Favorite Tools for First-Time Tech Founders

Starting a tech company can be overwhelming when you don't have a technical background. The good news? There are amazing tools that can help you build and manage your product without writing a single line of code. Here's my list of favorite tools, organized by category, that can help you get your startup off the ground quickly and effectively.

Note: This post contains affiliate links. I may receive a commission for purchases made through these links at no extra cost to you.

Workflow Automation

Make (formerly Integromat)

Make is a powerful automation platform that connects apps and services, allowing you to create complex workflows without coding knowledge. Think of it as the conductor that orchestrates how your different business tools communicate with each other.

Pros:

• More complex workflows: Unlike simpler automation tools, Make allows you to build sophisticated, multi-step processes with conditional logic and error handling. This means you can automate even the most complex business operations that would otherwise require custom coding. ‍
• Cost-effective: Make typically costs less than competitors like Zapier, especially as your automation needs grow. Their pricing model is based on operations rather than connections, which often translates to better value for startups with limited budgets. ‍
• Better API integration: Make excels at connecting with open APIs, giving you more flexibility to integrate with custom or lesser-known services that might not have pre-built connectors elsewhere. This is particularly valuable as your tech stack grows beyond mainstream tools. ‍
• Built-in database: Make includes its own data storage system, allowing you to store and manipulate information between steps without needing another tool. This reduces complexity in your overall tech stack and eliminates potential points of failure.

Cons:

• Operation limits: Without proper plan management, Make will stop processing your workflows when you reach your operation limits. This can cause critical business processes to suddenly halt if you're not monitoring usage closely. Unlike some competitors that continue processing (with overage charges), Make prioritizes predictable billing over continuous operation. ‍
• Integration breadth: While improving rapidly, Make doesn't yet have as many native integrations as Zapier. This means you might occasionally need to use webhooks or custom modules for some connections, which requires more technical knowledge.

Zapier remains the more recognized name in automation, but Make delivers superior power and flexibility for founders who need more sophisticated workflows without hiring developers.

No-Code Databases

Airtable

Airtable combines the familiarity of spreadsheets with the power of relational databases. It allows you to organize information, create workflows, and even build simple applications without coding knowledge.

Pros:

• Built-in admin views: Airtable gives you instant access to powerful database management interfaces that would otherwise require custom development. These views let you manage your application's data without building separate admin panels, saving thousands in development costs. ‍
• Exceptional flexibility: The platform works seamlessly with numerous other tools through its API and integrations. This allows you to use Airtable as your central data store while connecting to specialized tools for specific functions. ‍
• Relational data structure: Unlike basic spreadsheets, Airtable supports proper relationships between tables. This makes future data migration to more sophisticated databases much easier as your startup grows, preventing painful data restructuring down the road. ‍
• Native automation capabilities: Airtable's built-in automation reduces your dependency on external tools like Make or Zapier for simple workflows. This creates a more streamlined tech stack with fewer potential failure points. ‍
• Developer-friendly features: For technical team members, Airtable offers custom JavaScript capabilities for more complex operations and a generous API for custom integrations. This means you won't immediately outgrow the platform when your needs become more sophisticated.

Cons:

• Cost per user: Airtable's per-seat pricing model can become expensive as your team grows. Each additional team member increases monthly costs significantly, unlike some alternatives that offer more flexible user licensing. ‍
• Row limitations: Each Airtable base has strict row limits (50,000 for Pro plan, more for Enterprise). This creates scaling challenges for data-heavy applications, potentially forcing costly migrations or plan upgrades as your data grows. ‍
• Storage constraints: Media storage (images, documents, etc.) is relatively limited, making Airtable less suitable for content-heavy applications without additional solutions for file storage. ‍
• Limited development environments: Airtable lacks proper staging and development environments for testing changes before they go live. This makes it difficult to follow best practices for software development and increases the risk of breaking changes affecting users.

While tools like Notion databases or Google Sheets can handle simple data storage, Airtable's combination of user-friendliness and database power makes it significantly more capable for startup applications.

No-Code Front-End Solutions

Softr

Softr is a platform for building web applications and customer portals without writing code. It connects primarily with Airtable and Google Sheets, turning your database into a functional, user-friendly web application.

