Do you dream of starting your own company? Do you have that entrepreneurial fire burning in your belly and just need to the tools to take your grand plan from the idea stage to releasable product? Entrepreneurs building businesses in the current startup environment are blessed indeed. There are incredibly helpful tools available that make launching a product or service a much speedier process than entrepreneurs of the past had to suffer through. Instead of having to establish connections with foreign manufacturers or validate your startup idea through trial and error, today’s entrepreneurs have resources available that make the ‘startup-in-a-box’ concept almost a reality. Check out the following roundup of product development tools to see which ones you can use to grow your own startup.
Inventalator
Inventalator provides a crowdsourcing platform for entrepreneurs, inventors, and product developers to bring their product idea to market. Resources include everything from crowdsourced market feedback to development competitions. If you think you have an entrepreneurial idea that you could eventually turn into a revenue-generating business, check out Inventalator to see if their platform might be suitable for your needs.
Validately
Validately offers a handy platform for testing product ideas and prototypes. Instead of spending months writing code for a product customers don’t really want, Validately lets you test your idea out prior to building an actual product. Unless you like wasting time and money only to pivot when customers don’t jump all over your startup idea, Validately should definitely be added to your list of entrepreneurial resources.
Blossom.io
Blossom.io offers a product management platform for teams. Your entire team can follow the development process for your company’s products or services and maintain an awareness of task distribution. Instead of staff meetings that cost valuable product development time, your staff can instantly see how a project is progressing via their Blossom.io dashboard. Features include everything from analytics to group messaging.
Print.io
Print.io connects entrepreneurs with product manufacturers around the globe. Instead of an entrepreneur developing an idea and then attempting to source their own manufacturing facilities, Print.io makes finding reputable manufacturers easy. Print.io can be used to create products ranging from smartphone cases to posters and personalized coffee mugs.
ProdPad
ProdPad is another essential product development tool for startup teams. ProdPad lets entire teams brainstorm product ideas, conceptualize development processes, and produce ‘road maps’ team members can follow to track product development. ProdPad integrates with existing workflow management tools like Trello, UserVoice, and JIRA.
Having the right product development tools at your disposal is crucial if you want your startup venture to succeed. Wasting time in the concept stage or spending investment money on ill-fated features can be extremely detrimental to the long-term viability of a startup company. Part of growing a successful startup is curating a list of business development resources your team can use on an as-needed basis. Do you think any of the above-listed product development tools will make your list of essential startup resources?
