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The 3 Best Project Management Tools for Startups

At the beginning of any new business, be it an LLC, corporation, or partnership, there are a lot of things to get a grip on right away. You need to keep a finger on every detail during the formative stages, otherwise, your business could run away from you in all directions.

When a business is starting up, it is also establishing itself at the same time. This is why a firm set of reins need to be in place to harness the business and keep everything in place and on track. As an MA in interaction design explains, business needs should be addressed by nurturing collaborative skills.

If your business has several members of staff and more than one project to deal with, it’s vital to get a handle on project management from the very beginning. Projects are made up of numerous elements.

These elements need to be prioritized and sequenced, the tasks delegated with everyone having a clear understanding of what the end goal is and the deadlines that need to be met. You can also use a  small business CRM software to effectively manage your team and increase productivity.

And that’s where project management tools for startups come in. Here, we look at three of the best project management platforms for a new business to use as building blocks to better efficiency and increased chances of a successful launch.

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1. Trello

Trello is a visual, lightweight project management solution that has become one of the most popular around the world. Its lead focus is on improving the overall efficiency of managing a project or project. It doesn’t come with all the complex bells and whistles of many other similar tools but for simplicity and effectiveness, Trello is hard to beat.

For those handling collaborative efforts, it can prove particularly useful. Easy to install and prepare, with its user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, automated custom workflows can be rapidly assembled.

Many project management tools have their automation limited by subscription levels. Not entirely so with Trello: the free plan allows for up to 250 per month. This can prove to be a real advantage and help for startups on a tight budget. As an Amazon Seller, you can also connect Trello to your Amazon Seller Central.

Trello can supply an unlimited number of task cards with no limits on the number of members, which makes it suitable even for companies using business process outsourcing services It will also be integrated into a tech stack with other project management tools, such as Google Drive, Evernote, Dropbox, and Slack.

With its friendly UI and its capability to merge with these other tools, pictures, documents, and other attachments can be easily added to tasks, and all its components are kept in one easy-to-find place. So whether you are trying to improve your website design or animation process, your content workflow, or your customer service, Trello might be the best way to get started.

Price plans, per user:

  • Free (team limit is kept to less than 10 boards for small projects);
  • Standard, $5 per month if paid annually ($6 if paid monthly): ideal for larger collaborations;
  • Premium, $10 per month, $12.50 if paid annually: for multi-projects and teams of up to 100;
  • Enterprise, $17.50 per month, $210 per user annually: for cross-team work and enhanced functionality.

A free 14-day trial is available for the Premium plan.

2. Teamwork

Teamwork is a robust project management platform that, though easy to use, comes with many advanced features and will assist with scaling while your new company grows.
As its name suggests, Teamwork was designed with collaborations in mind. It has a convenient central hub from which all users will be able to access attachments, images, and any other project components like videos while progress reports are available in real-time.

Other features include time-tracking and customized workflows, both of which are designed to assist with more efficient handling of projects and improved delegation of tasks. Complimenting its ease of use, a variety of options are available with which to view your projects, including a top-down birds-eye view and step-back panorama.

Teamwork can be an ideal project management platform for startups small or large. And, like Trello, Teamwork will also integrate with other PM software such as Google Drive, HubSpot, Dropbox, and Zapier.

Teamwork can be used for absolutely $0 so long as a team is a small one comprised of no more than 5 users. Beyond that, the price plans kick in.

Teamwork costs:

  • $0: for teams of less than 5 – and ideal for project management rookies;
  • $10 per user per month (must have a minimum of 3 users): multiple project management;
  • $18 per user per month (must have a minimum of 5 users): geared toward larger teams with more complex needs.

All paid plans have a free 30-day trial period. Once signed up, there is no obligation – you can cancel the service at any time.

3. Asana

This is a very popular task management platform – and for startups, it has an excellent entry-level tier. Up to 15 users can utilize the free plan, and though this no-cost level omits many of the more complicated tools, the ones that are made available are solid ones to have on hand.

There isn’t a limit to the number of tasks that can be created using the aforementioned free plan. Delegation of responsibilities is done with clarity, as is the setting of deadlines. Managers are provided with a very neat and tidy view of project proceedings and can do so either by looking at tasks in a list or in a calendar window.

Asana can be merged with over 100 other tools, including Microsoft Teams and various Google utilities. Though it can be a more convoluted platform, once you have got to grips with it, its real project management potential can be realized.

Being more complex than Trello and Teamwork, Asana is a better candidate for those startups that already have some semblance of workflow moving well but are looking for a sleek, powerful software solution to really enhance it and keep it firmly on the rails.

Like the predecessors on this list, Asana also has a central core to hold images, documents, and files, which are then available to all parties involved in the project.

Asana pricing:

  • $0 – and ‘free forever: for small teams of under 15 and PM newcomers;
  • Premium $9.49 per user, monthly: for larger teams with more complex requirements;
  • Business $20.99 per user, monthly: for large, multiple teams with multiple projects and equipped with the most advanced features.

No free trials for subscription services.

Conclusion

There are many project management solutions available today. For new business owners, however, wanting to start up the right way and begin the path to optimal project management know-how, Trello, Teamwork, and Asana are three of the best places to begin.

These tools are easy to use. You don’t even need a project manager to help you with it. Any of these can become part of a tech stack, and as your PM abilities grow with your business, you’ll be able to advance at the same rate as the success of your firm.

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