tax prep, and overall financial management, this is a great platform. Offering invoices, expense tracking, payroll integration, and financial reporting, their extremely friendly interface is easy to navigate for those without an accounting background.
Starting at $35/mo.
If you need a platform that is more robust with strong integration capabilities, Xero is a great option to look into. They provide real-time financial reporting, integration with nearly 1000 apps, supports multiple currencies, has payroll, invoicing, and billing tools.
Starting at $15/mo.
FreshBooks is a great option for consultants and freelancers that require efficient invoicing and time tracking, in addition to financial management. With built in client project management tools and all the basics offered by others, if you’re dealing with multiple clients this could be a great platform for you.
Starting at $7.60/mo.
10. Human Resources Management
With startups or small businesses, each team member wears multiple hats. Amidst the grind and hustle, you need to ensure that your team is motivated, their payrolls are processed on time, onboarding is smooth, and compliance is never an afterthought. The Human Resources Management Softwares below will help you streamline HR functions.
Gusto has an extremely user friendly interface and is a great tool for startups that need a comprehensive payroll and benefits management. Featuring payroll processing, benefit administration, time tracking, employee self-service, and compliance assistance.
Starting at $40/mo.
This platform focuses on employee engagement and compliance, overall it's very suitable for small businesses that want an all-in-one HR platform. Namely payroll management, talent management, time and attendance tracking, compliance tools, and more.
Starting at $9/user.
11. Legal:
The legal landscape that you have to deal with while running a small business can be extremely time consuming and as tricky as managing day-to-day operations. Legal management softwares can significantly ease this burden by helping you with legal research, contract management and more. Here are a few tools that are tailored for smaller businesses and startups.
LegalZoom is the perfect tool for small businesses at the formulation stage needing to ensure that their legal paperwork is handled correctly. Giving access to attorneys, tools for intellectual property fillings, handing employment agreements, trademark registration and or even business formation services. Overall this is a great tool for compliance in the legal landscape.
Free option*, then $249*/ user.
*+State filing fees
If your startup needs regular access to legal documents and the occasional legal advice but doesn't quite need to hire a full-time lawyer, Rocky Lawyer is the perfect solution. Featuring legal document creation, legal advice through consultations, document defense service, incorporation services and more.
7 day free trial, $19.99/mo.
Building a startup is both exhilarating and challenging. Having a competent tech stack is essential to streamline your operations, enhance productivity, and drive growth. The tech stack you choose should not only meet your current needs, but should also scale with your business as it grows. Now that you have a relative understanding of the essential components of a startup tech stack, it's time to take action! Equip yourself with the right tools and watch your startup thrive in today's competitive markets!
Have any additional tools to add!? Let us know!
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