Hey… How you doing?
Things might look a bit different ?
Two big changes this week…
1) The Startup Resources website went live with a new look. I’m definitely not a designer but I’m happy with the way it’s come together. It’s still a work in progress so things might get tweaked in the coming weeks.
I’m also in a much better position to start adding new resources that have been submitted.
2) I moved the email provider from Revue to Mailchimp. I’m a long term user of Mailchimp and Revue was lacking in some areas that were frustrating me. So… you’re reading this. I just hope everybody else is ?♂️
Feedback is most welcome.
Before I let you go, last week’s most popular link was The Ridiculously Successful Way to Introduce Yourself Over Email. Way, way out in front. Nearly 2x anything else.
? Tools discovered recently
Flybox | Soar through your Gmail
Tired of using Gmail’s interface with all the bells and whistles you never touch? And want to just fly through your inbox, actioning emails. Take a look at (free) Flybox. Very simple and a great way to clear your inbox.
Better Proposals | Online Proposal Software
This one is for freelancers, service businesses and consultants. I listened to the owner of Better Proposals (Adam Hempenstall), on a podcast this week.
He was talking about how pulling together proposals has changed. PDFs are out – people want web like, mobile experiences so they can read proposals at any time. And they want them fast.
This looks like a great tool for quickly pulling together winning proposals. 14 day trial to have a play with it.
Sketchsheets | Ready to print sketch templates
If you like to do your wireframing on paper first, you might like this collection of printable templates for many current devices. Open source project.
Thnks | Growing Business With Gratitude
If you’re trying to get noticed by influencers or dream clients in your industry, then sending small gifts can be an excellent strategy. But a pain to execute. Thnks (not a typo) is a service that makes it simple for you to choose and send gifts from an app.
Resizing.app | Resize Images Online
Simple tool to resize images online. No fluff – drag and drop an image, change the size and download.
? Articles of the week
5 Welcome Email Examples That Work
The welcome email is one of the highest open rate emails you’ll ever send to your subscribers. So it’s an opportunity to ask for something or steer your audience in a particular direction. Real examples in this article from Sumo. And you can get some templates as well (if you sign up for their list, of course)
20 alternatives to “subscribe” for a newsletter’s call-to-action
It’s easy to throw an email capture box on your website and leave a default “subscribe” button as the call to action. But who wants to subscribe to another email? We want outcomes not a full inbox. Get creative with your CTAs in this article on Maker Mag.
The Definitive Guide to User Onboarding
This is a massive resource. Covers strategies behind user onboarding and the main tracks to follow. And the mistakes everyone makes. Worth bookmarking and/or grabbing the pdf version as you’ll want to refer back to it.
The Best Traffic Sources for SaaS Lead Generation in 2019
Ideas for traffic based on an analysis of 50 most successful public SaaS companies in the U.S. Maybe you can’t do everything they can (not at scale anyway) but there might be things here that you haven’t thought of. Also links out to a lot of resources.
? Podcast of the week
Recently launched podcast with two makers talking about building their online businesses. I’m liking these no filter, unstructured conversations between entrepreneurs. Feels like you’re listening in on real standup meetings.
? That’s it for this issue
Enjoy the weekend, I’ll be back next Friday.
Paul