My Favorite 36 Tools & Resources for Today's Entrepreneur

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Time is an entrepreneur's most precious resource. One of my previous clients, a serial entrepreneur, joked that his first hire was an accountant. He excelled at talking with clients and needed help crunching numbers.

Trying to do it all as a business owner will quickly lead to burnout. That's why the entrepreneur resources and tools below are essential to running a company and keeping your sanity. Some focus on specialized tasks (i.e. scheduling meetings) while others support entire teams (i.e communications platform). In fact, I've tried many of these tools in my own business so I've experienced their value firsthand.

Turn off that solopreneur mindset and get the support you need to manage and grow your business as an entrepreneur with this mix of free and paid resources.

Table of Contents

• 21 Tools for Entrepreneurs
• 15 Resources for Entrepreneurs

21 Tools for Entrepreneurs

1. HubSpot Customer Platform for Growing Enterprise Businesses

• Pricing: Free plans are available. A starter customer platform costs $20 a month per seat. Professional customer platforms start at $1,300 a month.

HubSpot's Customer Platform is a full stack of marketing, sales, content management, and customer service software. It lets you plug in all of your favorite tools so you can manage data, boost your online presence, track your customers, and close deals all in one place.

The platform scales with your business, so you can start for free and expand as your company grows.

• The Content Hub lets you create, manage, and optimize content for various channels.
• You can then focus on lead generation, analytics, and marketing automation in the Marketing Hub.
• The Sales Hub helps with meeting scheduling, email tracking, and automation.
• Lastly, the Service Hub is where you engage with customers through customer feedback and data collection.

Pro tip: Use the "Sequences" tool to create personalized, interactive onboarding experiences for new customers using chatbots and automated emails.

2. Calendly

• Pricing: Basic plans are free. Standard plans cost $10 per user a month). Team plans cost $16 per user a month.

Calendly is an online appointment scheduling tool that helps you book meetings without wasting time on back-and-forth emails. Simply select your availability and share the link with anyone who needs to set a meeting with you. The invitee selects a time slot that works for them, and the tool automatically books the time on your calendar.

What I like: You can integrate Calendly with Google, Outlook, Office 365, or iCloud to prevent double bookings. Control features let you set buffer times between meetings, prevent last-minute bookings, and connect with your apps to automate tasks. Test it out during a free 14-day trial of the Teams plan before committing to a monthly plan.

Pro tip: Embed Calendly links in your email signature with specific meeting types ("15-minute Brainstorm," "30-minute Demo") to guide people towards the right interaction.

3. Xero

• Pricing: Early plans cost $15 per month. Growing plans cost $42 per month. Established plans cost $78 per month.

Xero is for accountants, bookkeepers, and small business owners who need help managing finances. There are tools to pay bills, claim expenses, connect banks, accept payments, send payroll and invoices, create purchase orders, and more.

For those learning how to become an entrepreneur, our research shows that 54% of entrepreneurs struggle with earning and maintaining finances. Tools like Xero can help address this common challenge.

With products catered to small business owners, accounts, and bookkeepers, you can stay lightweight on features or get into the heavyweight financials with tax and reporting compliance. A free 30-day trial gives you access to all features, so you can decide which plan is right for your company.

Pro tip: Set up automated bank feeds to categorize expenses instantly and save hours of manual reconciliation at the end of the month.

4. QuickBooks

• Pricing: Simple start plans cost $30 per month. Essential plans cost $60 per month. Plus plans cost $90 per month. Advanced plans cost $200 per month.

QuickBooks is an accounting software tool designed for businesses ranging from solo freelancers to mid-sized companies. It's a robust tool with dozens of features for managing finances, including bill management, invoices and payments, payroll, project profitability, cash flow, contractors, and reports.

What I like: QuickBooks integrates with HubSpot so you can automatically send sales entries and invoices from HubSpot to your books. Sign up for the free 30-day trial to see if it's right for you.

Pro tip: Use QuickBooks' built-in reports to identify your most profitable customer segments and tailor marketing efforts.

5. Gusto

• Pricing: Simple plans have a base cost of $40 per month, plus $6 a month per person. Plus plans have a base cost of $80 per month, plus $12 a month per person. Premium plans have custom pricing.

