The Startup Tools You Actually Need: A Brutally Honest List of 7 Things
Most 'essential tools' lists are marketing. Here's what you actually need to run a startup: 7 tools, $0-50/month, zero bloat.
June 20, 2025 11 min read
You Don't Need 50 Tools
Every "essential startup tools" article lists 30-50 tools. That's not a tools list - it's affiliate link farming disguised as advice.
Here's the truth: most successful startups use 10-15 core tools, not 50. More tools mean more context switching, more learning curves, more subscriptions to manage, and slower teams.
The honest startup tools list has seven items. Everything else is optional until you feel specific pain.
The Core Philosophy: Pain-Driven Tool Adoption
Don't add tools preemptively. Add tools when their absence causes measurable pain.
The pattern most founders follow: read a blog post about "must-have tools," sign up for everything, pay for subscriptions they don't use, waste time configuring integrations that don't matter.
Better approach: start minimal, add tools only when you hit friction that slows your core work.
The test: If removing the tool wouldn't change how you work tomorrow, you don't need it yet.
This applies to everything from project management to analytics to CRM. Pain-driven adoption prevents tool bloat and keeps your team focused on building product instead of managing tools.
1. Stripe - Can't Make Money Without It
If you're building a product that charges money, you need payment processing. Everything else is optional. This isn't.
Why Stripe: Industry standard, no upfront cost (you only pay when you make money), 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction is competitive, and integration is straightforward.
The alternatives: PayPal, Square, or other payment processors work too. But Stripe has become the default for SaaS products because the developer experience is excellent and documentation is comprehensive.
When to upgrade: When message history limitations hurt your ability to find important information. For most startups, that's around 10-15 people or 6-12 months in.
Cost: Slack Pro is $7.25/user/month. Discord free tier often works longer.
The alternative of using email and text messages creates chaos. Don't do that. Pick one communication hub and use it.
3. Notion - Can't Track Work Without It
You need a single source of truth for tasks, documentation, and project organization. Notion provides this at a generous free tier that works for small teams.
What Notion does: Project management, documentation, wiki, databases, and task tracking in one place.
Alternatives: Todoist ($5/month) for simple task management. ClickUp for teams that want more features (often overkill for early stage).
Free tier: Very generous. Works for small teams indefinitely.
When to upgrade: When you need advanced permissions or exceed free tier limits. For most startups, this is post-Series A, not pre-revenue.
The key principle: one tool for project tracking. Not Jira + Asana + Trello + Google Docs + spreadsheets. That's tool chaos masquerading as organization.
Feature prioritization requires clear documentation and tracking. Notion (or similar) makes this possible without enterprise complexity.
4. GitHub - Can't Build Software Without It
If you're building software, you need version control. GitHub is the standard.
Why GitHub: Free for small teams, unlimited private repos, standard for development teams, integrated with most deployment platforms.
Alternatives: GitLab or Bitbucket work fine too. The specific tool matters less than actually using version control.
When to upgrade: GitHub Team at $4/user/month adds features most startups don't need until they're 20+ people.
Version control isn't optional. Even solo founders should use Git from day one. It's basic hygiene, not overhead.
5. Figma - Can't Design Products Without It
Product design requires collaboration between designers, developers, and founders. Figma is the industry standard for this.
Why Figma: Real-time collaboration, browser-based (no installs), generous free tier, prototyping built in.
Free tier: 3 Figma files and 3 FigJam boards, unlimited personal drafts.
When to upgrade: When you have a dedicated designer who needs unlimited files. For founders doing their own design or working with contractors, free tier often suffices.
Cost: $12/editor/month for professional plan.
The alternative of designing in isolation then handing off static mockups creates friction and miscommunication. Figma solves this cleanly.
6. Password Manager - Can't Stay Secure Without It
Security isn't optional, and reusing passwords is how startups get hacked.
Options: 1Password ($7.99/user/month), Bitwarden ($3/user/month), or similar.
Why this matters: You'll have dozens of service accounts. Developer credentials, API keys, database passwords, payment processing, email services, hosting platforms - the list compounds.
Storing these in a Google Doc or Slack is a security incident waiting to happen. Using the same password everywhere means one breach compromises everything.
Minimum requirement: Password manager with team sharing for shared credentials.
When to upgrade: You should start with this from day one. It's not an upgrade decision - it's basic security hygiene.
The cost is negligible ($3-8/user/month). The risk of skipping it is catastrophic. Don't be the startup that gets hacked because of a reused password.
7. Customer Chat - Can't Talk to Users Without It
Direct communication with users on your site is essential for understanding customer needs, debugging issues, and closing early sales.
Options:
Intercom: Premium option at $39/month, full-featured
Crisp or Tawk.to: Free alternatives that work well for early stage
For bootstrapped founders: Start with free tier (Tawk.to is completely free). Upgrade to paid chat when support volume or features justify the cost.
Why this matters: Every conversation with early users provides product insights. The faster you can talk to users experiencing problems, the faster you can fix them.
Email support works but is slower. Live chat creates real-time feedback loops that help you iterate faster.
When you're determining how long your MVP will take, factor in user feedback loops. Customer chat tools make those loops tight and actionable.
Beyond the 7: Nice-to-Haves (Add Only When You Feel Pain)
These tools matter, but not immediately. Add them when you hit specific pain points, not before.