Pros:

• Rapid development: Softr allows anyone to build functional web applications in hours rather than weeks. Its component-based approach means you can create professional interfaces by simply selecting and configuring pre-built blocks. ‍
• Application capabilities: Unlike simple website builders, Softr supports user authentication, role-based permissions, and dynamic content. This means you can build actual software products, not just informational websites. ‍
• Multiple user roles: The platform allows you to define different permission levels and content access for various user types. This enables building applications with separate experiences for customers, administrators, and other stakeholders without custom development.

Cons:

• User experience limitations: Softr's interfaces can sometimes feel somewhat rigid and template-driven. The platform prioritizes functionality over highly customized designs, which may not meet expectations for unique brand experiences. ‍
• Performance challenges: Applications built with Softr occasionally experience sluggishness, especially when dealing with larger data sets or complex operations. This can impact user satisfaction, particularly for frequent users.

While competitors like Webflow offer more design flexibility, and Bubble provides more programming-like logic, Softr hits a sweet spot of simplicity and capability that works particularly well for data-driven applications.

Stacker

Stacker lets you build internal tools and customer portals from your existing data sources without coding. It's particularly strong for internal business applications.

Pros:

• Superior user experience: Stacker typically provides a smoother, more polished interface than similar tools like Softr. The end-user experience feels more like purpose-built software rather than a connected database. ‍
• Internal application focus: The platform excels at creating tools for internal team use, offering features specifically designed for business operations rather than customer-facing applications.

Cons:

• Limited customization: Without upgrading to higher-priced tiers, you can't add custom JavaScript. This prevents integration with tools like Hotjar or Plausible, limiting your ability to understand how users interact with your application. ‍
• Metrics limitations: Stacker provides limited native analytics about user behavior and application usage. This makes it difficult to make data-driven improvements without additional tools.

Webflow

Webflow is a visual web design platform that allows you to build professional, custom websites without writing code. It bridges the gap between simple website builders and professional web development.

Pros:

• Design flexibility: Webflow offers significantly more control over design elements than most no-code platforms. This allows you to create truly unique interfaces that perfectly match your brand vision.

Cons:

• Integration limitations: Compared to WordPress, Webflow has fewer direct integrations with third-party tools and services. This can require more workarounds for complex functionality. ‍
• Plugin ecosystem: Webflow's ecosystem of extensions and add-ons is growing but still considerably smaller than WordPress. This means you may need custom solutions for specialized features.

User Experience Tools

Hotjar

Hotjar is a powerful analytics and feedback tool that shows how users interact with your website through heatmaps, session recordings, and feedback tools. It answers the "why" behind user behavior that traditional analytics miss.

Pros:

• Comprehensive free tier: Hotjar's free plan offers substantial value for early-stage startups, allowing you to collect meaningful user behavior data before investing in paid analytics tools. This helps validate product ideas without additional expense. ‍
• Generous recording limits: Even on lower-tier plans, Hotjar captures relatively long user sessions. This provides complete context for user journeys, rather than fragmented interactions that might miss critical points of confusion or abandonment. ‍
• Simple implementation: If your platform allows custom JavaScript in the header (like most website builders), adding Hotjar requires just a single code snippet. This makes it accessible even to non-technical founders.

Cons:

• Scaling costs: As your traffic increases, Hotjar's pricing can grow substantially. High-traffic startups may find themselves paying significant monthly fees for comprehensive coverage. ‍
• Test environment issues: Without proper configuration, Hotjar will record activity on your testing and development environments. This wastes your recording quota on non-customer interactions and skews your analytics. ‍
• Privacy browser limitations: Privacy-focused browsers like Brave block Hotjar by default. This creates blind spots in your user data, particularly among more technically savvy users who might represent important early adopters.

Your customers often won't explicitly tell you where they're struggling with your product – sometimes they don't even know themselves. Hotjar shows you directly through their actions, revealing pain points you might never discover through feedback forms alone.

Alternative tools like FullStory or Mouseflow offer similar capabilities with different pricing models, but Hotjar's combination of features and approachable pricing makes it particularly well-suited for startups.

Plausible

Plausible is a simple, privacy-focused web analytics tool that provides essential metrics without the complexity of traditional analytics platforms. It's designed to be lightweight and easy to understand.

