The variety of AI tools available for businesses today is truly mesmerizing. From text generation to predictive analysis, it’s possible to automate virtually any daily operation. What about starting a business from scratch using only AI tools? Let us assure you — it’s possible.
This article lists the best AI tools for startups and showcases how to build a new business only with AI-based platforms.
What Can AI Offer to New Businesses?
Mostly known as ChatGPT, generative AI tools can offer way more than text creation. Illustrations, charts, presentations, and even complete websites can all be made within one day with dedicated AI tools. What’s more, artificial intelligence can be used for
- Content creation: AI can help create social media posts, blog articles, website visuals, emails, and advertising campaigns in minutes.
- Predictive analysis: With AI-enabled predictive analytics, a surge in online orders before holidays or the start of a school year won’t come as a surprise. A dedicated tool can take your past sales data and special events into account to predict the demand for products and let your team prepare in advance.
- Gathering data insights: Data about your customers, their shopping habits, and other sales information can help you develop a more effective marketing and sales strategy and understand your target audience's needs to offer more relative products.
- Automating sales: Dedicated sales automation AI platforms allow businesses to reduce time spent on lead researching and filtering, outreach emails, and follow-ups. Plus, sales automation tools help keep track of past and active contacts and organize the workflow.
- Providing customer assistance: Personalized product recommendations, chatbots that provide instant help, and content customization all increase customer satisfaction and encourage repeat interactions with your company.
- Financial analysis: Financial planning, reporting, and tax-paying are often the main factors discouraging new entrepreneurs from starting their own businesses. Dedicated AI tools can take this weight off your shoulders and give you clear calculations and reports.
- Project management assistance: Artificial intelligence makes monitoring deadlines and prioritizing your to-do list easier, sending you reminders and organizing your schedule.
The best part is that each of these functions is highly accessible for new business owners as the AI tools today have a low learning curve, simple interfaces, and are either free or low-cost, subscription-based platforms.
Step 1: Define Your Business Idea with ChatGPT
You can use the most well-known generative AI tools to start developing your startup from scratch — yes, it's as simple as that. Of course, it’s best if you have a unique business idea that would offer something new to customers. Still, ChatGPT can offer you several working business models from which to choose.
Plus, ChatGPT can help refine your idea, learn the market trends and who your competitors are as well as define your competitive advantage and selling points.
Top features:
- Competitive analysis
- Market insights
- Idea refinement
- Business model generation
- Customer profiling
Cost: Free, $20/month for ChatGPT Plus.
Step 2: Choose a Name, Slogan, and Branding with Copy.AI
Next on, you would need a catchy name and slogan to attract the attention of your target audience. Additionally, you would want to have some marketing texts ready to fill in your landing page or website. A dedicated copywriting AI like Copy.AI can solve this task for you and spread your product’s value through words. This tool can undertake your whole go-to-market marketing strategy with all forms of content you need as well as establish your tone-of-voice and repurpose content.
Top features:
- Automated content repurposing
- Tone-of-voice analysis and creation
- Email marketing strategy building
- Automated content generation from brief
- Slogan creation
Cost: Free, $36/month for a Pro version.
Step 3: Design a Logo and Branding with Looka
The visual representation of your product is as important as the words you use. Your logo and color palette selection can highlight your product’s value and target audience. Plus, they can be memorable visuals that distinguish your company from its competitors.
A Looka logo-generating tool allows you to create a logo, select an appropriate color palette, and even get a variety of templates with your branding. Based on your prompt indicating your company’s name, preferred colors, and symbol, the platform will suggest a selection of options with customizable fonts, colors, and templates.
Top features:
- Logo design and editing
- Brand color selection
- Social media visual template editing
- Brand Kit package for all-around marketing visuals
- Social Media package for creating branded images
Cost: Free.
Step 4: Build a Website with Webflow
Now that you have your brand defined and visuals ready, you would need a website to both promote your new company and provide services, such as delivery. Plus, a website will become your main selling platform if your business is fully digital.
Webflow empowers you to create professional websites without needing coding skills. Its intuitive visual editor allows you to design custom layouts, add interactive elements, and optimize for mobile responsiveness. Plus, Webflow offers hosting services, ensuring your site is secure and performs well.
Top features:
- Visual website builder with drag-and-drop functionality
- Customizable templates and elements for unique designs
- Built-in scroll-based and multi-step interaction for your website
- Built-in content management system to fill your website with useful information and update it regularly
- Integrations with third-party services for added functionality
Cost: Free for hobby and staging sites, $14/month for basic, static websites, $23/month for blogs and content-driven websites, and $39/month for larger sites.
Step 5: Develop Your Marketing Strategy with Jasper AI
A constant marketing effort is a must-have for attracting new customers, growing your audience, and getting exposure. You can automate your marketing strategy with the Jasper AI platform that helps you develop and execute a winning marketing plan tailored to your specific goals.
From identifying key target demographics to devising and implementing effective advertising campaigns, Jasper AI provides invaluable insights and data-driven recommendations for all marketing efforts.