Gusto is an HR management solution for benefits, payroll, employee management, provisioning, and compliance. This entrepreneur resource helps you manage employee information and payroll, while giving employees an all-in-one place for accessing benefits and important company information.

For maturing businesses, Gusto can be particularly valuable. Our latest research shows that 20% of entrepreneurs struggle with recruiting and retaining talent when their business is mature.

What I like: You can combine Gusto with your accounting software through integrations for Xero, QuickBooks, FreshBooks, and more. You can also set up tax-advantaged spending accounts for your team (for a $200 annual fee) and add extra benefits, including workers comp, FSAs, and 401(k)s.

Pro tip: Use the "Tip Credits" to track employee tips and apply them towards meeting minimum wage requirements. This means if your tipped employees earn enough in tips to meet or exceed the minimum wage, you might be able to reduce the cash wage you pay them, which could lower your payroll taxes.

6. Paddle

• Pricing: Pay-as-you-go costs 5% of the transaction plus fifty cents per transaction.

Paddle is a payments infrastructure provider for B2B SaaS companies. It offers a complete solution for handling payments, billing, taxes, and subscriptions, allowing SaaS businesses to focus on their core product and growth.

Paddle acts as the merchant of record, taking on the responsibility of sales tax calculations, compliance, and other financial and legal aspects. This relieves SaaS companies from the complexities of these processes.

Pro tip: Use Paddle's "Subscription Metrics API" to build a custom churn prediction model tailored to your specific customer data and behavior.

7. Stripe

• Pricing: Integrated plans cost 2.9% of each transaction plus 0.30 per successful card charge. Customized plans are available upon request.

Stripe is an online payment processing suite with products to accept payments and send payouts globally. It's designed for online and in-person retailers, software platforms, subscription businesses, and marketplaces, with features to combat fraud, send invoices, manage business spending, get financing, and more.

What I like: Pre-built integrations, including Shopify, WooCommerce, and NetSuite, make setup easy. It integrates with major banks around the world to reduce failure points in financial transactions.

Pro tip: Integrate Stripe Radar to automatically adjust fraud prevention rules based on real-time transaction data and reduce false positives.

8. Squarespace

• Pricing: Personal plans cost $25 per month. Business plans cost $36 per month. Commerce basic plans cost $40 per month. Commerce advanced plans cost $72 per month.

Squarespace is a website creation and management tool to get your business online and ready for customers. Building a site or portfolio is simple, with pre-built templates and customizable designs. Features like an online store, booking services, and third-party extensions allow you to make your site work for your business.

What I like: Not sure where to start? The blog shows real-life examples of sites built using Squarespace to spark your creativity. You can link a domain from another web development tool so you don't lose your current URL, customers, and branding.

Pro tip: Use Squarespace's built-in email marketing tools to send targeted email campaigns to different customer segments based on their website behavior.

9. Shopify

• Pricing: Basic plans cost $25 per month. Shopify plans cost $65 per month. Advanced plans cost $399 per month. Plus plans start at $2,300 per month.

Shopify is an eCommerce web development tool to get your business up and running. Tools help you start, sell, market, and manage your business so you can find customers, bring in sales, and manage day-to-day tasks.

Point-of-sale tools make it simple for customers to buy online or in person, and marketing tools help you manage email marketing, Google Shopping campaigns, and Facebook ads. Test out the platform with a free 14-day trial.

What I like: Customizable themes let you bring your brand to life, no coding required.

Pro tip: Enable Shopify's multi-currency feature to automatically display prices in the local currency of your international customers.

10. Zendesk

• Pricing: Suite team plans cost $69 per agent a month. Suite growth plans cost $115 per agent a month. Suite professional plans cost $149 per agent a month. Suite enterprise plan pricing is available upon request.

Zendesk is a customer service software and sales CRM that helps you respond to customer inquiries and needs. To empower customers, you can set up a help center and community forum so people can get answers at their own paces. When conversations happen, they stay connected-whether on live chat, social, email, voice, or messaging-for a smooth customer experience.

What I like: Over 1,000 pre-built integrations work with Zendesk so your agents get the context they need to provide support. And a single unified workspace makes it easier to manage information and assign customers to the agent best-fit to help.

Pro tip: Create custom triggers in Zendesk to automatically escalate high-priority tickets to specific agents.

