Top 5 Apps for Founders - Survival Edition
So if you're like me (Founder at a startup), you're probably running around thinking about sales, delivery, client satisfaction, branding, marketing and that upcoming client call.
Luckily, I have my phone which is also my trusty sidekick and without it, I wouldn't be able to do all of the things required of me on such short notice. The simple reality is that I can run my entire business out of my iPhone 6.
So here is a list of my go-to apps when it comes to running my company. When all else fails, I know I can trust on them to execute on tasks and make critical decisions on the-go.
- Email - I'm a fan of the Outlook E-Mail App. It’s designed for business first. You get some great features including the ability to quickly share your calendar inside the body of the email. You can also get seamless integration with DropBox, Box, Google Drive and Outlook right in the app, so your documents are right there when you need them.
- Slack - This is where the team hangs. All of my main alerts, projects and team members “ live" here. I can make major decisions, without it, I'M NOTHING. Slack is extremely customizable and allows for many 3rd party integrations. Here are some slack integrations I've been using slack at my company: Drift - A great slack integration that allows me to directly chat with my website visitors from slack. Yala - A social media assistant that lets me post to social media directly from slack. UpTimeRobot - Notifies me when any of my company’s or client’s websites are down for any reason
- Calendar - The calendar app has my daily and weekly activities. My calendar keeps me accountable and allows me to quickly assess the health of my business. The more clients I am seeing, the better I am doing. My favorite iPhone calendar app is Calendars 5. It has a great week view and understands natural “speech parameters" when typing to create events. So you can type things like, “Speak with Johnny every 3rd Tuesday of the Month” and it will automatically create a recurring schedule and send an invite to “Johnny”. Simple, fast and efficient. Note: This is a paid app.
- Evernote - This is where my notes are stored. I have ideas, they need to be written down. Evernote has all of all of my info within reach. I love Evernote because of it’s versatility, including the ability to add photos, scan documents, leave voice notes or regular text notes. They just completely redesigned the app and I think it’s worth looking into.
- Skype - I can call anyone on Earth with a Skype account, and that’s just about everyone. Techies are known to work "globally" as the pool of talent reaches all corners of the world. I need to be able to connect with clients, colleagues and associate no matter where they live. Skype allows me to bridge that "water" gap and get on a call with anyone instantaneously.
Well I hope this helps. Let me know your thoughts and tell me about the apps that you find useful in your business!