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Question's focus is: free + resource = value

So, far there have been a lot of answers related to software, have any other suggestions?

Examples: Books, Trial Services, etc.

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what do you mean by resources ? Do you mean material to read up on for knowledge and advice or do you mean sites and software for your operations ? – Sherif Buzz Oct 16 '10 at 16:55
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Try this question as well - possible duplicate. answers.onstartups.com/questions/4322/… – TimJ♦ Oct 16 '10 at 23:42

7 Answers

up vote 6 down vote accepted

All of the tools above are offered free, some of them have a more advanced version that it is not free. These are all great tools and I use most of them often - no complains.

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up vote 4 down vote

Free books:

Free tools/software:

Free images For blogs:

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up vote 2 down vote

I'm a huge fan of Followup.CC. It's free and easy - all you do is BCC an address like "Monday@followup.cc," and the system will automatically send you a reminder on Monday at 7am. You can also add details, like "November7at123pm@followup.cc" and it will follow up on Nov 7 at 1:23pm.

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up vote 3 down vote

google voice is a good one

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@Tim: Yep, like Google Voice too, although I wish they won't lockout phone numbers from creating new accounts... :-) – blunders Oct 17 '10 at 0:08
up vote 4 down vote

Some essential tools:

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@Jeff Epstein: All nice tools, thanks for posting! – blunders Oct 16 '10 at 23:01
up vote 3 down vote

Wordpress is a pretty amazing application for blogs and website creation.

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@mark stephens: Agree. It's by far the most popular CMS, and if you're using it for blogs it's the way to go. – blunders Oct 16 '10 at 16:27
up vote 6 down vote

Microsoft BizSpark

Microsoft tools and software for free.

It allows startups to get a foot in the door without ridiculous, upfront costs. In fact, there is no cost for the first year.

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@Joe Philllips: Yeah, I've seen that too -- but the long-term vender lock-in to a MS system never seemed like a good idea. Really don't know of any existing MS product that can't be replaced with an open source version. That said, if someone has a lot of experience using MS products - I'd say use them and then three months before the year is up do an eval to decide if sticking to MS is worth it. Thanks for posting!! – blunders Oct 16 '10 at 15:10
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Choosing a platform or toolset based solely on cost is not a good idea - make the decision based on how well it does the job, how much savings it gives you in terms of time, etc. Total cost of ownership of a "free" product can many times be more than a paid product. – TimJ♦ Oct 16 '10 at 23:39
@Tim: Yes, I know. My point was aimed at MS's core products, not all closed-vs-open source products. Also, I covered the number two factor in TCO, that being labor, and stated that if you got experience with MS, just go with it - then do an evals later. – blunders Oct 16 '10 at 23:58
Also @blunders, if you are a startup and don't spend the time to work through the MS partnership hoops to become at least a Certified partner, you are missing out. Take a look at the pile of software that you get for the $1495/year. Sure, BizSpark is a gateway drug, but the final subscription that you should transition to isn't bad either. – Larry Smithmier Oct 18 '10 at 14:59

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