by Hashem Bajwa, CEO of DE-DE
The life of an entrepreneur is a hectic one. With so much going on, this group of people needs all the help they can get to stay organized. The best technology doesn’t create new problems to solve, but rather improves upon actions that are already a part of daily life.
As such, below are my suggestions for apps that every entrepreneur should download to make life easier:
An obvious choice, but LinkedIn has evolved way beyond something to use when you want to get a new job. I depend on it to get background on potential clients or customers I am about to meet and I use it to find out who I know that knows people I want to meet such as investors.
Fancy Hands
A must for any scrappy on the go entrepreneur on a budget. Fancy Hands is an on-demand personal assistant packaged in an iPhone app. You are charged based on your individual request. From booking a hotel for you, to doing desk research, to booking appointments and meetings. Its a huge convenience, easy to use and priced right. Allows me to focus on bigger things.
Pling
I dont have time to be typing out long emails or text messages, but I need to communicate quickly and accurately to my team, my board, my investors, my customer, and my sales people. Pling lets me send short fast audio messages to groups and individuals. Its like instant voice messaging or old intercoms.
Simplenote
I like to take notes and need them synced across devices. Simplenote is a clean, well designed app that syncs between iPhone, iPad and Desktop.
Basecamp
The best way to track progress and project manage the many things we do in our business. From assigning to-do’s to the team on the go to tracking activity during the day. Especially useful when out of the office. The app is fast and efficient.
Birdseye
As a CEO I have my iPad with me all the time. I end us using it more than my computer. Email is overwhelming. As an executive keeping track of projects and seeing things at a high level is most important. Birdseye visualizes the content of my emaisl is a really attractive way where at a glance I can get the gist on a project without having to spend a lot of time digging through emails to figure out what is important and what is not.
BlackJet
This is über for private Jets. It’s an app that lets you book on-demand a seat on a private jet at a pretty reasonable rate. Efficient but also democratizes this once elite form of transportation. You always meet other entrepreneurs on BlackJet flights too, which is hugely valuable too.
Hashem Bajwa is the CEO of DE-DE and the brains behind Birdseye, the first email client built for tablets, designed to cut through overflowing inboxes. Hashem has spent most of career at the intersection of technology and marketing. Prior to founding DE-DE, Hashem was director of digital strategy at independent creative agency Droga5, where he was part of the core team that developed the award-winning “Decode Jay-Z” campaign.
