Tools For Your Teentrepreneur Budget of $0.00

If you’re anything like us, your budget is non-existent, so guess what? You’re going to be spending a lot of your time free trial hopping, which can be frustrating, but oftentimes, it’s the only way to get something done.

The good news is, when you’re just starting out, a lot of companies ofter free use of their product for teams with less than 10 members, but there are limitations. FYI, here are some general tools we use:

Team communications — Slack, Google Drive www.slack.com, www.google.com/drive

Wow, #SLACK is such a favorite, in fact, we don’t know how we would get by without it. If you’re not familiar with Slack, you should be! It’s a team communications tool, kinda like a chat program. If you gamers out there are using Discord, well, Slack is very similar, but has loads of cool integration options for businesses, such as Google Drive, Google Calendar, Social, and heaps more. You create channels in Slack, for example, in the Developster Slack, we have Channels like #general, #random, #bit-bucket, #graphic-design, #architecture, #pr-marketing, #social, #calendar, #meetings, and so on. You can send DMs to one or more Team Members, customize notifications, and the mobile app is awesome. So good! Great for sharing files too! Love Slack!

Slack is free for an unlimited amount of users, but your storage and archiving is limited, and you get a limited number of integrations. It’s all you’ll need to get started, and hey, if your start-up takes off, you can go pro!

For our team docs, design files, etc., we use Google Drive, because it’s simple, it’s collaborative, and it works. As you progress with the development of your start up, you’ll soon realise just how many documents you need to start writing! There are email responses, terms and conditions, privacy policy, press releases, documentation for your product, media lists, and so much more. We’ll write about that stuff in the near future. Google Drive is a simple way to compose, organize, save, and use your important docs and files.

UX Design, Mockups, Wireframing — UXPin, Atomic, SketchApp, InVisionAppwww.uxpin.com, www.sketchapp.com, www.atomic.io, www.invisionapp.com

We had no idea what to use for UX Design/Mock-ups, so we basically just started experimenting and trying different tools. The first one we tried was UXPin. It was pretty cool, but our free trial ran out, so we moved to Atomic, a NZ company btw. Atomic was great, nice and easy, and we were lucky because it was still in beta development, so we were able to work as team for free. Unfortunately, that soon stopped. We did pay for one user, but it wasn’t ideal, not being able to have the team work together on the designs. Next, we moved to SketchApp (Mac Only). Again, for a free 30 day trial. SketchApp was awesome and enabled us to get to MVP. Now, our trial has run out on that as well, so next, it’s InvisionApp. We haven’t used Invision yet, but we do subscribe their AMAZING Design Newsletter. If nothing else, sign up to receive it! The newsletter is well worth it! Invision Labs created a thing called Craft. You can use Craft with Adobe products, or SketchApp. Craft pulls realtime data/content into your mock-ups, which is awesome! You get a better idea of what your product is going to look like when it’s live and it saves you having to create fake place fillers.

Project Management — Trello, Freedcamp www.trello.com, www.freedcamp.com

For project management, we started using post-it notes on the wall. This is great if you’re working on a smaller project, but if you’re working on something like Developster, you need a digital tool that you can hook into when you’re away from school.

We tried Trello. Trello is nice and simple, but as time went by, it was a little too simple. We needed something more comprehensive, so we found Freedcamp. Freedcamp’s only limitations are storage for a free account, and integrations, but it’s definitely enough for a small team, it has a nice UI, and it’s pretty easy to pick up. This is where Ben adds our Weekly tasks.

The Build! — Microsoft BizSpark, OpenShift www.microsoft.com/bizspark, www.openshift.com

If you’re looking to create a start-up and build a product, Microsoft’s BizSpark program is a great way to do that. You get 3 years free (up to a specified $$$ depending on your country). Sounds like a long time, but the time soon starts ticking by, and don’t forget, building your product is one thing, getting customers/users onboard, is another. As they always say “just because you build it, doesn’t mean they’ll come!” Building your whole business can take time, but we’ll talk about that in another post. Developster is part of the BizSpark program.

OpenShift, by Red Hat, is another cool PaaS offering. You can deploy up to 3 apps for free, and use custom domains. Best to check it out before you commit though — OpenShift accounts can’t be upgraded (yet) in NZ, so be sure to check your region. And remember, this free service does have its limitations. Expect down time!

That’s all for now. We’ll write about more tools as we progress. Until then, keep creating!

Lots of Love, The Developster Team: Asher, Eiko, Ben, Crispin, Kaleb, and Renea

@DevelopsterTeam / @kohknowcolab / @kohknowco

First published April 21, 2016