r/Entrepreneur • u/AutoModerator • 16d ago
Weekly Discussion Thankful Thursday: Free Resources and Tools | October 01, 2026
Pay it forward. Drop your free resources, templates, tools, or anything else that's helped you and might help someone else. No strings attached; these resources have to be free.
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u/mydirtyego 11d ago
a free DCF valuation tool to have a rough estimate of your startup valuation
https://pitchcombinator.com/tools/dcf
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u/ayogag 13d ago
Sharing a free resource: Startexus (startexus.com), a marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. Listing is free, which is the part most founders don't realize exists, there's an actual secondary market for small projects and side hustles. Also useful on the buy side if you'd rather acquire something with traction than build from zero.
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u/sam_richter 14d ago
www.yougotprompts.com It will take your generative ai prompting to a new level.
www.salesintelengine.ai/trial Find the right prospects at the right time with the right message
I hope you find value in them.
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u/AccountingwithJoyce 14d ago
If you are just starting to setup your QuickBooks software or considering it, I have just finished today creating a training video to guide you through the process and share with you my own hard lessons in business over 45 years.....
FREE QuickBooks Desktop Video Lesson: Create Your Company File Step by Step: https://www.patreon.com/NavigatingLifewithJoyce/posts/free-quickbooks-171341221
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u/AccountingwithJoyce 16d ago edited 16d ago
Happy Thankful Thursday! I created the Business School of Hard Knocks course finished in 2001, after I was almost 20 years in business; I wanted to teach others what they should know and be willing to do if they wanted to succeed in small business. It took more than two years at the time (way before AI and smart phones) to create; then life got in the way and I never marketed it.
The material and concepts are the same today as when I created it. I hope it can help those that are considering starting a business, those who have taken the leap and are struggling or those that just want to improve themselves.
I’ve made Section 1 of the Business School of Hard Knocks course available for FREE on Patreon for a limited time:
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u/GrouchyManner5949 16d ago
Throwing one in: Hops AI. My team uses it as our shared workspace, chat, docs, tables, all in one place, plus an AI teammate that actually remembers our stuff instead of asking the same questions every week. Free plan has no seat fees and comes with 5,000 credits to try, so it cost us nothing to start. Heads up, I'm involved with the product.
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u/PolarisXvi 16d ago
flatinvoice.com, 3 invoices a month free, no card. I built it because I was sending like 4 invoices a month for website work and didnt want to pay quickbooks $30 for that. it auto reminds the client on day 3, 7 and 14 so you dont have to send the awkward follow up. thats really the only reason to use it over a free pdf template lol
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u/quiet_horizons1 16d ago
The free thing I come back to is a plain handoff note template I keep on every device. Whenever I finish a build or a job, I write down what the next person needs to know, like where files live, which step happens next, what the customer is worried about most, and what still needs a decision. Before I made this a habit I lost time every day re-explaining work that lived only in my head. Now I fill it out before I close the laptop and paste it into whatever chat or ticket system the customer already uses. It costs nothing and takes a few minutes. The rule that makes it work is writing for someone who knows almost nothing about the job, not for future me. Future me has already forgotten the details anyway. That simple template has prevented more missed handoffs than any paid tool I have tried.
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16d ago
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u/Ok_Departure9197 16d ago
do you ever find the right column creeping into the left column over time? feels like that would happen to me
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u/patient_signals 16d ago
The free thing that has saved me more time than anything paid is a simple cash flow spreadsheet I keep on my phone. One tab has money expected in by week, one tab has money going out by week, and a third tab just subtracts the second from the first. I update it every Friday when I pay bills. It takes about ten minutes and it shows me two months ahead whether I can cover payroll, inventory, and rent without borrowing. That one view has stopped more bad decisions than any course or book. It is not fancy, but it is free, it works offline, and I can hand it to a bookkeeper without explaining anything. Start with the template already in your spreadsheet app and strip it down until only those three tabs are left. Most people abandon templates because they have too many columns. Simple gets used.
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u/Mistr_John_Alex 16d ago
The most useful free thing I have used across running a shop and building software is a simple weekly cash flow sheet. Nothing fancy, just rows for the next several weeks, a column for money expected in, a column for money going out, and a running balance. I update it every Friday afternoon. It shows me which week a slow-paying client or a quiet sales stretch is going to bite before it happens, so I can delay a purchase or chase an invoice while there is still time.
The other free resource that pays off is a folder of short how-to notes I write for myself after I solve a problem once. Every time I configure something, fix a dispute, or learn a new process, I add a few lines in plain language. Months later I reuse it instead of paying someone or spending an afternoon relearning. Both are free to make and worth more than most things I have paid for.
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