11. SurveyMonkey

• Pricing: Business team advantage plans cost $25 per user a month. Team premier plans for business cost $75 per user a month. Enterprise plans are available upon request. Personal premiere annual plans cost $99 per month. Personal advantage annual plans cost $32 a month. Personal standard monthly plans cost $35 per month.

SurveyMonkey is an online survey tool that captures the data you need to make your company a success. Collect customer satisfaction, target market data, and employee feedback using templates for customers, employees, markets, and more.

The basic plan is free, but access to dozens of features, including unlimited responses, custom logos, A/B testing, and multilingual surveys, require a paid plan.

Pro tip: Embed short, one-question surveys into your email marketing campaigns to get quick feedback and insights on customer preferences.

12. HubSpot Startup Bundle

• Pricing: HubSpot Startup Bundle costs $20 per month for a seat.

HubSpot's Starter Bundle is an entry-level package that combines basic tools from HubSpot's Marketing, Sales, and Service Hubs. It's designed for small to medium-sized businesses looking to streamline their operations and grow their customer base.

The bundle includes essential features for contact management, email marketing, live chat, basic reporting, meeting scheduling, and customer service ticketing. While it offers a more affordable starting point compared to HubSpot's advanced plans, it provides businesses with a unified platform to manage customer interactions across marketing, sales, and service departments.

Pro tip: Instead of simply assigning leads round-robin, use HubSpot's workflows to analyze lead data against your ICP criteria. This ensures the most qualified leads reach the right sales reps.

13. Zapier

• Pricing: Free plans are available. Professional plans cost $19.99 a month. Team plans cost $69 per month. Enterprise plan pricing is available upon request.

Zapier is a workflow software that automates repetitive tasks so you can spend time on work that matters. You set up an event of your choosing (i.e., someone signing up for your newsletter), which triggers an action (i.e., sending a welcome email).

What I like: With integrations for popular apps and entrepreneur resources, Zapier can help smooth out your customer journey, design an automated customer experience, and speed up your sales cycle. Pre-built templates make it easy to set up your first "Zap" and get your team back to the most important work.

Pro tip: By default, Zaps trigger on every event. But you can use "Filters" to specify the exact conditions that should trigger a Zap. For example, you could filter a Zap to only trigger new leads with a specific job title or from a specific location. This prevents unnecessary actions and keeps your automation focused.

14. Asana

• Pricing: Basic plans are free. Starter plans cost $10.99 per month. Advanced plans cost $24.99 per month. Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

Asana is a web and mobile application to help teams organize, track, and manage their work. Within the platform, you can set strategic goals, build timelines, monitor initiatives in real-time, get an overview of each employee's workload, submit forms, and automate routine tasks.

What I like: Depending on your team's focus, you can set up pre-built templates to run marketing campaigns, onboard new customers, build product roadmaps, and streamline operations processes.

Pro tip: Use Asana AI's "Smart Summaries" to automatically generate concise recaps of project discussions and task updates.

15. Dashlane

• Pricing: Premium plans cost $4.99 per month. Business plans cost $8 per month.

Dashlane is a password management application that helps businesses and individuals keep passwords secure and in one place. This is especially important for entrepreneurs, who often have to hand over tasks as teams grow.

What I like: Having a password management tool lets you free up headspace and focus on growing your business, so each new employee doesn't have to remember your bizarre birthday and childhood pet name combo. You can test out a free trial before committing to a plan.

Pro tip: Set up Dashlane's automatic password changer to regularly update your passwords across multiple sites to strengthen your overall security.

16. Slack

• Pricing: Free plans are available. Pro plans cost $8.75 per month. Business plus plans cost $15 per month. Enterprise grid pricing is available upon request.

Slack is a communications platform that's taken the business world by storm. Even traditional biotech companies have pushed aside email in favor of this effective, fun tool.

Not only does Slack streamline team communication by keeping it in one place, but you can also organize conversations by channels (i.e., #marketing, #development, #sales). Invite contractors or freelancers to collaborate on specific channels to avoid clunky email chains, without letting them see private company channels.

What I like: Slack offers video chat and phone options, so you don't have to jump to another app.

Pro tip: Use Slack's integration with apps like Polly to create interactive trivia games, surveys, and other activities that can help boost team morale and inject some fun into your remote work environment.

