Small Business Saturday hits UK shores on December 6th and to honour the occasion we’ve put together a list of box-fresh beta startups promising low cost products designed to improve workflow, customer service and efficiency in small companies.
Over 90% of startups fail within the first five years according to Dun and Bradstreet, and New York City-based Knowlium aims to change this. Integrating with existing accounting software, this web application tracks actual financial progress against various goals and produces infographic-driven business plans, in addition to allowing teams to collaborate on projects.
Knowlium’s uncrowded, flat design makes unnerving data easy to swallow, and its aesthetic appeal is matched by extensively customisable drag-and-drop functionality which allows for the creation of complex business models and financial projections. It’s little surprise that founder David Bitton is a user experience and interface consultant.
Standupmail keeps small teams up to speed with company-wide progress where it can’t be ignored: the inbox.
The service sends an email request to all participants every evening to add their completed tasks and next steps. These are compiled, digested into one clear list and delivered to everyone the next morning.
It’s a simple solution to keep everyone on the same page even if not in the same office, reducing the amount of organisers bookmarked on your browser and time spent in meetings.
Stintern is a way to connect resource-strapped startups with students for short term project-focussed work, or ‘Stints’.
Students can create profiles which show their availability, allowing emerging businesses to target the right candidates intelligently, effectively, and on demand; bypassing expensive recruitment services.
According to its blog, Stintern are challenging traditional fixed internships which ‘lack focus’, instead offering students more choice over the type of project they are building within a shorter period. Maybe you’ll feel a little better knowing your unpaid interns have a student loan.
fullscope is a customer feedback widget which lets users compile contextualised reports, including highlighted screenshots, browser information and HTML code.
As easy as adding analytics, according to fullscope, the widget sends feedback to existing help desk services, such as Zendesk, Freshdesk and Salesfoce, with a straightforward authorisation process.
If you don’t use one these services fullscope can email user reports or forward to a specific URL of your choice.
Depending on how specialised your product is, finding the right opportunities to meet and network with fellow entrepreneurs can be a challenge.
A hybrid of LinkedIn and Tinder, Gravitate allows users to set up quick profiles- a photo, city and ‘tweet-sized’ CV is enough- then swipe through and connect with entrepreneurs based on shared interests and location.