15 Essential Tools For Every Lean Startup

It’s all about going in lean for startups, cut down costs, increase productivity, get customer feedback and validation and most importantly, build efficient and quick iterations of their products.

Here we cover a few products and services that will help you save time and effort. Here goes:

1. Lean Canvas
   If you’re an early stage startup the last thing you want to have to do is write a 30 page business plan. Wouldn’t it be great if you document your business model on one page, allowing you to focus on actually building your business? This great tool lets you adopt the principles of the business model canvas using a simple web interface. Create multiple canvases if you like, collaborate and share with others, and re-visit later. Adapted from the Business Model Toolbox, this is the brainchild of Ash Maurya, author of Running Lean and a successful blog. We use this on every project we work on and you should too. It’s a lifesaver as it makes you focus on the things that count right from the outset – What’s your problem-solution fit? Who are your customers? How are you going to reach them? What’s your pricing model? The Lean Canvas will help you crystalise your ideas and communicate these better. As well as creating the elements that make up your business model, you can also set up experiments to test your assumptions and comment on other people’s entries. An awesome addition to the startup toolkit.
2. Personapp
   OK, this is a shameless plug, but as there wasn’t a solution out there we decided to build something ourselves. We like to create quick, informal user personas to help us (& our clients) start thinking about the people we’re designing for. After many a project hacking together hand-written personas, word documents, Fireworks & Balsamiq mockups, the frustration came too much and Personapp was born. Create multiple personas per project and export for sharing or printing. It’s still in beta but you can sign up for an invite.
3. Unassumer
   A new addition to the lean startup tools out there but a valuable one all the same. Created by customer development expert and author Brant Cooper, Unassumer helps you learn quickly what your customers really want, so you can focus on delivering the best product. Get feedback from customers and prospects automatically with a simple scoring system, and get actionable data that helps you find and target your market.
4. Kiss Insights

   KISSinsights gives your customers a way to tell you what they need. Ask a question (or two) and your customers will see it slide up from the bottom right-hand corner of your site. A neat little addition to the feedback space.

    

5. Survey.io
   A great tool for for testing product/market fit through a customer development survey. Use their standard template to create a survey in seconds (or use KISSinsights to create your own).
6. Google Apps
   So many (free or very cheap) tools for the lean startup. Docs (spreadsheet, presentation, pages, forms, etc). Use them as you would Office or iWork but you can also hack them for different needs. We use Google forms for user surveys, for instance.
7. Unbounce
   Unbounce lets you create simple landing page design and do A/B split testing. It takes the pain out of creating landing pages (no HTML knowledge needed) and enables you to quickly test the market for your product idea.
8. WuFoo
   WuFoo lets you easily create forms that can be embedded onto your site (or Unbounce landing page above) without the need for a developer to set this up for you. We use this for email signup forms on landing page MVPs to see if there’s an interest there before we build something. It also has a very user-friendly interface for managing your forms and keeping track of analytics & conversions.
9. Usertesting.com
   Not a replacement for face to face usability tests but a good way of pinpointing any usability issues at an early stage. Their network of testers can test anything from an early stage prototype, flat designs or a soon to be launched web app. They will review your product and provide audio commentary whilst they are using it. Bear in mind though that from our experience they can come across as expert testers so may not be an accurate reflection of your target audience. But for cheap, quick feedback it’s a very useful service (from $39 per participant).
10. Silverback
    A handy little piece of software by UX experts and neighbours of ours Clearleft, Silverback lets you record live usability tests through your built-in webcam (and mic) for watching or sharing later. As well as recording the tester themselves it also records the screen activity of them using your product so you can keep track of each stage of your test. We find it particularly useful for referring back to later when you’re writing up usability test sessions. They can also be useful to distribute to your client if they weren’t able to attend the sessions in person. There’s a free 30 day trial or it’s $69.95 for the full version. A bargain.
11. Kiss Metrics
    KISSmetrics is a customer analytics software that allows you to understand and optimize the user experience throughout your entire customer lifecycle from first click to the last conversion.
12. Balsamiq Mock ups

    A great tool for creating interactive wireframes. It’s very easy to learn and many non-creatives find it a breeze to pick up. It helps them to visualise their product ideas without the need for lots of documentation. Don’t create a technical spec, create a low-fi Balsamiq wireframe. Your developer will thank you.

13. Chargify
    Chargify takes the pain out of recurring, subscription based payment plans. As their tagline says ‘you build, we bill’.
14. Verify
    Verify is the fastest way to collect and analyze user feedback on screens or mockups. See where people click, what they remember, or how they feel. We think VerifyApp is awesome
15. Olark
    Allows your customer to reach you via your website through a simple, unobtrusive live chat widget. See an example here.

I hope you find these useful. If you’re still hungry for more then check out this ever-growing list by clicking here.

This post has been republished from from one of our favorite blogs, WeLoveLean. If, like us, you are interested in lean startups, do check it out.

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