Tools & services I use often

(Originally posted on 31 May 2018. Last updated on 17 January 2024).

One question I get asked often, is what are the best productivity tools out there to make our lives as entrepreneurs, and investors better?

Here’s a list I’ve compiled from my usage over the years.

I’m happy to add suggestions here to the list, so please list them in the comments. Happy to make this a reference document over time. Current revision: 1.6

Hardware

• I love using my Mac laptop. It just works, and upgrading from an old one to a new one is a matter of linking them together with a cable, or using SuperDuper for a full backup. My current preference goes to a MacBook Pro after years with a MacBook Air (the latest 15" MBA looks cool. Might go back to them once my MBP dies). I just don’t have time to think about hardware specs, maintenance, etc. although I regularly use CleanMyMac, BitDefender AV, and DriveGenius to keep me up and running. MacUpdater helps make sure my apps are up to date (faster to do maintenance in one go).
• On the road (on planes, and buses), I use an iPad Pro to keep working/reading. I use an Apple Pencil 2 to take notes sometimes.
• I also keep an external 2 TB SSD for regular backups with me (I leave it at the hotel when I’m on the road, just in case). This means that if I lose my laptop, if it is stolen, or if it crashes, I can boot on any new Mac (new or borrowed) from this external disk, and start working without losing time. Or reinstall from the backup, and then launch a Dropbox sync. My time is worth more than the $100 cost of the disk.
• At home, I use a desktop (iMac 5K 27" with 2 27" Dell 4K screens attached) to work more comfortably with three screens (one for reading/input, one for taking notes/working/output, one for communication tools/chats/WhatsApp/slack/video calls). My data (pix, etc.) sit on external RAID-5 enclosures. I just moved to an 8-bay enclosure with 4x 18TB, 1x 2 TB SSD to clone my boot drive and 3x 6TB for TimeMachine and spare data. I have an external USB3 enclosure for portable drives when I need to move data. I use SoftRAID to manage the disks.
• I use Dropbox to store almost all of my data. It’s easy, and syncs across all my devices (laptop, phone, tablet, desktop), so wherever I am, I have access to all my data. It requires configuring each app I use a bit to let them point to a Dropbox subfolder. Added benefits: I have access to my data with a web browser, and there’s even a history of revision of documents in case I delete or modify a document. I don’t sync all folders on all devices.
• I now also keep a full real-time backup of ALL my data (including RAID 5 enclosures) offsite in the cloud, in case something happens (like recently, a local data corruption due to electrical power down). I chose Backblaze, with forever history. With a 2Gpbs downlink and 800MMbps uplink, a full backup takes 1–2 months for me. Getting the data back was an absolute pain the one time I had to (taking several days to download, several days to unzip, etc.), but at least I did not lose my data!
• Finally, I use an iPhone 14 Pro Max 1 TB phone. I enjoy the larger screen (helps with my eyesight) and I can’t imagine having to reinstall all the apps and learn how to use them again if I had to move to Android. My whole ecosystem is Apple-based and it just works. Good enough for me.
• I loved my wireless Bose QuietComfort 35 headphones for taking calls. On the road, I now use a Bose 700 noise cancelling headphone. I recently upgraded my camera, mic, and audio DAC, and described the setup here.

Software

• My Macs are installed with 3 accounts: one admin (black environment so that I know I’m in a privileged mode), one standard (white environment, my everyday account), and one standard clean (to test out new programs in a clean environment). Guest is disabled. You don’t need to run as an admin to work everyday, and reduce risks of wild apps by running in standard mode.
• I use DoNotDisturb, to get a notification on my phone whenever my computers are touched. Good to know, when it’s not me… You even get a pix of the person trying to access it.
• I use Evernote for all kinds of note-taking (call minutes, meeting minutes), and it syncs nicely across all my devices.
• MailButler is a great add-on to mail.app. It adds among other things, email templates, delayed sending of emails, nicer signatures, email tracking, etc.
• I love DocScanner on my phone, to scan documents, send them as PDF, to keep track of expenses (Evernote does this too).
• All my passwords are randomly generated and managed with 1password. The last versions use TouchID fingerprint recognition to unlock easily.
• Uscanner (used to be YouCam Snap) is a great way to take pictures of slides at presentations (automatic cropping).
• I love Pocket to bookmark articles I don’t have time to read at the moment. I usually download them on my tablet and read them while on the train.
• HotSpot Shield is the VPN I use all the time to protect my Wi-Fi access while on the road, and to connect to other countries… I also use Express VPN for DNS spoofing.
• I used to back up my Texts and WhatsApp messages on my phone with PhoneView for easy retrieval and search. The app has been deprecated and I moved to iMazing (I like it less but it works).
• For audio and video calls, whatever works: Google Meet, Zoom, etc. Supernormal and OtterPilot look interesting for transcripts. Otherwise, Whatsapp is my default text communications app. With the latest privacy conversations, I should probably move to the encrypted Signal app soon.
• Reflector was a great add-on that allows you to show the screen of your iPhone on your laptop using Airplay. Useful to share your screen in a video call (Blujeans) for example, or for projecting your mobile phone on the screen in a conference room for a demo. The feature is now built-in MacOS via AirPlay to your laptop.
• Calendly is a fantastic timesaver, not only because it removes the email exchanges to set a meeting time, but more importantly it actually gets a meeting booked much faster and certain (think conversion rate !)

Travel

• I fly coach the vast majority of the time, as it does get expensive to travel for me. However, at airports, a lounge access card is great, as it allows me to work, rest, relax, and not waste time (+ electric plug + wifi + coffee). The PriorityPass card is highly recommended.
• If you’re traveling, and need to store your luggage before/after catching a train/plane, Nannybag is a great service.
• For moving around in European cities (Paris for me), Dott is a great e-scooter and e-bike service.
• CityMapper is a very good tool in many cities to get to your meetings on time.
• I’m a Genius 3 customer on Booking.com. Moving up on Perks levels on HotelTonight. I just go for last-minute hotel deals, usually the cheapest possible in a clean place. TabletHotels is a good resource to filter down when there are too many choices elsewhere.
• I recommend having 3 chargers for your laptop and cables to charge iPhones/iPads: 1 for home, 1 for the office, and 1 for your bag. Otherwise, you end up always leaving one somewhere.
• I use Clocker on the menu bar to keep track of my different time zones. I was recently highly recommended to use the TimeShifter app to fight jetlag; haven’t tried it yet.