Resources and Tools

The team is actively publishing for a variety of audiences and in several formats. We have collected the latest material here, including newsletters, books, blogs and articles in other publications. We are excited to be on the forefront of product management thought, reaching colleagues and clients worldwide.

Here are some of the things we are thinking about:

Startup Tools

1. Useful blogs and links for startups

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2. Research, Web prototyping, Testing and Building Tools

Lists of Tools from Others

HBS Startup Tribe Tools List – from Tom Eisenmann at HBS
PBworks startup tools List
Startup Foundry tools list
Small Business tools list

Groups

Startup Weekend – Launch a Startup in 54 hours
The Lean Startup Machine - Launch a Startup in 48 hours

SEO and Analytics Tutorials

Startup Metrics for Pirates – read this before you spend time elsewhere
SaaS Metrics Tutorial – worth reading as well
The Noob Guide to Online Marketing – great graphic and tutorial
Analytics review – mixpanel vs kissmetric vs google analytics review
Analytics blog – good analytics tutorials
SEO for Startups – good tutorial
Andrew Chen’s Essays – great web customer acquisition tutorials

Analytics Tools

Google Analytics – web analytics from the borg
Kissmetrics – actionable analytics
GetClicky – real-time web analytics
Swix – analytics for social media and online
Mixpanel – real-time event tracking
Crazyegg – visualize analytics
Mint – site analytics
Visistat – web analytics measure marketing campaigns
Webtrends – analytics and segments
Chartbeat – web analytics

Search Engine Optimization Tools

Google Keywords Tool
AdGrok – Google adwords optimization tool
SEOBook Tools – Free SEO tools
SEO Digger – Find the top ten keywords ranking to your websites
SEMRush – SEO and campaign management tool
Clickable – Pay per click management
Spyfu – tells you how much adwords cost
Market Samurai – SEO Keyword Analysis Tool

Email Blasting

Best email Subject-lines
Tout – email blast and mgmt software
Campaigner - email marketing suite
Exact Target – social media and email marketing
Postmark – email blast and mgmt software
Mad Mimi – email blast software
SendGrid – email blast software
Amazon Simple Email Service (SES) - pretty cool
Campaign Monitor – basic email software
Litmus – email previews and email analytics
MailChimp – free basic email blast software

Surveys

Quickker – Create surveys, manage respondents, track responses
Zoomerang - Free basic version, surveys polls, 150+ templates
Ethnio - Recruit real people from your website for user research
Qualtrics – cloud-based survey, free account
KissInsights – survey visitors while they surf your site
Wufoo - create contact forms, online surveys and event registrations.
Poplytics – online surveys and analytics
AskYourTargetMarket – market research surveys
SurveyMonkey - granddaddy of on-line surveys
Amazon Mechanical Turk – you can set up a question and get answers
PickFu – A/B testing $5 for 50 opinions

Collaboration

Dropbox – store, sync, and, share files online.
Google Apps – Email, Chat, Docs
Skype - free voice and video communication tool
Campfire – team collaboration
Slideshare – share Powerpoints and docs with customers
Ning – Create your own social network
Yammer – free enterprise social network
Doodle – online group scheduling
Freeconferencecall.com – Free conference calls – awesome!
Syncpad – collaborative whiteboard

On-line Communities

Stack Overflow - questions and answers for programmers
Quora – questions and answers for non-programmers
Yahoo Answers - post questions, sometimes get answers
Disqus – Comments Platform
WordPress - king of blogging platforms…doubles as startup website
Tumblr – another blogging platform
Posterous – yet another blogging platform

Website Tools

Zozolo – start a website within Facebook
Weebly – get a site up quickly with no tools
ThemeForest – site templates cheap
Scraster- Record your screen, and webcam. Simple editing. Perfect for screencasts or user studies
Microsoft WebMatrix - Web server, database, and ASP.NET and PHP
AppMakr – Mobile Ap Creator create quick mobile apps
EditMe – create collaborative websites
NewRelic – manage and tune website performance for Rails
GooglePageSpeed - optimize your web pages
99 Designs - marketplace for crowdsourced graphic design
IconFinder – great way to find free graphic icons on the web
Launchbit – online web site class for novices

Mobile Testing/Build Tools

TestFlight – IOS beta testing on the fly.
Corona – mobile development platform
Twilio – add mobile and sms to your app
PerfectoMobile – mobile app testing
MobiReady - testing tool evaluates website mobile-readiness
GoMez – test your website for “mobile ready”
Rigor - test/monitor performance of mobile apps/websites
W3C Mobile OK – test your website for mobile
Google Page Speed – test your mobile speed