17. Notion

• Pricing: Free plans are available. Plus plans cost $12 per seat a month), Business plans cost $18 per seat a month. Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

Notion is an all-in-one workspace that centralizes note-taking, task management, and knowledge bases. You can use it to draft business plans, track project progress, create wikis for company information, and even manage customer relationships.

It also includes AI features, such as generating summaries, translating text, and drafting documents, which further enhance its productivity potential. Notion offers special pricing and benefits for startups, including up to 6 months of free access with unlimited AI usage.

Pro tip: If you don't want to commit to a separate website and hosting yet, Taha Ahmed, co-founder of Maqsad, an edtech platform, recommends using Notion to turn your workspace into a fully functional website.

"By making your Notion pages public, you can create a professional-looking website without needing to learn complex web development skills," Ahmed says.

18. Perplexity.ai

• Pricing: Free plans cost. Professional plans cost $20 per month.

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine that offers a unique approach to finding information by providing answer summaries with source citations.

Perplexity gathers information from a wide range of sources, including news articles, academic papers, websites, Reddit, and even YouTube videos.

How does this help entrepreneurs? Use it to quickly gather information on various topics relevant to their business, such as market trends, competitor analysis, and industry news. The source citations make it easy to verify the accuracy and credibility of the information.

Pro tip: Jim Coughlin, founder of Remotivated, an HR consulting company, recommends automating Perplexity with Zapier.

"I have Zapier run a handful of Perplexity prompts each day to get me the latest news about remote work and summarize it for me so that I can keep up. Any LLM would be able to summarize them for you, but Perplexity can also deliver the links so you can read more when you want to," Coughlin says.

19. ChatGPT

• Pricing: Free plans are available. Plus plans cost $20 per month. Team plans cost$30 per user a month. Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

ChatGPT is an AI language model that generates human-like text, translates languages, writes different kinds of creative content, and answers your questions in an informative way.

The tool is great for generating high-quality blog posts, social media captions, marketing copy, and other types of content. You can also integrate it into chatbots or customer support systems to provide instant and accurate responses to customer inquiries.

Pro tip: Janet Gehrmann, co-founder of business monitoring tool Scoop Analytics, loves using ChatGPT as an editor rather than a writer. She says that it can "help one ensure their writing is more concise or punchier, in addition to checking grammar."

20. Canva

• Pricing: Free plans are available. Pro plans cost $6.50 per month. Team plans cost $5 per month.

With Canva, you can create social media graphics, presentations, posters, and videos. Entrepreneurs with no design experience can easily create professional-looking designs with its massive library of templates, stock photos, illustrations, and fonts.

To ensure consistent branding across all visual content, you can also create and save brand kits.

Pro tip: Create a library of branded templates in Canva, making it quick and easy for your team to create visually consistent marketing materials.

21. Sprout Social

• Pricing: Standard plans cost $249 per seat a month. Professional plans cost $399 per seat a month. Advanced plans cost $499 per seat a month). Enterprise pricing is available upon request.

Sprout Social is a social media management platform that allows you to manage multiple social media accounts from a single dashboard. You can also schedule posts in advance and monitor engagement across various platforms.

Want everything consolidated? Entrepreneurs can also track their social media performance and identify trends with Sprout's detailed analytics. Social listening and engagement tools also help you monitor conversations, answer customer inquiries promptly, and build stronger relationships.

Pro tip: Set up custom alerts and granular sentiment analysis to automatically get alerts when customers are talking about your brand.

15 Resources for Entrepreneurs

1. Mighty Networks

• Pricing: Business plans cost $81 per month. Community plans cost $23 per month.

Mighty Networks is a community platform for business owners looking to combine content, community, online courses, and memberships into one place. This is a great resource for non-profits and membership-based businesses to create a seamless touchpoint across their brand.

You can mix and match features to choose the ones that work for you. Publish articles, share polls, host events, send messages, and set up groups on your branded platform. A free version is available, or try out the paid plans with a 14-day trial.

What I like: Mighty Networks is a tool that helps you build an online community for your brand. It lets you interact more closely with your followers in one place.

