25 free resources every startup needs

Because we all like free stuff, here’s a compilation of 25 online resources to assist entrepreneurs build and develop their startups.

Financing and investment

There are plenty of financing document templates online, however they tend to be for use in the US. For Australian seed financing document templates, try http://www.avcal.com.au/resources/open-source-seed-financing-documents or http://www.startmate.com.au/financing-docs, and for advisor agreement templates try http://members.founderdating.com/resources/templates.

For advice on pitching, try David Rose’s TED talk https://www.ted.com/talks/david_s_rose_on_pitching_to_vcs?language=en, and this research on why some startups get funded and others don’t is worth a look: http://www.slideshare.net/DocSend/docsend-fundraising-research-49480890.

For a lean canvas business plan try http://www.buzinga.com.au/buzz/1-page-business-plan-for-app-startups. It’s targeted at app-based businesses.

Creative, PR and social media

An excellent blog for social media tips is Socially Sorted. Check out this piece on posting good visual content as an example.

submit.co and https://startuplister.com/list-of-startup-directories/ both tell you where to get press coverage for your startup. They are basically curated lists of media outlets with their Alexa rankings (website ranking), Twitter followings and contact details.

followerwonk.com is another useful resource to help you identify influencers to target on Twitter.

For a very good directory of free resources for creatives, try http://makerbook.net.

There are hundreds of free stock photo directories, such as https://visualhunt.com, https://pixabay.com or https://www.sitebuilderreport.com/stock-up. Shopify lists another 22 of them here. You have no excuse to use the same old tired photos in your content anymore!

For developers

A great curated list of developer tools is available of Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/topics/developer-tools. Another list of 50 tools for developers and designers is http://justcreative.com/2016/07/07/free-fresh-resources-for-designers-and-developers-july-2016.

For mocking up apps, try https://proto.io and http://filesq.com.

Other resources

A good general compilation of useful resources for startups can be found here: http://startupmelbourne.com/resources. Some of it is Melbourne focused, but most of it is more broadly relevant.

Another is http://growth.supply/free/all, where everything listed is freely available. Hundreds of free resources are listed, ranging from website creators, SEO services, image editors, learning resources, logo services, and many more. You’ll need a cup of coffee and a good couple of hours to make your way through the list!

Entrepreneur magazine lists 11 free resources here.

For general business documents, http://xtensio.com provides a wide selection of templates, including a lean canvas, a business model canvas, a press release, etc.

For a curated list of service providers servicing startup, try out Techboard’s Problem Solvers page here.

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