The Entrepreneur’s Toolkit

THE ENTREPRÈNEUR'S TOOLKIT 20 APPS & SERVICES THAT WERE KEY TO OUR SUCCESS AT GIST A lot goes into launching a product. You need a great idea, an enterprising and dedicated team, and sometimes a little blood, sweat, and tears. These days, there are a slew of applications and services that make the process a whole lot smoother. Here are a few of those very tools that worked for us at Gist. To turn any idea into reality you've got to stay on track and TO INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY make the bestuse oflimited time. We used the following apps and services to stay organized, productive, and connected. G. te GIST TUNGLE • TEXTEXPANDER Appointment scheduling application Professional network and Utility typing shortcuts online contact manager PB Google • GOOGLE APPS • PBWORKS • LIQUID PLANNER Web-based documents, Hosted collaboration tools Project management tool spreadsheets, and office tools SKITCH SKYPE Messaging, conferencing, video calling, and file sharing SURVEYMONKEY Screen capture, editing, Online survey and and sharing tool research tool To spread the word about new releases, we turned to several TO SPREAD THE WORD apps and services to manage email campaigns, find potential customers and partners, and track all of our marketing efforts. • GOTOMEETING SIMPLY MEASURED/EXPORT.LY TWEETDECK Web conferencing and online meetings Social media analytics Twitter and other social networks manager ONE'S AN EXPERT HARO www.helpereporter.com CTimely SOMET • HARO (HELP A REPORTER OUT) Journalist and blogger source repository TIMELY RETARGETER Self-serve ad retargeting platform Tweet scheduler TRADA MAILCHIMP • WORDPRESS Blog tools and publishing platform Crowdsourced search marketing Email marketing and email list manager • ZENDESK • MARKETFISH Customizable customer help desk Campaign and list manager Gist. Sources: GigaOM, Entrepreneur's Friend, Affinity Click, SitePoint