Remember that tech start-up idea you’ve been sitting on, putting off because the day job’s too demanding and family life’s getting in the way?

Don’t sit around any longer.⏰

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Yes, back in the day, getting a start-up off the ground required a shit tonne of heavy lifting.

Resources were limited, and social media was not readily available for free promotion, networking or hiring a killer team.

However, 2024 offers a whole new landscape for aspiring startup ventures. We have brought a bunch of helpful tools and software for startups into one place. Some you'll know, some you won't.

Keep reading for quick links to the platforms we have tried and tested, so you can get your idea off the ground, ASAP.

There’s no need for excuses anymore, and we will prove it…

Test the demand for your idea

• Using Mixo, create a 10 second landing page for your concept. Use this as an initial sanity check on your idea... Can you get people to click and sign-up? And guess what, that's also building up your real waiting list. Win. Win!
• Platforms such as Canva and Dribble can help with your ad design for when you start your paid campaigns on social media to drive visits to your Mixo page.
• And yes, ChatGPT can be great for targeted copy (just make sure you challenge the robot with your human intuition - AI can have a habit of sounding a tad formulaic).

Form YOUR brand identity

• Again, hit up ChatGPT to help with creating a cool company name.
• For a swift logo without paying graphic designer fees💰, head to logo.com.
• Define your brand colours with Coolers, Canva or Adobe Colour.

Product Design

• Collaborating with your team on the design process is a must. Using Figma for this stage facilitates group input... Let's face it, Figma is dominant in product design. We think you'd be mad to use a different platform at this stage unless you really need to.
• As with all tools, we must be sure to max out their capabilities. You can turbo charge🔌 the uses of Figma with key plugins such as Icons, Figma to Webflow and Typeout (the list goes on… sometimes it just takes some playing around).

• With tooling getting easier, our attention spans are getting shorter. Because of this, your UI design and speed to design must be next level. Use Untitled UI, Cabana or Relume to secure this.
• And for a bit of remote, friendly user testing that can be run by you, head to Maze. If you're struggling to recruit people then UserFeel is a helpful resource that can get interviewees for you. Just keep in mind it is more expensive so definitely try to source people yourself first.

The Product Delivery

• Getting to grips with databases is an absolute MUST. We like Airtable for this- it will go on to sit at the heart of your product.
• As we told you earlier, the Delivery phase doesn’t need to be as lengthy as it once would have been. Fast delivery cycles are the norm with Bubble and Powerapps⏩ the speed will blow you away.

Nail down your marketing

• We won’t deny this can be a bit of a slog. However, a solid marketing plan is vital once you truly believe your business has potential.
• For a bespoke marketing site use Webflow

Get your people and project management tools bang on

• Everything can be organised in Notion. Think team objectives, ideas, and databases. Notion is the central information hub of your business.
• Communication is key. Use Teams, and make sure everything is kept up to date, transcribed and recorded. This means you can refer back to old conversations at any time (top tip- use Loom to video record these chats and drop them into Notion so they are always accessible🎥).
• Remote working? We won’t deny this can be a blow to the team dynamic. Whilst there is nothing quite like sitting around an office space, collaborating in person, Gather is definitely the next best thing. Here, you have a virtual office where you can host meetings and gatecrash your team member’s desks in real time.
• And lastly, whilst you are just starting out, you never need to compromise on quality. With Upwork, your skillset gaps can be accurately filled. Direct in a clear and focussed way and get going. It’s all about delegating in the right way.
• Why no Slack or Jira? Well, as much as we do love Slack, if you're on Microsoft 365 then Teams is free (so keeps costs down) but it's also got amazing recording and transcription ability. We literally record every conversation so there's never a duplicated discussion. Ever. It massively boosts our efficiency. As for no Jira, we just find that once you've mastered Notion databases (granted, it's a whole 'thing') then it really can do a good job for task management.

Bottom line, launching your startup is easier today that it ever has been thanks to many incredible tools. The list above is just a few of the options we rate to help wet your whistle.