10 Great Tools for Scaling Start-ups

As a startup grows, the amount of time that needs to be spent on non-core, operational issues increases. These are my favourite tools for automating, enabling collaboration or speeding up processes, allowing you and your team to continue to focus on the stuff that really matters — growth, revenue, product etc.

Asana

Helps you stay on track, keep projects organized, and hit deadlines. See project progress, track individual tasks, plan sprints, integrate with other tools, and achieve successful launches. Visualize your progress on projects with Asana boards as your team moves tasks from do to done.

Automate.io or Zapier

Automate.io and Zapier are both easy-to-use workflow automation tools that let you connect the web apps you use every day. You can pass data through them and automate repetitive tasks without having to code or relying on developers.

Calendly

Calendly makes it simple to schedule meetings professionally and efficiently, eliminating the hassle of back-and-forth emails so you spend time doing what matters. I’ve found this endless helpful for product teams organising customer development interviews.

Canva
An easy to use tool that allows you to create nearly all visual content you may need from social media graphics to presentations and posters. It’s significantly easier to use than tool such as Photoshop and creates great looking visuals with little effort.

Google Analytics

An absolute go-to to understand who your customers are, what they do on your site and how you could improve. Google Analytics opens up a world of growth opportunities waiting to be understood and if you don’t have it, you’re leaving money on the table.

Mailchimp

Easy to use email marketing tool which also offers landing pages, forms and a lite CRM. Has some reporting capabilities that allow you to see what’s working and what’s not.

Miro

Online collaborative whiteboard platform, great for brainstorming sessions with digital sticky notes, mindmaps or for planning and managing agile workflows. I would find it extremely hard to lead an innovative and collaborative session without using Miro.

Slack

Offers an easier, more organized way to work than email. Instead of endless email chains there are flexible spaces for all the people, tools and files you need to get work done. Slack also has some great in-built integrations with other apps that make sure you are kept up to date on changes. Something I use daily is the Asana integration with Slack, I get my Asana notifications straight to Slack which cuts down on the different apps I need to keep on top of.

Unbounce

Landing Page Builder software that makes it super easy to create marketing landing pages with great conversion rates. The flexibility, tracking and mobile optimisation options on Unbounce are some of the best.

Upwork

Looking for a bit of extra technical support in your team? Upwork is my go-to for quick and reliable freelancers. You can interview, hire and work with freelancers and freelance agencies through the company’s platform but my favourite feature is the reviews, allowing you to understand real feedback from previous collaborators.