Add when: Tax time approaches or you need real financial reporting
Why wait: Pre-revenue accounting is simple; don't overcomplicate it
Zoom (Video Calls) - Free tier:
40-minute meeting limit on free tier
Add when: You already have it; everyone does
Cost: Free tier works fine; upgrade at $15/month when 40-minute limits hurt
HubSpot (CRM) - Free core product:
Free CRM with optional paid features
Add when: You have >50 leads to manage or active sales process
Why wait: Spreadsheets work fine for early-stage lead tracking
Gusto or Deel (Payroll/HR):
Gusto for US-based employees, Deel for global hiring
Add when: You make your first hire, not before
Why wait: You don't need payroll systems without people to pay
Analytics (PostHog, Mixpanel, etc.):
Deep analytics tools for user behavior tracking
Add when: You have >1,000 users and need to optimize funnels
Why wait: Basic analytics (simple event tracking) suffice until you have volume
The pattern: these tools solve real problems, but only after you reach certain scale or complexity. Adding them prematurely creates work without value.
What You Don't Need (Despite What Everyone Says)
CRM before you have leads. A spreadsheet works fine for your first 50 leads. CRM systems add overhead without benefit until you have actual volume.
Complex project management. Jira is built for 50+ person engineering teams. If you're a team of 3, you don't need sprint boards and velocity tracking. Use Notion or Todoist.
Marketing automation. Mailchimp, ConvertKit, or similar email tools matter when you have >500 subscribers. Before that, you can send emails manually or use simpler tools.
Advanced analytics. Google Analytics, Mixpanel, Amplitude, and Hotjar sound essential, but until you have >1,000 users/month, simple event tracking provides enough data. Deep analytics are premature optimization.
Communication tools beyond one. You don't need Slack AND Discord AND Teams AND email. Pick one async communication hub and stick with it.
No-code tools for technical products. If you're building software, code is often the better investment than no-code platforms that create vendor lock-in and scaling problems.
These tools have their place, but that place is usually "later" not "now." Start minimal and add systematically when you feel pain, not preemptively because a blog post said so.
The Actual 7-Tool Budget
If you use free tiers intelligently, you can run an early-stage startup on near-zero tool costs:
$0/month (pre-revenue core stack):
Stripe: $0 until you make sales
Slack: Free tier
Notion: Free tier
GitHub: Free tier
Figma: Free tier
Bitwarden: Free tier (or $3/user for teams)
Tawk.to: Free tier
Total: $0-3/user/month
This is genuinely sufficient for an early-stage startup. Anything above $100/month in tool costs pre-revenue should trigger scrutiny - you're probably paying for things you don't need yet.
When to start paying:
Stripe: Automatically as you make sales (percentage-based)
Slack: When message history limitations hurt ($7.25/user/month)
GitHub: Almost never until you're 20+ people
Figma: When you have full-time designers
Password manager: Day one for security ($3-8/user/month)
Customer chat: When free tier limits or features matter
The progression: start free, upgrade when free tier causes measurable friction. Not before.
Understanding what your MVP actually costs shows that tool costs should be minimal compared to development and founder time.
The Integration Trap
"Everything should integrate!" sounds great. In practice, integrated tools create dependency and complexity.
Early-stage startups don't need Zapier workflows connecting 15 tools. You need simple tools that do one thing well.
The integration paradox: The more integrated your tools, the harder it is to replace any single tool. You create lock-in and technical debt in your operations.
Better approach: loosely coupled tools that export data cleanly. When you outgrow a tool, you can switch without untangling integration dependencies.
Save the sophisticated integration work for when you're large enough that it provides genuine efficiency gains. For teams under 10 people, integration overhead often exceeds integration benefits.
Tool Budgets Scale With Revenue
A common pattern: founders spend money on tools before they make money. This is backwards.
The framework that works:
Pre-revenue: $0-100/month on tools (use free tiers aggressively)
First $10K MRR: Up to $500/month on tools (upgrade friction points)
$50K MRR: Up to $2,500/month on tools (3-5% of revenue)
$100K+ MRR: 3-5% of revenue on tools
This keeps tool costs proportional to your ability to pay. Free tiers exist for early-stage companies. Use them.
When you're bootstrapped and burning runway, every dollar spent on tools is a dollar not spent extending runway. Optimize accordingly.
The Tool Audit Exercise
Every quarter, review your tools:
For each tool, ask:
Would removing this tool change how we work this week?
Are we using the features we're paying for?
Is there a simpler/cheaper alternative that does 80% of what we need?
Cancel if:
You haven't used it in the last month
It duplicates functionality of another tool
The free tier would work fine for current usage
Nobody remembers why you bought it
Tool bloat happens gradually. The antidote: systematic culling every few months.
Start With Product, Not Tools
The biggest mistake: choosing tools before understanding workflows.
Better approach: build product with minimal tooling, discover what pain points emerge, then add tools to solve specific friction.
Example: Don't debate CRM systems in week one. Build product, start talking to customers, notice when lead tracking in a spreadsheet becomes painful, then choose CRM.
This applies to every category. The tool decision should follow the pain, not precede it.
When you start with tools, you end up configuring systems for hypothetical workflows. When you start with product and add tools reactively, you solve real problems.
The 7 Tools (Actually Essential)
To summarize the honest list:
Stripe - Payment processing (can't make money without it)
Slack/Discord - Team communication (can't coordinate without it)
Notion - Project management (can't track work without it)
GitHub - Code repository (can't build software without it)
Figma - Design collaboration (can't design products without it)
Password Manager - Security (can't stay secure without it)
Customer Chat - User communication (can't talk to users without it)
Everything else is nice-to-have. Add tools when you feel pain, not before.
The goal: spend founder energy on building product and talking to customers, not configuring tool integrations and managing subscriptions.
Simple tools, clear workflows, minimal overhead. That's how you ship fast.
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