Pros:

• Inexpensive: Plausible offers affordable pricing that scales reasonably with your traffic. This makes professional analytics accessible for startups without the substantial costs of enterprise analytics platforms.
• Gets the basic metrics: The platform focuses on essential metrics like Monthly Active Users (MAU), Daily Active Users (DAU), and Weekly Active Users (WAU) that most startups actually need. This prevents information overload while ensuring you track the metrics that matter most for business decisions.
• Easy to install: Setup requires just adding a single script tag to your website. This simplicity means you can start collecting data immediately without complex configuration or technical expertise.
• Imports Google Analytics: Plausible can import your existing Google Analytics data and present it in a much more readable format. This eliminates the learning curve of Google Analytics' complex interface while preserving your historical data.

Cons:

• Not as deep as advanced tools: While Plausible covers essential analytics needs, it lacks the sophisticated user journey tracking, cohort analysis, and advanced segmentation capabilities of tools like Amplitude or PostHog. For startups requiring detailed behavioral analysis, you may eventually need to supplement or replace Plausible.

For most early-stage startups, Plausible provides exactly the right level of analytics insight without overwhelming complexity or costs.

Marker.io

Marker.io is a visual feedback tool that allows users to easily report issues by capturing screenshots and annotations directly in your application. It bridges the gap between users and developers.

Pros:

• Streamlined QA process: Marker.io significantly reduces the time required for quality assurance testing. Testers can visually document issues with all relevant technical information automatically attached, eliminating confusing back-and-forth communications. ‍
• Improved user acceptance testing: For stakeholders reviewing new features, Marker.io simplifies the feedback process. This leads to faster iteration cycles and more thorough testing before launch. ‍
• Comprehensive session context: The tool captures recordings of user actions leading up to issues, providing developers with crucial context for reproducing and fixing bugs quickly. ‍
• Technical data capture: Marker.io automatically collects console logs and technical information that non-technical users would never think to include. This dramatically speeds up debugging and issue resolution.

This tool makes issue reporting intuitive for non-technical users while providing developers with the detailed information they need to quickly resolve problems.

Business Operations

JIRA

JIRA is a sophisticated project management tool designed specifically for software development teams. It helps track issues, manage projects, and organize complex workflows.

Pros:

• Comprehensive integrations: JIRA connects seamlessly with virtually every tool in the software development ecosystem. This creates a central hub for all engineering-related activities and information. ‍
• Scalable framework: The platform's flexibility allows it to grow with your organization, from simple task tracking to enterprise-grade portfolio management. This prevents disruptive transitions between tools as you scale. ‍
• Free startup tier: JIRA offers generous free access for small teams of up to 10 users. This allows early-stage startups to adopt professional-grade tools without additional cost.

Cons:

• Steep learning curve: JIRA's power comes with complexity that can overwhelm new users. The extensive configuration options and terminology can be intimidating for non-technical team members.

While more approachable tools like Asana, Trello, or Monday.com might seem tempting for their simplicity, JIRA remains the industry standard for software development teams for good reason. Its specialized features for managing code, testing, and releases provide crucial structure as your engineering team grows.

Retool

Retool is a platform for quickly building internal tools and dashboards. It's particularly valuable for creating admin interfaces and data visualization tools for your team.

Pros:

• Startup-friendly pricing: Retool offers a generous plan for early-stage companies. This allows you to build sophisticated internal tools without significant investment during your first year.

Cons:

• Technical setup required: While Retool is designed for rapid development, it still requires some technical knowledge to configure properly. You'll likely need engineering assistance to set up data connections and design effective interfaces.

Internal administration tools often get deprioritized in favor of customer-facing features, but Retool makes their development much faster and easier, allowing even small teams to build professional management interfaces.

PandaDoc

PandaDoc is a comprehensive document automation platform that streamlines creating, sending, tracking, and e-signing important business documents. It's particularly valuable for sales processes and legal agreements.

From the moment you start your company, establishing proper legal documentation is essential. This becomes even more critical when working with enterprise clients who expect professional contracts and proposals.

While competitors like DocuSign focus primarily on e-signatures, PandaDoc offers a complete document lifecycle solution that includes creation, negotiation, signing, and analytics.

Canny

Canny is a specialized platform for collecting, organizing, and prioritizing user feedback and feature requests. It creates a transparent system for managing product improvements based on actual user needs.

