One of the biggest obstacles to early-stage startup growth is the fact that operational and administrative tasks eat up a huge chunk of your time as a startup founder, preventing you to invest in the activities that would elevate your project – product development, sales, etc.. Yet, the lack of resources usually means you cannot afford to outsource these tasks to other people, which could put you in a cycle that’s extremely hard to escape from.
One exit out of this bad situation is to automate repetitive tasks as much as possible in order to free up as much time as possible.
According to a survey by WorkMarket, 53% of employees believe automation can save them up to two work hours daily, translating to over ten hours per week for startup founders. This article covers five essential automation tools that help streamline operations and improve efficiency.
1. Zapier: Connecting Apps & Automating Workflows
Zapier is a tool that connects different apps and automates workflows without requiring coding skills. It allows users to create “Zaps,” which are automated actions triggered by specific events.
For example, a founder can set up a Zap to automatically send Slack notifications when a new lead is added to a CRM. This eliminates manual data entry and ensures that key team members stay updated. Another thing Zapier can do is to automate weekly reports by pulling data from multiple sources (financial data from Sheets, sales data from your CRM, etc.).
Besides internal communication and task management, Zapier can help you automate some of your marketing activities. It can trigger automated emails, post new blog articles on multiple social media accounts, etc.
2. Calendly: Simplifying Meeting Scheduling
Scheduling meetings manually can be time-consuming, especially when coordinating across different time zones and multiple team members. Calendly automates the process by allowing users to share a link with available time slots, letting others book meetings without the back-and-forth emails.
This tool integrates with Google Calendar, Outlook, and Zoom, automatically generating meeting links and sending reminders.
3. HubSpot: Automating Customer Relationship Management
Managing customer relationships manually can slow down sales and marketing efforts. HubSpot automates CRM functions, helping startups track leads, automate email follow-ups, and manage customer interactions in one platform.
Startups using HubSpot’s email automation features see an average 50% increase in response rates, according to the company’s case studies. By automating outreach and lead nurturing, founders can save hours each week while maintaining consistent communication with prospects.
This is extremely important for startups with large quantities of leads, especially if the customer lifetime value isn’t too high. If you as a sales person waste too much time on each individual lead, this might make your whole business model unsustainable.
This makes CRM automation one of the most important steps in a startup’s efficiency phase for a large number of projects.
4. Notion: Streamlining Project and Knowledge Management
Notion is an all-in-one workspace that automates project management, documentation, and team collaboration. It replaces scattered documents and spreadsheets with organized databases and templates.
For instance, a founder can automate task tracking by setting up databases that auto-update based on project progress. Moreover, Notion allows for powerful third-party integrations. For example, you can automatically create Notion tasks from new Calendar events.
5. Xero: Automating Accounting and Financial Management
Handling finances manually is prone to errors and takes up valuable time. Xero automates bookkeeping, invoicing, and expense tracking. By integrating with banks and payment platforms, Xero eliminates the need for manual data entry to a large degree, which makes financial management a lot easier for startup founders.
Of course, it’s worth noting that while those software solutions are pretty standard, they are by no means unique – all of them have competing solutions that have their own pros and cons. The more important takeaway is to actively search for automation solutions for any repetitive task that obstructs your day from creative and strategic work, which is where you add the most value as a founder
In Conclusion
Every day, I make it a priority to listen to a business or self-development podcast—it’s a simple habit that keeps me inspired and informed. Each week, I discover new technologies and strategies that help streamline my business and boost productivity. I highly recommend incorporating this practice into your daily routine! With so many free resources available, there’s endless potential to grow both personally and professionally. If you’d like recommendations on my go-to podcasts, just reach out—I’d be happy to share!