Nathan Sykes

Location: Bangor, Maine

Bio: Nathan Sykes is a teen entrepreneur, best-selling author, and TED talk speaker. He runs Howdy Interactive, which he likes to call an “all you can eat” marketing agency. Find him at Nathan-Sykes.com.

Alarmy: This reimagined alarm app has alarm tones that gradually increase in volume and prompts you to do things like shake the phone and solve math problems to make sure you're awake .

Basecamp 3: This hassle-free project management app is based on the philosophy that “simple is better.” Forget enterprise features; you'll just find to-do lists, a calendar, chat, and document storage. It's simple, flexible, and reliable, with an until-the-end-of-the-internet policy.

Lime: This scooter rental app modernizes public transportation. It's an awesome way to get around when I'm in a new city. I can just add money to my balance and ride instantly. Lime is my preference because of its awesome customer support.

Otter: Otter provides AI-based transcription of phone calls and video chat. I use it to brainstorm ideas for clients and side projects, because talking things out is better than writing things down. It has a very generous free-forever plan, but it's also affordable if you need more than 10 hours per month of transcription.

Product Hunt: This app is the ultimate directory of startups. Product Hunt is my way of keeping up with the high-flying world of Silicon Valley. Every day, the best startups and side projects are upvoted to the top of the leaderboard for all to see.

Voxer: This web-based two-way radio is how I keep in touch with my team. It works just like a walkie talkie, but it saves your conversations. It's very useful for keeping track of things.

YouMail: This robocall and robomail bouncer is the most effective, free app I've found for repelling spam calls. It screens each call against a user-generated database and plays a fake “number disconnected” notice to spam numbers.