Startup Tools of the Week: What We’re Actually Using to Build Faster

Every founder loves a good tool.

When you’re running lean, moving fast, and juggling product, marketing, support, and more—tools aren’t just nice to have. They’re leverage. The right one can save you hours, help you launch in days instead of weeks, and even give you a competitive edge.

That’s why we started sharing our Startup Tool of the Week on the Built This Week podcast. It’s a simple segment, but it’s become one of the most valuable parts of each episode: one tool, used in the wild, that actually helped us build faster.

No sponsorships. No vague praise. Just real tools we’ve tested in real product builds—and why they’re worth your attention.

Why Tools Matter So Much for Indie Founders

Unlike large startups with full-stack teams and long burn rates, indie hackers and early-stage founders need to move with precision. You might be designing a UI in the morning, writing backend logic in the afternoon, and onboarding users by evening. That means:

• Time matters more than ever.
• Simplicity wins.
• And integration speed is everything.

Choosing the right tool can be the difference between launching this week—or next quarter.

That’s why we don’t just talk about tools we like—we talk about tools we shipped with.

What Makes a Tool “Tool of the Week”?

For us, it has to check three boxes:

1. It helped us ship – Whether it sped up our dev time, automated something annoying, or gave us a clearer user experience.
2. It’s accessible – That means affordable (or free), easy to learn, and fast to implement.
3. It’s relevant right now – We love timeless tools, but we also highlight fresh launches, AI-powered workflows, or under-the-radar gems.

Some past examples we’ve featured include:

• A no-code platform that let us test a new idea in under a day
• An AI content tool that saved us from rewriting onboarding emails
• A backend service that gave us authentication, database, and file storage—without any boilerplate

We don’t just drop the name and move on. We walk through how we used it, what worked, and where it fell short.

More Than Just Recommendations — It’s a Workflow

What makes the Startup Tool of the Week special is that it’s not a roundup. It’s embedded in a real build.

In every episode of Built This Week, we start with what we built (a feature, a launch, a project), and then share the tool that made it possible. So when you hear about the tool, you also hear the context—how it was used, what problem it solved, and what the outcome was.

This makes it easier to evaluate whether it might work for you, too. Because let’s be honest—half the tools on Product Hunt sound good on paper but disappear once you try to integrate them into your stack.

We’re sharing what survives contact with real building.

The Toolbox as a Growth Engine

Here’s the underrated truth: the tools you choose shape what you build. A better form builder lets you launch that waitlist. A faster database lets you iterate quicker. A smarter API unlocks features you wouldn’t otherwise ship.

Over time, your startup tool stack becomes a huge part of your competitive edge. And by sharing our own stack, week by week, we hope to help other founders grow theirs—without wasting time on dead ends.

🎧 Subscribe to Built This Week
If you want real product updates, smart tools, and startup lessons shared weekly, Built This Week is your go-to podcast. Each episode is short, focused, and packed with things you can actually use.

We ship. We share. You learn faster.

Find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube, or anywhere you listen. And get ready to upgrade your builder toolbox—one week at a time.

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