Productivity tools for solo founders — what's your stack?

Curious what tools everyone uses for staying organized as a solo founder. I'm drowning in tabs and sticky notes. Currently using: Notion (barely), Google Calendar, and my notes app.

What's actually worth paying for?

Linear for tasks (free tier is enough), Superhuman for email (expensive but worth it), Arc browser for tab management. That's basically my whole setup.

unpopular opinion: the tool doesn't matter, it's the system. I use Apple Notes and Calendar and hit $30K MRR. Spent my first year trying every productivity app and got nothing done. Now I just have three lists: Today, This Week, Someday.

For legal/contract stuff specifically: Notion database to track every agreement, who signed, when it expires. Saves my butt when I need to find something 6 months later. Also use DocuSign but tbh HelloSign is cheaper and works fine.

Toggl for time tracking. Not because I bill hourly but because it shows me where my time ACTUALLY goes vs where I think it goes. Shocking how much time I was spending on email.

Loom for async communication with contractors. Record a 2 min video instead of writing a 500 word email. Game changer for explaining bugs or design feedback

@DeepWork_Dan fair point. I do spend too much time "organizing" instead of doing. Maybe I should simplify instead of adding more apps

Controversial: paper notebook. Every morning I write 3 things I need to do. If it's not on paper it doesn't exist. Survived 2 startups this way. Your mileage may vary.

ChatGPT Plus for drafting emails, docs, brainstorming. Not for legal stuff obviously but for everything else it's like having an assistant. Also Perplexity for research instead of google.

Thanks everyone. Going to try the minimalist approach - paper for daily tasks, Notion just for contracts/docs, calendar blocking for deep work. Will report back in a month if I'm more productive or just more organized lol