2. The Hustle

• Pricing: Free

The Hustle is a free daily business and technology newsletter sharing the latest news in a digestible way. From breaking down the latest IPOs to sharing company success stories, it helps entrepreneurs stay current on business and startup trends. Hard-hitting news is delivered in short snippets with links to the original articles.

Along with news, short articles help readers learn about past business flops and even bizarre stories from the world's billionaires (i.e. Larry Ellison's lawsuit on his 23-acre replica of a 16th century Japanese palace).

What I like: Bite-sized news is perfect for busy entrepreneurs who want to stay informed without getting bogged down in lengthy articles.

3. How I Built This

• Pricing: Free

How I Built This with Guy Raz is a podcast that highlights the highs and lows of entrepreneurship. Raz interviews founders and executives of successful companies (think Bandcamp, Zappos, Yelp, Lyft, Bumble) about their journeys and what it takes to build an incredible business.

The podcast is full of actionable advice, inspiration, wild stories, honest challenges, and triumphant wins. While this is just one of many great entrepreneur resources, it's one you won't want to pass up.

What I like: Hearing firshand stories of overcoming challenges and achieving success is incredibly inspiring and motivating and really humanizes the entrepreneurial journey.

4. a16z

• Pricing: Free

The a16z podcast is the place for discussions about technology, innovation, and how change impacts our lives. It covers trending topics (i.e. NFTs and bitcoin) to help listeners make sense of the future.

Guests include industry experts, academics, authors, and company leaders from around the world. The conversations are always thoughtful and leave you with a better understanding of the topic covered.

What I like: While it's a great resource for entrepreneurs, it's also ideal for anyone interested in tech and future-centric discussions.

5. Forbes Small Business

• Pricing: Monthly plans cost $9.99 per month. Annual plans cost $59.99. Two-year plans cost $119.99.

Forbes is a global publication that shares articles on business, technology, investing, entrepreneurship, leadership, and lifestyle. The Small Business column is particularly helpful for entrepreneurs looking for content on startup advice, business news, and inspiration.

What I like: The "Bootstrapped" column features inspiring stories of entrepreneurs who built successful businesses with limited resources - basically showing that creativity and determination can outweigh financial constraints.

6. VentureBeat

• Pricing: Insider plans cost $9 per month. VIP plans cost $399 per year.

VentureBeat is a business publication focused on transformative technology news, with an emphasis on machine learning and artificial intelligence. It covers breaking news and events to help leaders understand the news and trends impacting their companies and industries.

You can sign up for their daily or weekly newsletter to get the top stories and join their events to share discussions and ideas. The free membership gives you access to newsletters and digital events, as well as three videos and three articles per month.

What I like: Their "Transform" conference is a must-attend event for entrepreneurs interested in the intersection of technology and business transformation.

7. Inc

• Pricing: Annual subscriptions cost $19.99. Two-year subscriptions cost $34.99. Monthly subscriptions cost $1.99 per month.

Inc. Magazine is a digital and print publication focused on startups and leadership. It shares stories of success, failure, and tips from startup founders and established business executives. Depending on what kind of entrepreneur resources you're looking for, you can scroll through articles about innovation, leadership, growth, money, technology, and more.

Inc. recently moved from a freemium model to a subscription model, so check out the pricing below for access. One of my favorite columnists is Heidi Zak, the co-founder of ThirdLove and advocate for women entrepreneurs.

What I like: Their "Best Workplaces" list is particularly insightful, as it highlights companies that prioritize employee well-being and create positive work environments.

8. Under30 CEO

• Pricing: Free

Under30 CEO is a publication aimed at young startups and early-stage business owners. Scroll through the articles for tips on how to be a good project manager, hiring remote workers, franchise valuation, and more.

While the content is targeted at a younger audience, the advice is valuable for all new founders. They also have a section on "Over 30 Advice" that's meant for leaders with more experience.

What I like: Their annual "30 Under 30" list celebrates young entrepreneurs and is a source of inspiration and recognition for aspiring entrepreneurs who are just starting their journeys.

9. Small Business Trends

• Pricing: Free

Small Business Trends is an online publication sharing SMB news, tech product reviews, and interviews with entrepreneurs. It covers practical advice, like how to get a business loan, along with tips on improving culture and team morale.

Subscribe to the newsletter to get the latest articles in your inbox. You can also look through the Marketing, Management, Technology, Finance, Advice, Resources, and News columns to find specific information on questions you may have.