Top features:
- Building marketing campaigns
- AI brief creation based on a chat with you
- Setting up brand voice
- AI-assisted content creation
- Marketing campaign analytics and insights for performance optimization
Cost: $38/month per seat for a Creator account, $59/month per seat for a Pro account.
Step 6: Automate the Sales Process with Hubspot
As a young business, you might not have a ready-to-go sales team or an established sales process. No worries: an AI-enhanced dedicated sales tool, like Hubspot, can replace a sales team for you at the beginning.
HubSpot offers a comprehensive suite of tools, including AI-based, to automate every sales cycle stage, from lead generation to closing deals. With HubSpot, startups can automate repetitive sales tasks such as email outreach, follow-ups, and lead scoring. This automation streamlines the sales process, enabling teams to focus on high-value activities like closing deals and nurturing relationships.
Top features:
- Lead management
- Automated customer relationship management
- Deal management
- Analytics and reporting
- Payment and quote generation
Cost: Free for basic features, $20/month per seat for a Starter edition, $100/month per seat for a Professional account, $150/month per seat for an Enterprise account.
Step 7: Organize Operations with Trello
Starting and managing a brand new company can be overwhelming with the amount of tasks on your to-do list and even more on your mind. A project management tool, like Trello, can take the weight off your shoulders by organizing all the tasks and even prioritizing and planning those for you with the power of AI.
By leveraging Trello's user-friendly interface, powerful features, and Strategy AI integration, solo entrepreneurs can stay organized, focused, and productive as they navigate the challenges of building and growing their startups.
Top features:
- Visual, drag-and-drop task management
- Task and workflow automation
- Workflow templates
- AI project insights and workflow recommendations
- Third-party tool integration for better productivity
Cost: Free, $5/month for a Standard plan, $10/month for a Premium subscription.
Step 8: Take Care of the Finances with Quickbooks
The financial side of business can be daunting for young entrepreneurs, and hiring an accountant might not be in your budget yet. Dealing with bank statements, invoices, and taxes requires a high level of responsibility when one mistake can cost a lot.
Some automation and AI-based assistance can be a way out for those juggling all the financial matters alone. QuickBooks offers a comprehensive solution to streamline financial tasks and keep track of expenses, invoices, and transactions with ease.
Top features:
- Invoice generation
- Expense tracking
- Bill management
- Tax prep assistance
- Report generation
Cost: $30/month for the Simple Start plan, $60/month for the Essentials plan, $90/month for the Plus plan, $200 for the Advanced plan.
Step 9: Offer Customer Service with ZenDesk
Whether you want to start a B2B or B2C business, you need to communicate with your clients, solve their requests, and satisfy them with accurate and quick responses. Customer service can take a lot of time and effort, especially in a B2C business with a higher volume of customers and a personalized approach.
Zendesk is an all-in-one customer management platform that stands out with its AI-powered functionality featuring generative AI bots. These bots engage customers in natural, human-like conversations, seamlessly reflecting the brand's tone and personality seamlessly. With Zendesk, entrepreneurs can harness the power of AI to provide personalized and timely support experiences.
Top features:
- Generative AI bots for resolving customer inquiries
- Data-driven automation suggestions for bots based on common user questions
- 24/7 bot support
- A variety of support channels, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Slack, and others
- A centralized workplace for reviewing all past and current customer interactions
Cost: $55/month for the basic plan, $89/month for the Growth plan, and $115/month for the Professional plan.
Step 10: Get Data Insights with Tableau
Planning growth and predicting risks require data insights. Whether you need information about your customers and their shopping habits or sales reports, an AI-based tool can organize and visualize your data in an intuitive and easy-to-understand graph format. Plus, platforms like Tableau will also generate AI-based reports highlighting important insights and making predictions.
For example, a new e-commerce startup can use Tableau's AI-driven forecasting models to predict future sales trends based on historical data. By analyzing customer behavior and purchasing patterns, the startup can identify opportunities for targeted marketing campaigns and product recommendations.
Top features:
- Data stories with automated, plain-language explanations
- Data insights and dynamic visualizations
- Prediction and recommendation system
- Data trends and patterns visualization
Cost: $15/month for the Viewer plan, $42/month for the Explorer plan, $75/month for the Creator plan.
Consider Your Options: To AI or Not to AI?
For startup founders just getting started, AI tools can be a real lifesaver, especially when you're watching every penny. They might not make your business unique or give it a maximum competitive advantage, but they sure make life easier. As your business grows, you can switch your template website for a custom-made one with the functionality and visuals adapted to your clients’ needs. Other tools, like Hubspot or Tableau, might stick around, making your sales and marketing team's job easier.
However, let's not overlook the value of personalized, human-centered solutions. More often than not, a tailor-made, professional website design brings you much more than just trendy visuals. Intuitive navigation, unique branding, memorable design, functionality developed with the thought of user convenience and business growth, and opportunities for scaling up are all benefits of custom website design and development.
That's where Perpetio comes in. We're not just about websites and apps; we're about understanding your business, your customers, and your goals. With our help, you can create a digital presence that's tailor-made for success right from the get-go.
Get in touch today to start your startup journey with professionals on your side.
