FREE/Open Source Startup Resources

The following are a list of tools that I have used in my own startup efforts.
Have a suggestion email me

 
Research your idea

• Google Trends http://www.google.com/trends
• Google Insights http://www.google.com/insights
• Survey People http://www.surveymonkey.com

Understand your competition

• Thomasnet http://www.thomasnet.com

Get into the startup community

• Meetup http://www.meetup.com
• Startup Weekends http://startupweekend.org
• Lean startup machine http://leanstartupmachine.com
• Startup Digest http://startupdigest.com
• Ask Questions http://www.quora.com

Find a Co-Founder

• http://www.startuply.com
• http://founderdating.com
• http://techcofounder.com

Co-Founder Advice

• Equity Calculator http://www.ownyourventure.com
• Term Sheets http://walkercorporatelaw.com
• Deal Builder http://dealbuilder.wsgr.com

Legal Advice

• Small Biz Adm http://www.sba.gov
• Scott Ed Walk http://walkercorporatelaw.com
• IP Law http://www.iplawforstartups.com
• Copyrights http://www.copyright.gov
• Patent http://www.uspto.gov
• Plagiarism http://www.copyscape.com

Startup Accelerators

• FlashPoint (GA) http://flashpoint.gatech.edu

Customer and Product Development

• Customer Development http://steveblank.com
• Lean Startups http://www.startuplessonslearned.com
• Lean Business Plan Blueprinting http://leancanvas.com
• Find Developers https://www.odesk.com
• Agile Development http://en.wikipedia.org

Crowdfunding

• Angle List http://angel.co
• Kickstarter http://www.kickstarter.com

Business Tools

• Business Plan Generator http://web.sba.gov
• Blogging http://www.wordpress.com
• File Share http://www.dropbox.com
• Taking Notes https://www.evernote.com
• Project Management https://www.kanbanpad.com
• Content Management http://www.joomla.org
• Web Analytics http://getclicky.com
• Web Analytics https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools
• Web Optimizing https://www.google.com/analytics/siteopt
• Email Marketing http://mailchimp.com

Design Tools

• Mind Mapping http://www.mindmeister.com
• Design Mock-ups https://gomockingbird.com
• Design Mock-ups http://mockupbuilder.com
• Design Mock-ups http://builds.balsamiq.com
• Landing Pages http://launchrock.com/
• Branding http://www.smashingmagazine.com
• Drawing http://inkscape.org
• Clipart http://openclipart.org
• FREE Images http://commons.wikimedia.org
• Host Images http://www.flickr.com
• Host Video http://vimeo.com

Development Tools

• Code Repository https://bitbucket.org
• Code Repository https://github.com
• Virtual Machine https://www.virtualbox.org
• Ubuntu (Linux client) http://www.ubuntu.com
• Development Framework http://rubyonrails.org
• Development Standards http://www.w3.org/standards
• Text Editor http://www.sublimetext.com
• Bootstrap UI http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap
• UI Widgets http://jqueryui.com/demos
• UI Development http://jquery.com
• Ruby on Rails Hosting http://www.heroku.com
• Page speed https://developers.google.com/pagespeed
• Ruby Load Test https://github.com/dbrady/tourbus
• Browser Test http://saucelabs.com

Learn Stuff

• Free Books/Mags http://issuu.com
• Free Books http://stackoverflow.com

Be Social

• LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com
• Facebook http://www.facebook.com
• Twitter https://twitter.com
• Tumbler https://www.tumblr.com
• Google+ https://plus.google.com
• Commenting http://disqus.com
• Addthis http://www.addthis.com
• Klout http://klout.com

Updated 05.15.12 have a suggestion email me