Fifteen hands-on guides — one for each job of running a company, from forming the entity to shipping the orders. We open every tool’s site by hand, group them by the decision you’re actually making, and say plainly what each is for.
Pick the job you’re doing; each guide compares the tools worth knowing, with the trade-offs made explicit.
The guides contain affiliate links: if you sign up with a tool through one, we may earn a commission. It never changes which tools we list or how we rank them.Form the company, open an account, keep the books and cover the risk.
Start the company — and keep it in good standing
Open the guide →7 services business banking & payment toolsA business account and payments — without a branch
Open the guide →5 providers accounting & invoicing toolsInvoicing, bookkeeping and tax — sorted, without a finance team
Open the guide →9 tools small-business insuranceInsure the business — without the broker runaround
Open the guide →4 providersHire remote talent, run payroll and — if you're the one job-hunting — land the role.
Hire senior engineers where they cost less — and employ them legally
Open the guide →10 tools HR, recruiting & payroll toolsHire, pay and run your team — without an HR department
Open the guide →5 tools resume & job-search toolsGet past the bots and land the interview
Open the guide →6 toolsTurn a pipeline into revenue and get found by people who don't know you yet.
Put the site online, keep the IT working and lock the business down.
Get your site online — and keep it fast
Open the guide →9 providers IT management, monitoring & recovery toolsKeep the IT running — manage, monitor and recover
Open the guide →5 tools business security & backup toolsProtect the business — devices, data and passwords
Open the guide →5 toolsGet orders out the door, buy the physical kit, and pick up the phone.
Ship it cheaper — and let someone else pick and pack
Open the guide →5 tools office, industrial & print suppliersKit out the business — office, industrial and print
Open the guide →6 suppliers business phone & texting toolsA real business phone — without a phone system
Open the guide →5 toolsEach guide starts from the tools that run an affiliate programme — that is the pool we work from — and then we open every one’s live site by hand, drop the name-collisions and off-topic products, and group what’s left by the job you’re trying to do. Which tools make a list, and how they’re ranked, is our editorial call; the affiliate arrangement never changes it.
Every outbound link in a guide is marked nofollow sponsored. Where a tool’s site blocks an automated check, we say so on its card and describe it from public positioning.
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