7 Founders Share Their Favorite Business Tool

From daily planners to content relationship management (CRM) software, eight founders sat down with Jessica Abo to share their go-to business tools to save time, money and stay organized.

Mara Smith, Founder & CEO of Inspiro Tequila

“Inspiro Tequila is an ultra-premium, confirmed additive-free tequila that is easy to drink. We provide a clean spirit option that tastes great and allows you to enjoy the moment. My favorite business tool that allows me to save time is Airtable. I am able to keep all my information in one place organized with different databases on the platform, and it is very easy to use for someone who is low-tech like me.”

Megan McGowan, Founder of Lilvil

“Lilvil is a concierge service for parents that enables them to spend time on the things they want to be doing and not on the things they don’t, by outsourcing tasks such as finding childcare, scheduling activities for their kids and planning birthday parties. As a startup founder, I wear many hats, including social media manager, so my favorite business tool is Canva because it allows me to have consistent and quality content, and then to create templates that I can hand off to my team.”

Kara Venus, CEO of Stella’s Way Marketing

“Stella’s Way Marketing is a full-service marketing and PR agency. We specialize in small business and nonprofits. We use Canva for inspiration, planning posts, scheduling posts and really everything from logo design all the way through launching a business.”

Jennifer Jank, Chief Brain Hacker of Productivity Injection

“We help businesses and their teams pump up profits without putting in more hours. I send emails to my clients and prospects through my CRM system, so that way I can check off the box for automatic follow-up. So a few days after I send the email, I get an automatic email in my inbox reminding me to follow up. And that way nobody ever falls through the cracks.”

Laney Harvick, Owner of Harvick Farms

“Harvick Farms is a plant nursery that is located in Cassville, Missouri. We sell quality plants and have free education classes. One of my favorite tools is Zoho Social, which is a content management system that allows you to put all of your content in one program, schedule it out, see who your top users are, identify the peak times and be able to deliver content in the best time possible.”

Julia Akinyooye, Founder & CEO of Emmanuel Consulting Agency Inc.

“Emanuel Consulting Agency Inc. is a home care business consulting firm that helps license home care businesses and keeps them in compliance. The tool that I love the most that keeps my business organized is Oney. It has great features like a CRM, a content management tool for your social media, and it also has a project management tool.

Karly Hiser, Founder of Crann Organic

“Crann Organic makes sustainable clothing for kids with sensitive skin. To keep myself organized, I love an old-fashioned planner and nothing is better than a planner made with recycled paper. So while many people rely on technology, I love the old-fashioned paper planner.”