5 Essential collaboration tools for remote and hybrid startups

The life changing magic of great software tools.

Startups are always trying to do the impossible: make the biggest possible impact with the scrappiest resources. Thanks to great software tools, teams are able to maximize their productivity without working weekends and burning out. Here are some of our favorites, that are affordable to use and will make a huge improvement in your collaborative workflow:

Slite is where all of our ideas live. It's like google docs meets a wiki, which makes it simple to keep everything organized. With a remote team, it's more important than ever to have all of your company's guidelines, handbooks, writing, and documentation in one place, and organized in a way that's easy for new people to navigate. Slite even includes handy templates that you can use for different document types to get you started:

Canva is a tool that truly feels like magic. It lets anyone in your team easily mock up designs, which is very useful in brainstorming creative ideas. It's also great for making quick graphics for email marketing campaigns, and social media posts. We use Canva for everything from making sales PDFs, to funny twitter GIFs, and adding puppies to marketing materials.

Miro is the pièce de résistance of remote collaboration — once you start using it, you wonder what you ever did without it. It's perfect for visual thinkers, clearly displaying information, and even quick UI mock ups for non-designers. The best part for remote teams is that you can work together on files. It's like a digital whiteboard but 1000x better.

Buffer is key for collectively keeping all of your social media pages running. Random 2AM inspiration for viral tweets can go right into the scheduling calendar, along with any media you want to include. It's a great way to let your team work together on copy, check for typos, add cute GIFs, and make sure you are sharing regularly across multiple platforms. They even just added a feature that allows you to schedule twitter threads!

Remotion is our tried and true favorite for remote social hangouts. In remote and hybrid work, it's easy to get into the habit of only seeing your teammates when you're working on something. While it's great to fit social check-ins into your regular meetings, that doesn't necessarily replace the need for casual co-working and hangout time. Remotion fixes this with an easy way to join rooms and even play music while you hang out.