Every time something gets hard, the temptation is the same: find an app to fix it. Another subscription, another tab, another login. You end up with thirty tools and working worse than you did with five.
The average company uses more than 100 different apps. I run Minsenzia with just over a dozen — and, above all, with no duplicates: one per job. Of those, three or four do most of the day's work.
I'm not short on tools. I have too many I don't use. A founder's stack isn't measured by how many you own, but by how many you actually touch each day. Here's mine, no posturing.
Build: Claude Code and Shopify
Claude Code is my second brain. Not "an AI for writing copy" — it's where I build the site, set up operations, design, crunch numbers, and connect the rest of my tools to each other. What I used to spread across five apps and the odd freelancer now runs through here. If I could keep only one, it'd be this.
Shopify is the store. The most complete, up-to-date tool in ecommerce, and not on faith: it's number one in the United States, with roughly 30% of the platform market, powering millions of stores across 175 countries. For a small team, that's time you don't spend fighting plumbing.
I used to use Lovable to build landing pages and frontend fast. It works well for that. But when you want to go deep and control the detail, Claude Code is better. I mention it because building a company is also this: switching tools when you stop growing with them.
Organize and run the day: Notion and the Planner
If Claude is the brain that executes, Notion is the memory. Everything Minsenzia lives there in one place: the project and its status, the accounting, notes from every meeting, ideas, the content calendar. I don't have one app for tasks, another for notes, another for documents. I have Notion. It saves me the founder's worst tax: hunting for where you put something.
And for the day to day — what I'm actually going to do today — I use the Minsenzia Planner. Yes, ours. We built it because I couldn't find one that did only the essentials: the year's north, the month's goal, and the three intentions for the day. None of the fifty features I never open. Notion stores everything; the Planner decides where my focus goes today.
Sell and communicate: Klaviyo, LinkedIn, Instagram and Slack
Klaviyo for email: the highest-return channel over the medium term, and the only one that's truly yours, with no algorithm in the middle. LinkedIn to build in public — I share what I do and the real numbers, not to show off but because early honesty is the best marketing when you're still small. Instagram for the brand. Slack for team communication: fast and tidy, without everything getting buried in email.
Measure: PostHog and Google
PostHog for product analytics. Google — Analytics, Search Console, Gmail, Drive — for the usual reasons: accessible, free, connected to everything. Don't fall in love with measurement tools; look at them every week and act.
Create: Canva, CapCut, Magnific, Unsplash and 21st.dev
Canva for design. CapCut for video — professional without a film editor's learning curve. Magnific to generate images and video with AI when I can't shoot the real scene. And for inspiration, Unsplash (photo) and 21st.dev (design), when I'm staring at a blank page.
The criterion, not the list
Look closely and there's nothing exotic in my stack. What's unusual is what's missing: three task apps, five note apps, the trendy tool someone praised on a podcast that I opened twice.
The rule is simple: one tool per job, the one you actually use, and one that connects them. Everything else is noise dressed up as productivity. Less, but better — on the digital desk too.
FAQ
How many tools do I need to start a business?
Fewer than you think. One to build, one to sell, one to organize. Add only when a daily task no longer fits what you have.
Where do I start?
With the real bottleneck, not the internet's "must-have" list. What's eating most of your time this week? Solve that and stop.
No-code (like Lovable) or Claude Code?
No-code to validate fast. Claude Code when you want real control and to stop hitting the template's limits.
Is it worth putting everything in Notion?
Yes, if you force yourself to use it as the single place. The value isn't Notion: it's not splitting your head across five apps.
The best stack isn't the most complete. It's the one that fits in your head and that you touch every day. The rest, off the desk.
Sources: BetterCloud, State of SaaS (2025) · US ecommerce market share, Shopify (2024).