Think mobile, the younger generation are using their smartphone more and more to conduct business. As all of us increasingly use our mobile phones for business, mobile applications become not only helpful, but essential, to get work done fast and well. IF you want to stay a head then is time to go mobile. Just listen to these guys:
1. Contactually
is my favorite business app. My business is all about relationships, and Contactually makes it dead simple for me to follow up with leads and make introductions between my clients. There have also been many upgrades to the app recently, which makes it best in sales in the CRM class.
– Lawrence Watkins, Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers
2. Asana
has transformed our business. It connects the technical team with the marketing team. It helps everyone understand the value they are contributing. It’s a soft approach to holding everyone accountable to both others and themselves. In startups, there is always more to do. Asana helps us prioritize and organize everything we do. Both the website and mobile app are quite useful.
– Mitch Gordon, CEO/ Co-Founder, Go Overseas
3. Basecamp
If you use Basecamp to manage your team’s projects, then the mobile app is a MUST. On the road, you can check in on the status of projects, tasks of key team members, and even review clients’ input/approvals.
– Torrey Tayenaka, CEO / Co-Founder, Sparkhouse
4. MobileDay
is an essential productivity app I use daily. MobileDay dials in and enters your access code automatically. By pulling meetings from my calendar, MobileDay reminds me when I have conference calls and enters them for me. What a time saver!
– Adam Lieb, Founder & CEO, Duxter
5. SignNow
is such a simple concept and has become my most-used third-party app. It gives me the ability to sign documents on the go. The team can work quickly and efficiently no matter where I am located around the world.
– Adam Cunningham , 87AM
6. Square
We do a full 80 percent of our sales on the road. We do this with the Square app. It is fast and reliable, and our deposits are done daily with no monthly fees or transaction fees. It is just a set percentage of the sale price, which works out to be much less expensive for us than what we were paying with a merchant credit service.
– Jay Wu, Creator, Best Drug Rehabilitation
7. WorkFlowy
Entrepreneurs tend to be highly creative and, even when focused on a core business, they tend to have lots of ideas and tasks in their minds! The key for me to staying organized is WorkFlowy. It is like exporting your brain to a highly scalable, well-structured app. I keep WorkFlowy open on my computer all day as my to-do list organizer and idea repository. The iOS apps are phenomenal, too!
– Doreen Bloch, CEO / Founder, Poshly Inc.
8. Skype
I do a lot of business internationally and with TONS of freelancers. Skype is a lifesaver. If anybody ever has questions, they just ping me. I can answer it from my iPhone whenever I need to and from wherever.
– Travis Steffen, Founder, WorkoutBOX
9. Yammer
Our team members used to email each other small tasks, but at some point the flow of conversations became overwhelming. We moved to Google Chat, but interruptions from friends take a toll during the day as a little pop-up can disrupt your flow. Yammer allows our team to get the benefits of quick chatting through our phones without the to-do of opening an email or the distraction of a random conversation.
– Aaron Schwartz, Founder and CEO, Modify Watches
10. TripIt
Based in Seattle, life outside of the Valley and Madison Avenue is hardly recognized, so it’s pertinent I make an effort to be present with peers, mentors and investors — putting my company on the map … literally. With Tripit, I handle all of my travel details including booking, hotels and meetings. In the spirit of a lean startup, sans human administration, this app is an employee requirement. – Matt Ehrlichman, CEO, Porch
11. Genius Scan
No one could figure out how to use the “all-in-one” printer/scanner in our office, but when we discovered Genius Scan, that all changed. From saving notes to signing legal documents, it’s simply the easiest way to scan anything. I paid $2.99 for the upgrade and can sync directly with Dropbox.
– Ryan Buckley, COO & Co-founder, Scripted, Inc.
12. Shoeboxed
I’m terrible — I mean really terrible — with receipts. With Shoeboxed, I’m able to take a photo after every business meal or purchase, add a note and then never worry about the paper again. It’s a huge advantage, and It has also made compliance and tax time much less stressful.
– Sean Ogle, Founder, Location 180, LLC
13. HipChat
We live in a virtual world today, and our team of eight is spread across four different time zones, with one traveling in the mountains of Canada. To make sure everyone feels close to each other and is on top of things, we’ve brought in HipChat as our virtual mobile water cooler and private team rooms. Everything from chitchat to strategic discussions has its own place once we’ve “stepped into the office.”
– W. Michael Hsu, Founder & CEO, DeepSky