Top 20 Free Resources for Entrepreneurs

by Robb Sutton

The internet contains a wealth of information for entrepreneurs seeking resources on all levels of setting up and operating a business. Setting aside time to look for such resource material will pay dividends but there are 20 such sites recognised here, that will lead you in the right direction and they give you a good place to start. And the great news is that they are all FREE. They are:

  1. A good place to begin would be at Intent Hub in which you will find an intuitively organised series of resource sites that give advice on when to start or not to start, how to develop your plan, the importance of a business model, how to get a good team around you, developing your product, creating a business identity, creating the right structure and how to develop an interest among investors.
  2. Pivotal tracker – a free project management tool, Dropbox a free fileserver, BaseCamp for online collaboration & project management have a free account.
  3. An efficient way to set up and co-ordinate your backend data is with Force.com. There is a free version that is well worth serious consideration.
  4. A Javascript application that has remained free so far is the Joyent Smart platform.
  5. Those getting involved in technology and media start ups should not do so without becoming familiar with Employment Law Traps for your state/country.
  6. Quora products is of course the place to go for all the links that you could dream about, all on the one site, a must bookmark for all aspiring entrepreneurs.
  7. All the information you require regarding legal and financing documents for startups, including fill in the blanks contracts has been very kindly put together by Ted Wang and made available for free on his site called Series Seed.
  8. Matthew Bartus has a lot of relevant information to impart on how to increase your VC Valuation on his site of the same name.
  9. We all know that the number of advisors on the web is quite prolific and all you need to know about them can be located on Venture Hacks, a site put together by Babak Nivi.
  10. Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati’s online insight into venture financing is well worth studying on their site, Term Sheet Generator.
  11. Brad Feld has also created a worthwhile read on Term Sheet Series regarding venture financing as well.
  12. Any entrepreneur knows full well the importance of seed funding and to get the low down on the best practices in this area, Seed Funding by Mark MacLeod, will prove to be well worth the visit.
  13. Private individuals who are most likely to provide funds to assist the starting of a new company are known as ‘angels’ and to find out the varying types of angels in the investment world, an inspection of Scott Edward Walker’s work called Angel Financing is an entrepreneur must.
  14. When does it become advantageous to incorporate? This is a question many people argue over, therefore the site, Start Up Company Lawyer, that is contributed by Yoichiro Taku, is quite valuable in this area.
  15. Frank Demmler has put together quite an interesting study on his Founders’ Pie Calculator, an important tool in seeing where your business stands at any specific time.
  16. We are all subjected to abiding by the law but it can often be difficult to understand the language of lawyers, especially when starting up. Mark Suster has assisted here with his post, Work with Lawyers.
  17. A successful start up can sometimes be difficult without somebody to share the idea with and this has been recognised by Naval Ravikant with his contribution, Pick A Co-Founder.
  18. Google App Engine allows you to build and host web apps on the same systems that power Google applications. Offers a free quota of 1GB inbound + 1GB outbound bandwidth, up to 43 million requests and 6.5 CPU hours. Supports Java and Python development environments.
  19. The comprehensive site, delicious.com, will help you find expert resources on most topics. A great tool to fall back on when trying to position your product in a competitive market.
  20. For online invoicing, time tracking & billing software you cant go past FreshBooks free account.

In addition to the resource materials outlined here, all entrepreneurs could also benefit by taking out a good life insurance policy, as there is little to be gained if your enterprise got off the ground only to flounder because you became injured or ill to the extent that you were unable to continue managing its growth. Or in the case of your untimely death, left your beneficiaries to carry the debt of your start up costs.

 Kristy Ramirez writes for Life Insurance Finder where she helps people to compare life insurance quotes and select the best life insurance policy to meet their needs at the best possible price.

Related Posts

4 comments

Sean August 30, 2011 - 7:39 pm

Wow some of these are incredibly helpful! Thanks man sending a Tweet! 🙂

Reply
Steve August 31, 2011 - 9:34 pm

Great stuff Rob! I actually hadn’t heard of most of these. With so much information (and crap) out there, it’s good to find quality resources. Even better that they’re free!!

Reply
Vacationbrokenbowlake September 19, 2011 - 8:25 am

These are some great list of sites which will help people to know what it takes to be a good business man and learn from them

Reply
Charles October 7, 2011 - 1:06 pm Reply

Leave a Comment