The 11 Best SaaS Apps That Scaling Startups Should Have in Their Stack

Key Points:

• As startups transition to scaleups, having the right SaaS tools is crucial. These tools can help overcome common challenges like limited resources, budget constraints, hiring difficulties, and process management.

• While SaaS apps enhance collaboration, they also pose risks of data leaks.

• To safeguard sensitive data, consider using a data security tool like Metomic, which can detect and protect critical assets in your SaaS applications.

Short answer: A scaling startup’s core stack should cover communication (Slack), project management (Trello or Jira), accounting (Quickbooks), customer support (Zendesk), file collaboration (Google Drive), code hosting (GitHub), marketing operations (Airtable), notes and strategy (Notion), and secure workflow management (Box). Each new tool is also a new place sensitive customer and employee data can be overshared, so a dedicated data security layer belongs in the stack from the start, not after the first incident. Here are the 11 tools worth adding, and why.

Scaling startups have a lot to think about. Perhaps the biggest is how they will take their business to the next level. 

The team you build can be your biggest asset, but the tools they use also have a huge part to play too.

How can startups become scaleups?

Only 10% of startups become successful businesses. It’s easy for startups to become derailed due to a lack of experience, or funding, and founders need to ensure they have the right foundations in place to set the business up for success. 

Moving from a startup to a scaleup is tough, especially in a difficult financial climate, with economic challenges, and uncertainties every step of the way. 

As a business owner, you should focus on building a great team of professionals who you can trust. Once you have them there, getting the right tools in place is essential. 

What are the challenges business owners face when scaling? 

1. Time & Resource

Limited time and resources can lead to overworked employees struggling to execute on their strategies, if they’re not given the opportunity to grow their team. Automating processes as much as possible can help to minimise the stress caused by an exhaustive to-do list. 

2. Budget

There’s also the costs associated with overheads, particularly if you’re working from an office, that can eat away at any funding you might have. Where possible, you could allow your team to work remotely, and store your files in the cloud to minimise the costs of physical storage. 

3. Finding the right people

Sourcing great talent can be tricky, particularly if you’re not sure what exactly you’re looking for in a candidate. Hiring the right people can make or break your business, so if you’re unclear on what you should be looking for, working with a specialist recruitment agency can help. 

4. Nailing processes

While you might not have everything together in the first few years, having some processes and workflows in place can be beneficial to keep productivity levels high. With the right software at your disposal, you can mitigate the risks associated with these challenges. 

11 SaaS apps and tools every scaling startup should be using: 

1. Best SaaS app for Communication: Slack 

Slackallows your team to send messages quickly and easily, with direct messages and team chats. Slack allows teams to bounce ideas back and forth, see what’s going on in the wider company, and celebrate each other’s wins. 

You can also share files easily, and integrate other tools such as Loom or Google Calendar to sync everything together. 

Note. As easy-to-use and convenient as Slack is, there are security concerns. It’s near-impossible to see or control what information is being shared across hundreds of channels. Read more in our article “Is Slack Secure for your Business?”.

2. Best SaaS app for Project Management: Trello 

Trello offers multiple ways to manage your projects, including kanban boards, calendars, timelines and more. 

With the ability to add teammates and deadlines to individual tasks, you can truly make Trello the hub of productivity for your team. You can also add labels to your cards so you know exactly what they’re for, and watch the ones you have a particular interest in. The perfect way to bring everyone together. 

3. Best SaaS app for Accounting: Quickbooks 

Integrating with over 750 business apps, Quickbooks can help you get a good understanding of your cash flow. 

Quickbooks is ideal for spotting inconsistencies in your accounting (particularly if you connect your bank’s data to see transactions in real time) and preparing custom invoices instantly to send to clients or partners.

You can even use their software to automate things like matching receipts to expenses, making it even quicker for you to approve requests. 

