From idea to successful start-up: free tools to accompany start-ups and spin-offs on their journey

Tools for your start-up journey

Do you have an idea and want to start your own business? That's great! But where do you actually start? Fortunately, there are many free tools that will help you step by step - from the initial idea to the growth of your start-up. In this blog post, I'll show you some simple tools.

💡 Step 1: Get to the heart of the idea

Tool: Business Model Canvas (https://www.strategyzer.com)

You have a cool idea, but how exactly should it be turned into a real company? With the Business Model Canvas, you can structure your idea on a single page. Who are your customers? What do you offer them? How do you earn money? All of this is entered in simple fields - like a cheat sheet for your business model.

Tool: Lean Canvas (https://leanstack.com)

The Lean Canvas is even better for start-ups. It helps you to quickly find out what is still missing from your idea. You can fill it out online - easily and free of charge.

🧠 Step 2: Understand what your customers really want

Tool: Miro (https://miro.com)

Miro is like a digital whiteboard where you can brainstorm with your team. For example, you can build a ‘customer journey map’, i.e. a map of how your customer comes across your product and uses it. This helps you to understand where you can improve.

Tool: Google Forms & Typeform (https://forms.google.com / https://www.typeform.com)

Create surveys to ask real people for their opinion. This will give you feedback that really helps you - for example, whether people need your product or what they would do differently.

🧪 Step 3: Bringing initial ideas to life

Tool: Canva (https://www.canva.com)

With Canva, you can easily create beautiful presentations, logos or Instagram posts - even without design experience. There are lots of free templates that you can customise. Great for your first pitch!

Tool: Figma (https://figma.com)

If you want to build an app, for example, but don't yet know how to programme, Figma can help you. Here you can create the design of your app or website, just like a paint programme for the web.

Tool: Glide (https://www.glideapps.com)

Do you want to create an app directly? With Glide, you can build apps without writing a single line of code. Simply insert data into a table and bang - app is ready.

📊 Step 4: Keeping money and planning under control

Tool: plan4you (https://www.plan4you.online/)

This free tool helps you to create a solid financial plan. You enter how much money you need, how much you want to earn and the tool shows you whether your idea will work out financially. Super important for funding applications or if you want to convince investors.

Tool: Score.org Financial Template (https://www.score.org)

If you prefer to work with Excel, there is a template here that you can use to plan income, expenses and profits - also completely free of charge.

🤖 Step 5: Smart helpers in everyday life

Tool: ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com)

Of course, ChatGPT should not be missing. You can use it to write texts, sort ideas, formulate emails or even improve your business plan. Like a smart assistant that you can ask around the clock.

Tool: Notion (https://www.notion.so)

Notion is your digital notebook, project planner and wiki all in one. You can organise your to-dos there, work with your team and save everything in one place. Practical, especially if you have lots of ideas and want to keep an overview.

Tool: Trello / ClickUp (https://trello.com / https://clickup.com)

These tools help you to plan your tasks. You can create cards with tasks, set deadlines and progress your project step by step.

📚 Step 6: Understanding law and funding

Tool: IPR Helpdesk (https://www.iprhelpdesk.eu)

You want to protect your idea? This EU platform explains how patents, trademarks and licences work - in a simple way and in German. Also very helpful for funding applications.

Tool: Gründung Österreich (https://www.gruenderservice.at)

Here you can find everything you need to know about starting a business in Austria - from taxes and legal forms to business plans.

🌱 Step 7: Grow, network, become visible

Platforms: Startup Austria, FFG Start-up Services, aws Connect

These networks bring you together with other founders, mentors and funding organisations. Many events and coaching sessions are free of charge - so take the opportunity!

Conclusion: You can get off to a flying start even without a lot of money 🚀

You don't need a huge budget to realise your start-up idea. With the right tools, you can do a lot yourself - from planning and design to financing. And the best thing? Most of these tools are free or have super free versions.