How 2 Use Free Tools for Your Startup
How to Use Free Tools with Greg Gomer ’07
Greg Gomer ’07, a serial entrepreneur, co-founder of BostInno and HqO, led a How 2 Tuesday on using free tools for your startup. Greg began the presentation with the statement that believing you need to raise capital before you really start your business is a “death sentence.” People who say this are already making excuses, and business is about determination and zero excuses. The barriers to entry to start a company have never been lower. Determination is something that investors and future customers understand and expect.
As an entrepreneur, it is your goal to do more with less. Every early-stage company is resource constrained. Successful startups know how to use this to their advantage. Do whatever it takes to get your company off the ground. Greg’s recommendation is to never pay full price for anything. There are always local events you can eat for free at. Don’t be afraid to tell people that you’re a resource-constrained startup and own it.
Large companies love supporting startups! Reach out to corporations such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft to see what discounts they provide to startups. Greg also recommends getting “free money” by applying to every business plan competition, grant, accelerator, and incubator in the world. Use that non-diluted capital to your favor.
He listed “places to look for free stuff,” which included colleges, libraries, accelerators/incubators, day jobs, bundled packages, the internet, and free trials of software. He then recommended the following free tools for specific needs, and urged everyone to search for promo codes for each if they’re not free. Please note the following are not endorsements.
Website, blog, or homepage:
- Launchrock https://www.launchrock.com/
- WordPress https://wordpress.com/
- Medium https://medium.com/
- Squarespace- not free, but cheap https://www.squarespace.com/
- unbounce https://unbounce.com/
Social media:
- Buffer https://buffer.com/
- Tweetdeck https://tweetdeck.twitter.com/
- SumoMe https://sumo.com/
- Bit.ly https://bitly.com/
- Disqus https://disqus.com/
Email:
- TinyLetter https://tinyletter.com/
- Mailchimp https://mailchimp.com/
- HubSpot https://www.hubspot.com/
Marketing & sales:
- HubSpot https://www.hubspot.com/
- Drift https://www.drift.com/
- SumoMe https://sumo.com/
- Typeform https://www.typeform.com/
- Privy https://privy.com/
- Optimizely https://www.optimizely.com/
- GrowthHackers https://growthhackers.com/
- Crayon https://www.crayon.co/
- Buzzsumo http://buzzsumo.com/
- Sendgrid https://sendgrid.com/
Operations:
- G Suite https://gsuite.google.com/
- Trello https://trello.com/
- Slack https://slack.com/
- Google Analytics https://analytics.google.com/
- Amazon Web Services- get free credits! https://aws.amazon.com/
- Due https://due.com/
- Shake http://www.shakelaw.com/
- Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/
- Pocket https://getpocket.com/
- Evernote https://evernote.com/
- Carta https://carta.com/
Design & Creative:
- Canva https://www.canva.com/
- Pixlr https://pixlr.com/
- Skitch https://evernote.com/products/skitch
- Placeit https://placeit.net/
- Freebbble http://freebbble.com/
- Tethr https://tethr.com/
- UI Space https://uispace.net/
- Premium Pixels http://www.premiumpixels.com/
- Stock Up https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/stock-up
- Unsplash https://unsplash.com/
- FontAwesome https://fontawesome.com/
- InVision https://www.invisionapp.com/
SEO:
- Alexa https://www.alexa.com/siteinfo
- WordPress SEO https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-seo/
- Browseo http://www.browseo.net/
- Pingdom https://www.pingdom.com/
- Moz Local https://moz.com/products/local
- W3C Validator https://validator.w3.org/
- XML Sitemaps https://www.xml-sitemaps.com/
Learning & Training:
- Skillshare https://www.skillshare.com/
- Khan Academy https://www.khanacademy.org/
- Coursera https://www.coursera.org/
- Codecademy https://www.codecademy.com/
- Startup Talks http://startuptalks.tv/
- AngelList https://angel.co/
- Product Hunt https://www.producthunt.com/
- Lynda https://www.lynda.com/
Development:
- Hive https://hive.com/
- GitHub https://github.com/
- Visual Studio https://visualstudio.microsoft.com
- Keen.io https://keen.io/
- LingoHub https://lingohub.com/
- Searchcode https://searchcode.com/
- TinyCert https://www.tinycert.org/
- Pingdom https://www.pingdom.com/
- Rollbar https://rollbar.com/
- Loggly https://www.loggly.com/
Payroll/HR:
- Gusto https://gusto.com/
- Zenefits https://www.zenefits.com/
Payments:
- Stripe https://stripe.com/
Greg then recommended the following community resources:
Early stage venture resources:
- Rough Draft Ventures http://www.roughdraft.vc/
- Dorm Room Fund https://www.dormroomfund.com/
- TechU Angels http://techuventures.com/
- Accomplice http://www.accomplice.co/
- Nextview https://nextviewventures.com/
- Founder Collective http://www.foundercollective.com/
- BOSS http://www.boss.ventures/
- BOLT https://bolt.io/
- Project 11 http://www.project11.com/
- Flybridge http://www.flybridge.com/
- Converge https://www.convergencevc.com/
- CRV https://www.crv.com/
- Romulus http://www.romuluscap.com/
- Underscore https://underscore.vc/
- Pillar http://pillar.vc/
- Boston Seed https://www.bostonseed.com/
- Spark https://sparkventures.org/
- Golden Seeds https://goldenseeds.com/
- Resolute http://resolute.vc/
- Hyperplane https://hyperplane.vc/