What I like: The "Ask an Expert" series provides direct access to seasoned professionals who offer personalized advice on different business challenges.

10. Small Business Administration

• Pricing: Free

The Small Business Administration is a federal agency dedicated to small business owners. Here, you can find information on planning, launching, managing, and growing your business, with specific tips for staying compliant and registering your company.

The SBA also shares resources on funding programs and federal contracting to help small business owners manage finances and win contracts. A free resource, it's the place to learn more about business loans and grants, business licenses, taxes, and how the government is advocating for entrepreneurs in Washington, D.C.

What I like: The "Boots to Business" program offers veterans and their spouses comprehensive training and resources to start and grow successful businesses.

11. Fundera

• Pricing: Free

Fundera is a marketplace for small business financial solutions. There's a lot of information online about small business loans.

This resource is particularly valuable given that 74% of entrepreneurs use personal funds to finance their ventures. Fundera can help business owners explore alternative funding options and potentially reduce their reliance on personal finances.

While the main focus of Fundera is to help businesses get loans, it's also a great resource for financial information. If you ever need to compare banks, credit cards, financial software, POS systems, HR software, or insurance for your business, check out the incredible amount of free articles to help you decide.

What I like: The "Ledger" blog offers in-depth financial analysis and insights specifically tailored to small businesses.

12. Copyblogger

• Pricing: Copyblogger ($0), Copyblogger Pro ($495/year)

Copyblogger knows that content marketing is more complex than most people think. That's why they offer articles, guides, and certified writers to help with your marketing efforts.

You can dive into topics like email marketing, search engine optimization, blogging, landing pages, copywriting, and conversion rate optimization. Or you can take one of their masterclasses for in-depth education on each topic. Just don't be surprised if you suddenly realize your next hire needs to be a copywriter.

What I like: The unique blend of irreverent humor and insightful business analysis. It's like getting your daily dose of financial news from a witty friend who happens to be a business expert.

13. HubSpot for Startups

• Pricing: Eligible startups can save 30 to 75% off the HubSpot CRM platform in their first year.

HubSpot for Startups is a supplement to their CRM platform that supports business owners as they build a scalable growth strategy. Become a member and get access to educational resources and training that helps you get and retain customers.

The program provides access to resources, such as exclusive training, mentorship opportunities, and partner discounts, to help startups scale their operations. You're eligible to apply for membership if you're a current member or alumni of an approved partner of HubSpot for Entrepreneurs.

What I like: Access to the CRM is excellent for startups and small businesses who can manage customer relationships and sales pipelines without breaking the bank.

14. National Association of Women Business Owners

• Pricing: Basic plans cost $359.40 per year. Premiere plans cost $479.40 per year. Supporting plans cost $795.40 per year. Next Gen plans cost $120 per year. The online community is free.

The National Association of Women Business Owners is a professional community that represents women entrepreneurs. It provides resources for personal development, business growth, and advocacy.

Members have access to a directory of business owners, toolkits for improving their companies, invites to events, and awards for outstanding entrepreneurship.

What I like: The "Circle" program offers a structured peer-mentoring experience, where women entrepreneurs can connect with and learn from each other in a supportive and collaborative environment.

15. RevGenius

• Pricing: Free

RevGenius is an online community of sales, marketing, revenue operations, and customer success professionals.

It provides a free and inclusive space for members to learn, network, and share insights about the revenue industry.

The community is hosted on Slack and offers members access to webinars, roundtables, in-person meetups, a jobs board, and other resources to support their professional growth.

What I like: The Slack channel has location-specific channels so you can actually meet the professionals you're interacting with online and amplify your network.

Set Yourself Up for Success

I've covered a lot of ground here. From accounting software to AI tools, there are so many options to help you run your business. But at the end of the day, you know your needs best.

Pick one or two tools that speak to your biggest challenges right now. Try them out. See what works. And remember, it's okay if something doesn't fit - there's always another option to explore.

Building a business is a journey, and having the right resources can make that journey a bit smoother. So, what's your next step?

If you're looking to map out your business idea in detail, I recommend trying our business plan template to get started.

Editor's note: This post was originally published in April 2021 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Topics: Entrepreneurship

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