Billing/Subscription Management/E-Store

Chargify – Recurring billing without the headaches
Recurly – Subscription billing
Aria – online billing platform
EStoreApp – a webstore in 5 minutes
Braintree – online credit card merchant processing
Vindicia – on demand billing and fraud management
Volusion – shopping cart software
CheddarGetter – online recurring billing
Cloudware City - online app store for subscription services
Spreedly – sell subscriptions on your site. signup, upgrade, trial pricing
Zuora – online subscription management
FeeFighters – find the cheapest credit card processors
HealPay – Collections made easy

Customer Support

Tender – support, knowledgebase tool for your site
GetSatisfaction - conversations between companies / customers.
SnapEngage – live chat integrates with your apps
Zendesk – web help software
UserVoice – turn customer feedback into action
Kampyle – turn customer feedback into sales and relationships
Ideaffect – customer feedback, vote, comment, manage
Olark – live customer chat
Assistly - Support customers by Web, email, chat, and social networks

Website Usability Testing

Usertesting – $39 live users testing your site – cheap
Userfy – live user testing of your site
WhatUsersDo – UK live usability testing
Clicktale – watch live clicks and browsing, optimize usability
Usabilla – Micro usability tests
OptimalWorkshop – tool suite for remote user research
Clickheat – heat map of a website (where do users click)
Clixpy – tracks users clicks and browsing
Openhallway – lets you remotely record user test scenarios
Google Page Speed – test your web page speed

Cloud Services and Tools

Amazon Web Services – Amazon’s cloud solution
Amazon CloudWatch – Monitoring for Amazon EC2 and RDS DB
Google App Engine – Googles version of a cloud solution
AppDynamics – Cloud Performance Mgmt
Epicnms – flexible data collection and plots
Scalr – Tool to manage scaling servers in Amazon’s cloud.
Rackspace – Managed and cloud hosting
Engine Yard – Ruby Cloud Hosting platform
Linode – Linux virtual servers in the cloud
Netflix experience in moving from datacenter to cloud

Web Development Tools

Rubyon Rails – open source framework for Ruby
Ruby on Rails Guides – great tutorials
CakePHP – a PHP open source framework
PHP Tutorial and PHP Manual and Freaks
Drupal – open source content management platform
Twitter Bootstrap - toolkit from Twitter designed to kickstart development of webapps and sites
Heroku – Ruby cloud platform. Rails deployment made easy
AppHarbor – Heroku for .net
jQuery - cross-browser JavaScript library
jQuery UI - official jQuery user interface library. interactions, widgets, effects
Django – high-level Python framework
Cappuccino – open source framework for app development
Kodingen – cloud development environment, code editor, hosting service, collaboration platform.
JSFiddle – preselect/add JavaScript frameworks and test your code
TeamCity – continuous integration and unit testing, code quality analysis, pre-tested commits, reporting on build problems
Sauce Labs – cross-browser testing in the cloud
Rdbhost.com – SQL database hosting from browser.Python/Javascript APIs
yUML – sketch uml diagrams.
WebSequenceDiagrams - sketch sequence diagrams. automatic links to generated images
Rietveld - asynchronous code reviews on changesets
Tech*if*er0*urs – blog on roadmap for learning rails
Best free programming books
CodeAcademy – learn to code

Project Management

Basecamp - web-based project management and collaboration tool.
Github - Free public repositories, collaborator management, issue tracking, wikis, downloads, code review, graphs
Pivotal Tracker – Agile project management tool that enables real time collaboration.
Mercurial – free, distributed source code control management system
Clarizen – cloud project mgmt tool
Webplanner - online collaborative project management application.
Kiln – Version control and code review
Fogbugz -bug tracking, project mgmt, customer support
Bitbucket - free code hosting site for Mercurial
Preceden – simple way to make timelines for presentations
Milestone Planner - planner for deadline or outcome driven environments.
AgileZen – project management visually see and interact with your work
Kanbanery – Simple online team or personal kanban board
LeanKit Kanban – Great for visualizing work of product development
Kanban Pad – “Nice and lean” and free online Kanban tool
Banana Scrum – A tool simple as Scrum itself.
Kanban Tool – Another Kanban tool
Acunote – Agile project management
Agilezen – Lean project management
Rally – agile product management
VersionOne – agile product management and Scrum tool
ScrumPad – Agile project management tool collaborative product life-cycle
RallyDev – Automates Agile / Scrum development
5pm – Online project management tool
GoPlan – collaborative project management
Unfuddle - hosted project management solution for software teams.
Lighthouse – Issue Tracking Tool.
Bontq – hosted bug tracking and project management needs.
Managewith.us - Collaborative Task Manager
Mavenlink - manage project communications, documents, schedules, budgets, payments
Industrial Logic – Agile eLearning

