Entrepreneur’s Toolkit
A resource for the startup and entrepreneurially minded.
The following are some selected resources and startup tools to help entrepreneurs in the continuous push for innovation.
Books
Blogs
Knowledge Tools
Social Media & Networking
Organizational & Productivity
Communications Tools
Market Sizing
Website Setup
Marketing
Online Advertising Platforms
Lead Generation
Customer Relationship Management
Networking
Books
The Lean Startup
by Eric Ries
The Startup Owner’s Manual: The Step-by-Step Guide for Building a Great Company
by Steve Blank and Bob Dorf
Salesforce.com Secrets of Success: Best Practices for Growth and Profitability
by David Taber
Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business Into A Sales Machine With The $100 Million Best Practices Of Salesforce.com
by Aaron Ross and Marylou Tyler
Blogs
Seth Godin
Both Sides of the Table (Entrepreneur Turned VC)
A VC (Fred Wilson’s blog)
Entrepreneur Daily Dose
Small Business Trends
Venture Hacks
Startup Genome Project
Innovation Economy – Inside tech, life sciences, start-ups & venture capital in New England
Knowledge Tools
Startup Compass – tool for entrepreneurs to benchmark key performance indicators (KPIs) against similar startups
Wikipedia – user-collaborated encyclopedia
SlideShare – public or private sharing of PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and PDF files
Quora – user managed question-and-answer website
TechCrunch – profiling startups, reviewing new Internet products, and breaking tech news
Social Media & Networking
Facebook – social networking service
Twitter – social networking using microblogging
LinkedIn – professional social networking
Google+ – social networking and identity service
Sgrouples – private social networks
Instagram – photo-sharing program
Pinterest – pinboard style social photo sharing
Tumblr – blog-hosting platform
Organizational & Productivity
Dropbox
Google Drive
Microsoft SkyDrive
Box
Google Apps
Communication Tools
WebEx – online meeting and web conferencing
Google+ Hangouts – voice and video chat
Skype – Voice over IP service and software application
GoToMeeting – online meeting, desktop sharing, video conferencing
FreeConferenceCall.com – free conference calling service
Doodle – online group scheduling
Market Sizing
Google Trends – search trends for popular items
Google Insights – search data filtered
Market Sizing Tool
Market Sizing Techniques
Website Setup
GoDaddy – domain names, web hosting
Google Sites – webpage and wiki creation tool
WhoIs – domain name database search and registration information
Weebly – easy drag & drop interface to create a website
Marketing
MailChimp – email marketing and list manager
ConstantContact – email, event, and social media marketing
HubSpot – online marketing and web analytics platform
Online Advertising Platforms
Google Ads
LinkedIn Ads
Yahoo & Bing Ads
Twitter Ads
Facebook Ads
YouTube Ads
Lead Generation
Hoovers – business research company that sells information on companies and industries
Jigsaw – website for trading business contacts
ThomasNet – product sourcing and supplier discovery platform
InfoUSA – business and consumer contact lists for sale
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Salesforce.com – CRM marketing and management cloud software
ZohoCRM – CRM software for managing sales, marketing, customer support, and inventory
Networking
VentureFizz – Boston Startups, Tech Companies, Jobs, Venture Capital, Networking Events, Blogs, Entrepreneurial Resources
Lean Startup Circle Boston – monthly meetups in the Boston area (final Thursday of each month) focused on customer development and The Lean Startup methodology
Venture Cafe – social networking for Boston’s entrepreneurial community
Web Innovators Group (WebInno) – networking for Internet and mobile innovation startups
TiE Boston (The Indus Entrepreneurs) – network of entrepreneurs and professionals in the Greater Boston area with conferences, events and mentoring
