Startup Resources: 16 Free Tools, Mentors and Funding Picks

The best startup resources are the free ones run by people with no reason to sell you anything: government business guides, volunteer mentors, university-hosted advice centers, free founder courses and public research tools. This guide lists 16 of them, sorted by the stage you are in, from first idea to first funding, with what each one gives you and who can use it.

I’m Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as Mean CEO. I founded Fe/male Switch, a startup game for women founders, and CADChain, and I have spent a lot of money on courses and tools that a free government page would have covered. So this list leans hard toward free, official and checkable. Every program below was checked on its own website or an official government page in November 2026, and amounts are as of that date.

Still choosing what to start? Our guide to the easiest business to start compares low-risk ideas with the legal setup for each. This page is the toolbox for the steps after that.

Start with one guide, one mentor and one research tool, then add funding resources once customers pay you. Collecting bookmarks feels productive and teaches you nothing. Here are the 16 resources in this guide at a glance.

Government business guides and free mentoring networks are the best resources to start a business, because they cover legal setup, taxes and planning for your own country. Pick the one for the country where you will register.

1. SBA business guide (United States)

The US Small Business Administration’s business guide is split into four parts: plan your business, launch your business, manage your business and grow your business. The SBA says it and its partner network offer free or low-cost counseling and resources, so start here before you pay any consultant.

2. SCORE mentors (United States)

The SBA describes SCORE as free counseling and workshops from volunteer business mentors, on its business guide page. A mentor who has run a business in your industry catches mistakes that no checklist will.

3. America’s SBDC (United States)

Small Business Development Centers are the SBA’s resource partner program, hosted by universities, colleges, state agencies and private organizations. America’s SBDC lists 63 network members and nearly 1,000 centers, offering no-cost business consulting and low-cost training.

4. GOV.UK Set up a business (United Kingdom)

The UK government’s Set up a business page compares being a sole trader with running a limited company, including legal risk, registration and taxes. Read it before you register anything, because the structure decides how you pay tax.

5. KVK starting a business (Netherlands)

The Netherlands Chamber of Commerce runs an English starting a business section with a guide to writing a business plan, a check of your entrepreneurial skills, information about the Business Register and a way to contact an adviser. Its Starters program sends two email series with extra support.

A free structured course plus practice beats a pile of articles. These two give you both.

6. Y Combinator Startup School

Startup School is Y Combinator’s free online course on how to start a startup. The site says it takes about 7 weeks at 1 to 2 hours a week, with lessons from YC partners, weekly progress tracking and co-founder matching. You need an account to join.

7. The Fe/male Switch startup game

Reading about startups and making startup decisions are two different skills. Our startup game for women founders lets you practice the steps (idea, customers, launch) in a game before you spend real money on them. Yes, it’s ours, and it exists so your first mistakes cost points instead of savings.

Six free learning picks are compared in our guide to free courses to start a business.

Use one tool for demand, one for new products and one for real companies in your niche. Together they tell you whether people want your idea and who already sells it.

8. Google Trends

Google Trends shows what people search for and how interest changes over time and by country. Compare your idea’s main phrase with two alternatives: a rising line beats a flat one, and a seasonal spike tells you when to launch.

9. Product Hunt

Product Hunt lists new tech products every day, ranked by community upvotes, with forums where makers and users talk. Search it for your idea before you build: comments under a similar launch are free customer research.

10. The Fe/male Switch company directory

Our company directory profiles real startups and small companies. Browse your category to see how others describe their offer, then size your own market with our guide to calculating TAM, SAM and SOM.

To find where your customers already spend time online, our list of seven platforms for online entrepreneurs covers the email, content and community tools that show you what customers want.

Check your name before you build a brand on it. Both of these take five minutes.

11. USPTO trademark search

The US Patent and Trademark Office runs a free trademark search. The SBA advises checking business, product and service names against this database before you choose them, on its choose your business name page.

12. Companies House name availability checker

In the UK, the Companies House company name availability checker tells you if a name is taken. GOV.UK adds that a name can’t be the same as another registered company’s name.

Still choosing the name itself? Our list of business name ideas has 90 starting points and the checks for each country.

Tech founders get two kinds of free help: cloud credits that cut your bills, and grants that pay for development without taking shares. Here are two of the largest, with the terms as of November 2026.

Google decides on credits at its own discretion, and the Cloud Program excludes educational institutions, government bodies, nonprofits, consultancies and agencies. The EIC Accelerator aims at technology close to market (the grant covers TRL 6 to 8, technology readiness levels), so a startup at the idea stage should start with smaller grants. Our guide to equity-free EU startup grants covers those, and our list of the best startup accelerators covers the programs that trade money and mentoring for shares.

15. Free startup courses

Once the company exists, the job turns into selling. Pick one course from our free courses guide and finish it before you start another, then put what it teaches in front of real buyers the same week.

16. Marketing resource lists

For tools and courses that focus on marketing alone, see our list of 10 marketing resources for entrepreneurs. Pick one channel, give it eight weeks, and measure sign-ups before you add a second one.

Match each resource to one question you need answered this month, and close the tab when it’s answered. Here is how I would use this list in the first 90 days.

Bring a written question to every mentor meeting. Mentors give better answers to “Should I charge $20 or $40 for this?” than to “Can you look at my idea?”

What are startup resources?

Startup resources are the guides, mentors, tools, courses and funding programs that help founders start and grow a company. The most useful ones are free and run by governments, universities or nonprofit mentor networks.

What are the best free resources for startups?

The SBA business guide, SCORE mentors and SBDCs in the US, GOV.UK in the UK, KVK in the Netherlands, and Y Combinator’s free Startup School course anywhere.

What are the 3 business resources in entrepreneurship?

I group them as knowledge (guides and courses), people (mentors, co-founders, customers) and money (revenue, grants, credits and investment). A founder short on one can trade with the others, such as a mentor’s time instead of a paid consultant.

Where can I find a business mentor for free?

In the US, SCORE offers free mentoring from volunteers and SBDCs offer no-cost consulting. Startup School’s co-founder matching helps you find a partner, and local accelerators and startup events are good places to meet experienced founders.

What are the best tech startup resources?

Free cloud credits such as the Google for Startups Cloud Program, grant programs such as the EIC Accelerator in Europe, and Startup School for the founder skills behind the product.

What is the best resource for researching new startups?

Product Hunt for new tech launches, Google Trends for demand, and company directories for established competitors. Use all three before you build.

• The easiest business to start
• Free courses to start a business
• Equity-free EU startup grants
• Startup events worth your time
• Free competitive market analysis tool