Startup Tools

Paypal: The only free merchant account for startups. Why sink a grand or more into a merchant account before you have sales?

Basecamp: project management over the web, with feed output of updates, so can be monitored with a web reader.

FogBugz: Email and bug management.

Google Groups: Better for email list management than Yahoo Groups, cheaper than Topica.

Paytrust: it's mainly aimed at consumers, but give a Paytrust PO box as a billing address, link to a bank account, and never be late on a bill again.

Typepad: A hosted version of Movable Type blog platform, for a corporate website.

Trumba: Looks like this could be the solution for shared calendars for any small company without an IT department, particularly if people are using a mix of Macs and Windows machines.

Server Beach: Web hosting at good prices.

Falk: Full-featured ad-serving, at a price way lower than DoubleClick.

House of Pretty: High-maintenance, headstrong, but supremely talented graphic designers, particularly strong in typography.

Patent Authority: Patent applications at $8k per, without the overhead and overbilling of a large firm.

37 Signals: User-interface overhauls, though they now only work on big projects, or their own apps.

Perspective: Because nothing is ever as good, or as bad, as it seems at the time.

VirtualPBX: Clunkier to set up than it needs to be, but the service gives extension numbers that redirect to distributed staff, and cellphones.

Skype: Alternative to Virtual PBX, a collection of Skype accounts, each with similar SkypeIn numbers, set to redirect to cellphones or PCs running the Skype software.

FreeConference: Easy conference-calling.

F1000 with Vonage: For truly portable phone, at VOIP prices.

Trillian: Internal communications.

Administaff: Web-based benefits adminstration.

Rent A Coder: Okay, so most outsourcing is a disaster, but it's still worth trying out a few offshore coders, and building a team, because it's only going to get harder to find great developers in the US.