4. Best SaaS app for Project Tracking: Jira

Jira is ideal for tech teams who are managing complicated projects. From the same Atlassian family as Trello, Jira can act as a single source of truth to help focus the team, and keep everyone aligned. 

Breaking down epic ideas into bitesize pieces, Jira allows you to get as granular as you like so work is a lot more manageable. With reporting features to help you understand how much progress you’ve made, Jira can be a lifesaver for tech teams who need to collaborate effectively. 

5. Best SaaS app for Customer Support: Zendesk

Once your customers start coming onboard, they’re going to want the support of your team, or a dedicated account manager. 

If you’ve got a growing customer service team, Zendesk can help you keep track of incoming queries, and handle them efficiently, leaving your customers happy. 

With AI suggestions to help your staff respond quickly and easily, Zendesk is perfect for answering customer queries from anywhere in the world. 

6. Best SaaS app for Collaboration: Google Drive

Google Driveoffers file sharing capabilities in the cloud, so anyone from your team can collaborate across continents and timezones. 

Whether you use Google Docs for writing, Google Sheets for spreadsheets, or Google Slides for presentations, Google Drive can house them all. With the ability to leave comments or edit content directly, Google Drive can help your team to collaborate and have their say. 

7. Best SaaS app for Code Hosting: GitHub

Your developers will no doubt need somewhere to host their code and collaborate with each other. GitHub is usually the software platform of choice for developers, due to its ability to let anyone work from anywhere. 

Collaboration is key in GitHub as it allows developers to contribute to environments quickly, and chat to each other about any changes made. Automated workflows can speed up the process, and make life easier for your team too. 

8. Best SaaS app for Managing Marketing Campaigns: Airtable 

While your marketing team is small, collaboration might be easy, but as you scale, you’ll need to have processes in place to manage campaigns and requests from other departments. 

Airtable helps your marketing team to align on new campaigns, and assign the relevant people to requests that come through. You can even create an Asset Library for the wider workforce to use, so everything is available whenever they need it.  

Airtable can help your marketing team get clarity on what’s expected of them, and when they need to deliver their work. 

9. Best SaaS app for Ideas: Notion

Notion is perfect for note-taking, strategy-making, and idea-baking. Nesting pages within bigger topics, you can lay out your perfect strategy, create tables, share images and ideas, and even integrate other apps to make life even easier. 

Their new AI assistant also helps you to get going if you’re stuck in a creative block, and their calendar function can help you plan out your week so you can stay on track. 

10. Best SaaS app to Simplify Workflows: Box

Working across devices,Box can help you keep content secure while helping you collaborate with your team. Their e-signature tool also makes it easy to get contracts signed by employees or freelancers. 

Simplifying workflows is a breeze with automated processes for every department. You can even use their AI tool to create new content, make big decisions, and share insights with your workforce. 

Are SaaS applications secure? 

SaaS apps are perfect for collaboration, enabling your workforce to align on projects, and work efficiently, and effectively. 

But with the use of SaaS apps comes the inevitable rise of sensitive data being swapped and shared between your team every single day. Mitigating the risk of this data being leaked in a data breach should be a key factor when you’re scaling, as a data breach could have a huge financial and reputational impact on your business. 

Using a data security solution like Metomic to help you detect and protect sensitive data can minimise the amount of sensitive data you hold in your SaaS apps.  

Which app in your stack already has too much exposed? Book a demo and Metomic scans across your whole SaaS stack at once to find overshared and sensitive data before it becomes a breach.

11. Best data security tool to protect your SaaS apps: Metomic 

As you gather more sensitive data on your customers and employees, you’ll want to make sure it’s all protected by a powerful tool that can detect and protect your most critical assets. 

Metomichas been described as the ‘Best data security tool for SaaS applications’* by our customers, due to its ability to rapidly detect data, and remediate it effectively. 

Request a personalised demo with one of our SaaS security experts to see how Metomic can secure your SaaS apps while you scale.

*according to https://www.g2.com/products/metomic/reviews