It's the ideal tool for building a user-driven product roadmap that aligns development efforts with customer priorities. This prevents wasting resources on features users don't actually want.

Alternative tools like UserVoice and Receptive offer similar functionality, but Canny's intuitive interface and strong integration capabilities make it particularly valuable for startups seeking close connections with their user communities.

Development & Monitoring

Sentry

Sentry is an error monitoring platform that helps developers identify, prioritize, and fix code issues in real-time. It provides immediate alerts and detailed diagnostic information when something goes wrong.

When users encounter errors, Sentry gives your developers the information they need to fix issues quickly, often before most users even notice a problem. This dramatically improves application reliability and user satisfaction.

While tools like Rollbar and Bugsnag offer similar functionality, Sentry's combination of detailed error reporting, broad language support, and reasonable pricing makes it particularly well-suited for startups.

CodeCov

CodeCov is a specialized tool that tracks and reports on code coverage – the percentage of your code that's verified by automated tests. It helps ensure new features don't break existing functionality.

Pros:

• Minimal configuration: CodeCov integrates easily with most development workflows and requires very little setup. This lets teams start measuring test coverage without significant infrastructure changes. ‍
• PR integration: The tool allows you to set minimum coverage requirements for code changes. This ensures new features maintain or improve code quality before being merged.

Cons:

• Quantity over quality focus: CodeCov emphasizes coverage percentages, which can sometimes mislead teams into writing tests that boost metrics without testing critical functionality. The most important parts of your application may represent a small percentage of the codebase but require more thorough testing.

Code coverage is an important quality metric, though more comprehensive tools like SonarQube provide broader code quality analysis beyond just test coverage. However, SonarQube's entry price is cost-prohibitive for early-stage startups, making CodeCov a more accessible alternative until your company reaches a scale that justifies the investment in more sophisticated analysis tools.

Autify

Autify is an AI-powered test automation platform that makes it easy to create and maintain automated tests without coding knowledge. It helps ensure your application remains reliable as you add new features.

Pros:

• Turn manual testers into automated ones: Autify enables team members with manual testing experience to create sophisticated automated test suites without learning programming. This dramatically expands your testing capabilities without hiring specialized automation engineers. ‍
• Point and click no-code setup: The visual interface requires zero programming knowledge. Anyone who understands how to use your application can create reliable tests for it, democratizing the quality assurance process across your organization. ‍
• Best when working with low/no code tools: Autify is particularly valuable when testing applications built with no-code/low-code platforms, as it provides enterprise-grade testing capabilities without requiring the coding skills that would normally be needed for proper test automation.

Cons:

• Struggles with complex workflows: Autify can become less efficient when dealing with extremely complicated user journeys or highly dynamic interfaces. Very intricate application flows with numerous conditional paths may require a more traditional coded testing approach for complete coverage.

Testing is frequently overlooked in early-stage startups, but establishing good testing practices early prevents costly reliability problems as you scale. Autify makes this accessible without specialized QA engineers.

Marketing & Design

Adcreative.ai

Adcreative.ai uses artificial intelligence to generate and optimize advertising creative assets. It helps you create better-performing ads faster, which is crucial for efficient customer acquisition.

For early-stage startups with limited design resources, Adcreative.ai can dramatically improve marketing efficiency. It allows rapid testing of different creative approaches without the expense of professional designers for each iteration.

While general AI image generators like Midjourney and DALL-E create impressive visuals, Adcreative.ai is specifically optimized for marketing materials that drive conversions.

Storylane.io

Storylane.io allows you to create interactive product demonstrations without coding. It transforms static screenshots or mockups into engaging, guided experiences that showcase your product's value.

For SaaS companies, effective product demonstrations are crucial for converting prospects who need to understand functionality before committing. Storylane offers a more engaging alternative to traditional videos or static screenshots.

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right tools early on can save your startup significant time and money as you grow. While none of these tools replace the value of having actual technical expertise on your team, they can help you move quickly and efficiently in the early stages.

As you scale, consider bringing on a Fractional CTO who can help you make more strategic technology decisions and ensure your tech stack will support your growth.

Not sure which tools are right for your specific startup needs? Our fractional CTO services can help you make the right choices. Schedule a consultation.