Misc Office Help

Google Apps – cloud mail server, calendar, docs, etc.
Grasshopper – virtual phone system
Ringio – cloud phone system
RingCentral – cloud based phone system
InDinero – easy business finance software
Expensify – billing, expenses, receipts
Resumator – applicant tracking and social recruiting
RecruiterBox – recruitment software, applicant tracking
ActiveInterview – Video interviewing
BambooHR - Employee Records, Benefit Information, Payroll Data, etc.
Xobni – Outlook plugin to search

Chip Hardware Resources/Tools

Lady Ada – embedded applications and kits
Adafruit - embedded applications and kits
Arduino - open source hardware platform
Microsemi (Actel) smartfusion: A low power development board full of peripherals and an FPGA chip
Digikey and Sparkfun for general components:
Sunstone – Printed Circuit Boards
TI, Cypress, and Analog devices for microcontrollers and IC’s

Custom Machine Parts/Industrial Supplies

eMachineShop – machine custom parts online
onlinemachinist – more custom parts online
i.materialize – 3D parts printing service
3-D Prototype Design – 3D professional parts printing
McMaster-Carr – 480,000 parts of hardware heaven
RepRap – open source 3D Printing
MakerGear – homebrew 3D Printing
W.W. Grainger – Industrial supplies
Fastenal – more industrial supplies
Octopart – search engine for electronic parts

Freelance Help

Amazon Mechanical Turk – set up any task and get answers

Manufacturing Resources

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Useful blogs and links for startups

List of Angel/SuperAngel Investors for entrepreneurs

Venture Hacks Angel List – raise money with angel investors
Guide to Super Angels - Chubby Brain

Finance 101 for Entrepreneurs

MBA Mondays – Fred Wilson’s Tutorials
How to Read a Financial Report, and here – Merrill Lynch

Product Pricing 101 for Entrepreneurs

Product Pricing Wiki Page – great links to pricing models
How to design Web Pricing Pages – from Smashing Magazine

Lawyers/Legal

Walker Law: Tips for Entrepreneurs
Top Ten Legal Mistakes for Entrepreneurs
Startup Law 101 – George Grellas
Intellectual Property Law For Startups Blog
Yoichiro “Yokum” Taku – Startup Company Lawyer
Startup Law Blog – Davis Wright Tremaine, Joe Wallin
Orrick – Startup Legal Tool Kit
Goodwin, Proctor – Founders Workbench
Law & Disorder: ARS Technica Legal Blog
Likelihood of Confusion-trademark, copyright and Internet Law
Technology & Marketing Law Blog
American Bar Association Best Legal Blogs
Music Law – one of the best legal blogs period. This video should be the gold standard in explaining contract terms.

Must Read Blogs

More to read
Brad Feld and Jason Mendelson – Ask the VC   http://askthevc.com
Dharmesh Shah – On startups   http://onstartups.com
Josh Kopelman – Redeye VC   http://redeye.firstround.com
David Hornik – VentureBlog   http://ventureblog.com

Should be posting more often
Bill Burnham – Burnham’s Beat   http://tinyurl.com/4jb4mt
David Cowan – Who Has Time For This?  http://whohastimeforthis.com
Steve Barsh – Barsh Bits  http://blog.stevebarsh.com

Entrepreneurship Reading List

Books for Startups my favorite business books.
Blog/reading list from Tom Eisenmann’s class at Harvard

Misc

Some of the material I have created or use in my classes does not lend itself to blogs. It’s more reference material. Thus, these pages. I’ll add more as time goes on.

Course syllabi

UC Berkeley, Haas Business School Customer Development: Spring 2011 MBA 295F syllabus
Stanford University Engr 245 – The Lean Launchpad

Recommended Books

Tools and Templates

To receive a personalized solution to your most vexing online marketing challenges, call (213) 787-6037 or email steven@stevendiebold.com