Starting up in Australia? Apps and services you need to know.

While starting up there are a lot of things to take into consideration. We thought we could make that process easier for you. Here are a few checklists from the Australian government Business Starters Checklist and Digital Business.  And here are some applications to help you get started.

Hosting:

For SaaS startups:

There are three choices that you could go with:

• Amazon Web Services
• Microsoft Web Hosting
• Google Sites

For E-Commerce Startups:

• Bigcommerce
• Rackspace
• Magento Go
• Shopify

For CMS (Content Management Systems)

• Drupal
• WordPress
• ModX
• CMS Made Simple
• Joomla

Web Hosting Choice: Feel free to compare the hosting websites according to your requirements.

Domain Name:

A domain name as you know is usually the name of the company. While choosing it, take into consideration everything you would take into consideration while choosing your company name. It ultimately reflects your website and what you’re selling. Having said that, while collecting payments you can use what is called as a DBA (Doing-Business-As) name that can be different from your company name.

• Ausregistry
• NameCheap (Highly recommended. We use them).
• Name.com
• Hover

Email:

Here are a few start-up friendly email services. They allow you to use their services and the option to have customizable email addresses.

A customizable email address meaning suppose your company name is “Sample”, you have the option of having your email id as John@Sample.com instead of @gmail or @yahoo.

• Google for Businesses (No nonsense & highly recommended. Just works.)
• Yahoo for Small Businesses
• Microsoft for Small Businesses

Mockups

Mockups is not a new concept, its just the medium that differs. The following services will help you create a mock up for anything you are working on whether it is a landing page or the UI of your app etc. They are also very easy to share.

• Balsamiq  (We are their customers. It is fantastic.)
• InVision
• Axure
• MockingBird

Landing Pages:

In this time and age, we need those beautiful landing pages bringing customers in for us through various channels. Here are two different types of landing pages based on your convenience.

Drag and Drop:

If you are more comfortable with the drag and drop kind of customization with minimal or no coding, then the services below are the ones for you.

• LanderApp
• Unbounce
• KickoffLabs

Designers & developers:

If you are a designer or a developer who would love to get a theme and work around it then these are the services for you.

• ThemeForest
• TemplateMonster
• TemplateMo
• Metamorphosis Design

Securing your source code

When you have a team working from around the globe, on the same project or even the same branch then services like Git are for you. Not only are you able to see what the other person is doing, but also collaborate. As your company grows, this becomes more and more useful.

• GitHub (recommended by us – we are their customers)
• BitBucket
• Kiln

For further reading

Online Helpdesk

As soon as you publish your website out & are ready for beta, you should streamline  your customer queries with a ticketing system & build a knowledge base from very early on.

• Freshdesk (Highly recommended. We are mutual customers of each other as well.)
• Zendesk
• Desk.com

Payment Gateways:

For online businesses to accept payment or revenue all in one place, whether it is card payments or electronic bill payments. Payment gateways make this easier and more secure for you.

• eWAY gateway
• Payflow Pro gateway
• Pin Payments (Australian Startup that is taking on global giants entering the market)
• Stripe gateway
• Braintree Payments (recently acquired by PayPal)
• MasterCard Internet Gateway Service

(Update: We’ve come up with an interactive and comprehensive tool to compare and evaluate the payment gateway providers in Australia.)

Optimize your website (For A/B Testing)

When you create a landing page, you always have a few ways of doing it. You need to know which option works best for your business and this is where the apps below come in. They help you determine just that.

• Visual Website Optimizer
• Google website optimizer
• Optimizely

Tasks and project management

We live in a world where everything happens on the internet, it may not be required for everyone in the company to even be present in the same geographic location for them to run a business together. This is where your task/project management comes in. You now have the ability to collaborate with a partner who may be all the way across the globe and successfully get the work done.

• Asana (we use them. Fantastic service.)
• Podio
• JIRA
• Confluence : Helps you collaborate
• Huddle: Helps you synchronize and work
• Blossom: Lean Product Management

Social media management

Social media is now not just limited to one or two famous websites that everyone are using  these days. Your customers may be on two or more social media networks and managing all of them through one platform is exactly what the services below provide. Find out which network your customers use and  begin interacting with them.

• Hubspot
• Buffer (Highly recommended).
• HootSuite

Recurring Billing

With the explosion of Recurring Revenue Models worldwide, businesses need more flexibility & options to grow & retain their customers. A frictionless billing experience is essential & no longer an optional feature and need sophisticated billing experience.

• ChargeBee (shameless plug: we support the most payment gateways in Australia including Stripe, PIN, Braintree, eWay & WorldPay and are close in timezone to support Australian business hours, via phone & email).
• PIN’s Recurring Payments (formerly Spreedly Subscriptions that has been acquired)

There are several US based providers who also support subscription & recurring payments.

Accounting Software

Money matters. Managing it just as much. There are apps that make it easier for you to see where your money is going or coming from. One place to manage the invoices and your customers.

• Quickbooks Online
• Xero
• MYOB
• Sage My Business

Logistics

Logistics is as essential for ecommerce startups as any other component. Here as some services that will help you in shipping your goods to customers in Australia or globally.

• Australian Post – Click and Send.
• Pack & Send

Find Co- Founders:

It is good to know you are not the only one dealing with everything. Listed below are some of the places where you can find a co-founder who can build the business with you, a person with a different skill-set which you may be looking for. Well, now you know there is an option.

• AngelList
• StartMate
• MeetUp
• Founder2be

Investors:

Investors play a crucial role in a company based on the type of investment. Here are few places you can find an investor or an investor to find you. To help your business grow.

• iPitch
• Online Retail companies
• SaaS / Software Companies
• AngelList
• Angel Investment network
• List by Pollenizer

Incubators & Accelerators:

You don’t have to do it all on your own. There are places and people looking to help you grow your business. People with far more experience looking to mentor, advice or just looking to help out startups by renting out places. And that’s what incubators and accelerators are all about.

• Australian Government’s List
• List by The Fetch – Of  incubators as well as accelerators – It is a comprehensive list segregated based on the location and tells you the benefits of each.

The apps and services you use as a startup become important and should allow you to scale in the long term, or should give you the ease of migration if you decide to switch providers.

Have you had any experiences with any these apps or services? Or do you have any recommendation that we have not included. Please do let us know.