Incubate & accelerate:
- CoGo Labs https://www.cogolabs.com/
- Greentown Labs https://www.greentownlabs.com/
- Healthbox http://healthbox.com/
- LearnLaunch http://learnlaunch.com/
- MassChallenge https://masschallenge.org/
- Techstars https://www.techstars.com/
- Summer at Highland https://www.churchofthehighlands.com/summer
- Launch http://www.launchincubator.co/
- Fintech Sandbox https://fintechsandbox.org/
- Dat Ventures http://www.datventures.com/
- Smarter in the City http://www.smarterinthecity.com/
Co-working spaces:
- CIC https://cic.com/
- Coalition http://coalitionimpact.com/
- District Hall https://districthallboston.org/
- WeWork https://www.wework.com/
- Workbar https://www.workbar.com/
- KOA http://koalab.com/
- Greentown https://www.greentownlabs.com/
- NGIN http://nginworkplace.com/
- Idea Space http://ideaspaceboston.com/
- Brooklyn Boulders https://brooklynboulders.com/gowanus/
- Oficio https://www.myoficio.com/
- Hatch https://www.hatchworkspace.com/
- Roxbury Innovation Center https://roxburyinnovationcenter.org/
College incubators and accelerators:
- Babson Butler Launch Pad http://www.babson.edu/butlerlaunchpad/
- Harvard iLab https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/
- Northeastern IDEA https://www.northeastern.edu/idea/
- Rock Center https://entrepreneurship.hbs.edu/Pages/default.aspx
- MIT Martin Trust Center http://entrepreneurship.mit.edu/
- MIT Global Founders http://www.starthub.org/incubators/mit-global-founders-skills-accelerator-gfsa
- MIT Venture Mentoring http://vms.mit.edu/
- Olin Innovation Lab http://www.olin.edu/collaborate/olin-innovation-lab-oil/
- BC Shea’s Center https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/carroll-school/sites/shea-center.html
- BCVC https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/carroll-school/sites/shea-center/ideate/competitions.html
- UMass VDC https://www.umb.edu/vdc
- Berklee ICE https://www.berklee.edu/focused/ice
- BU Buzz Lab https://issuu.com/thebubuzz
- BU Venture Accelerator http://sites.bu.edu/buva/
College business plan competitions:
- Babson B.E.T.A. Challenge http://www.babson.edu/betachallenge
- Beantown Throwdown http://www.mitforumcambridge.org/tag/beantown-throwdown/
- 1776 Challenge https://www.1776.vc/challenge-cup/about-challenge-cup/
- MIT 100k http://www.mit100k.org/
- HBS New Venture Competition https://www.hbs.edu/newventurecompetition/Pages/default.aspx
- BU New Venture http://www.bu.edu/innovate/build-lab/newventurecompetition/
- BC Venture Competition https://ww.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/carroll-school/sites/shea-center/ideate/competitions.html
- Harvard President’s Challenge https://innovationlabs.harvard.edu/presidents-innovation-challenge/
Events:
- Lean Startup Circle http://www.leanstartupcircle.com/
- HUBweek https://hubweek.org/
- StartupStir http://www.startupstir.com/
- VentureCafe http://vencaf.org/
- Boston TechJam http://bostontechjam.com/
- State of Innovation http://www.stateofinnovation.com/
- 50onFire https://www.americaninno.com/boston/bostinnos-50-on-fire
- MassInno http://mass.innovationnights.com/
- BostonFest https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bostonfest-2018-tickets-44884242979
- WebInno http://www.bostoninnovatorsgroup.com/
- She Geeks Out https://www.shegeeksout.com/
- TUGG https://www.tugg.com/
- The Capital Network http://thecapitalnetwork.org/
- Innovation Enterprise Summits https://www.theinnovationenterprise.com/summits/calendar
- TEDx https://www.ted.com/watch/tedx-talks
- NEVY Awards http://thenevys.com/
- MassTLC http://www.masstlc.org/
- FutureM http://futurem.org/
- MIT Enterprise Forum http://www.mitef.org/s/1314/main.aspx?gid=5&pgid=61
- Capital W http://capitalw.org/
- Tech Madness https://www.americaninno.com/boston/bostinnos-tech-madness/
- Greenhorn Summit http://www.greenhornconnect.com/greenhorn-summit-3/
- Unpitch http://www.unpitch.org/
If you want to get a job at a company in order to gain experience before founding your own startup, Greg recommended looking at the following companies:
- Athenahealth https://www.athenahealth.com/
- Acquia https://www.acquia.com/
- Actifio https://www.actifio.com/
- Akamai https://www.akamai.com/
- Applause, Brightcove https://www.brightcove.com/en/
- Bullhorn https://www.bullhorn.com/eu/
- Carbon Black https://www.carbonblack.com/
- CarGurus https://www.cargurus.com/
- Catalant https://gocatalant.com/
- CloudLock https://www.cloudlock.com/
- Constant Contact https://www.constantcontact.com/home-page
- DataXu https://www.dataxu.com/
- Demandware https://www.demandware.com/
- Draftkings https://www.draftkings.com/
- Drift https://www.drift.com/
- Drizly https://drizly.com/
- Everbridge https://www.everbridge.com/
- EMC https://www.emc.com/about/index.htm
- formlabs https://formlabs.com/
- GE https://www.ge.com/
- HubSpot https://www.hubspot.com/
- Jana http://www.jana.com/home
- Kayak https://www.kayak.com/
- Insight Squared http://www.insightsquared.com/
- iRobot https://www.irobot.com/
- Localytics https://www.localytics.com/campaignbuilder/
- LogMeIn https://www.logmein.com/
- PillPack https://www.pillpack.com/
- Pixability https://www.pixability.com/
- Rapid7 https://www.rapid7.com/
- TripAdvisor https://www.tripadvisor.com/
- M. Gemi https://mgemi.com/women/
- Wayfair https://www.wayfair.com/
Hearing from an experienced entrepreneur was very inspiring. I hope you are able to use some or many of these resources!