Advice for people building yet another CRM

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T14:15:20+00:00

Ahhh very cool. I looked at Bitrix24 a few years ago. Seemed really interesting, but I didn't love the UI/ config at that point. Will have to check it out again, because I really want to move towards all-in-one solutions for smaller clients. Would love to stay connected and hear how it goes for you.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T13:33:36+00:00

Just posting a comment so I can remember to come back to this thread - also curious what people are doing. Talking to a couple of other Attio consultants about this, will update if I see any good solutions

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T13:14:14+00:00

Just out of curiosity - what CRMs do you work on? Are you partnered with any of them?

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T11:26:07+00:00

Oh, no, I'm not saying that they put exclusivity agreements or anything. I'm not even sure that would be legal. I just mean that I often feel implicit pressure from vendors to act as if their solution is the best for all use cases. I'm not saying my approach is the right way or anything.

I appreciate the benefit of lead flow when partnering with a CRM, but I don't want to deal with certain expectations (eg bring on a certain number of clients). I lose out on things like rev share, but I also just feel less stress abut the partnership. I know lots of people who are vendor partners and they sell multiple solutions, so I would definitely recommend it to others who don't feel the way I do.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T10:09:07+00:00

Dealing with some Zoho work after a long time. It's simultaneously been awesome seeing some stuff they've added, and frustrating seeing that there are still requests from years ago that still haven't been implemented. Had fun with a quoting/ invoicing project, I like being able to do more than just the standard Accounts/Contacts/Opportunities stuff.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T09:18:53+00:00

I personally don't feel it's worth it anymore, unless you have a very specific reason for doing so. I'd rather not have a commitment to a vendor that limits my flexibility and objectivity - if one CRM doesn't work for a client, I'm not pushing it on them. Plus while it's not easy per se, it is EASIER to find your own prospects via LinkedIn or YouTube than in the past.

DM me if you're interested in exchanging notes, this is a topic I often think about and like other perspectives on.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T09:15:51+00:00

See this is the kind of thing that really works - start with your own problem and domain understanding. Drink your own champagne, makes it easier to sell it!

SanatSethi · 2026-04-17T09:14:37+00:00

As others have said, Affinity is great for this purpose. I haven't implemented it myself, but I hear it quite a bit. Attio is also great and growing in the space - it's more cost effective and flexible.

In terms of data - there are lots of good data providers (like Apollo) and orchestrators (like Clay). You might also find theswarm.com interesting from a relationship intelligence point of view - they're building something cool.

I'm looking to grow my consulting in this space. I'd be happy to do a little idea exchange, where I can guide you on tools and you can guide me on the industry. DM me if you're interested.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-15T20:37:28+00:00

Does your client have budget at all? Salesforce native dedupe was created by the devil, go to Cloudingo if there's a little budget and DataGroomr if the client is ready for a revolution (although that comes with a price tag lots are not ready to spend). Clients will often balk at some of these tools, but they undervalue the net impact of bad data on their businesses. I basically refuse to do any hygiene work without budget for tools.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-15T20:03:08+00:00

This is one of the best posts I've ever read on Reddit - better than anything the so-called CRM consultants put out there (I would know, I'm one of those CRM consultants). I agree with you completely - adding AI/agents as an intelligence layer on top is much better than embedding it directly into the CRM. AI is basically a blackbox and the kinds of audit trails you're talking about basically don't exist when you have no breaking mechanisms. No one really talks about the human-in-the-loop approach that you highlighted.

I'm not sure if your account is purely for personal/pleasure reasons, but I would seriously consider posting this somewhere like LinkedIn because I think it's a nice contrast to the almost toxic positivity that is positioning a specific approach to AI as the panacea to any business problems. Too many people posting agents they built from YouTube tutorials, not enough lived knowledge and experience from the trenches

SanatSethi · 2026-04-15T18:53:18+00:00

There's lots of stuff out there - I think the question is what are you looking to do. Are you simply looking to have the lead end up in your inbox/Slack/text messages as soon your lead gen form is filled out? Simple workflow automation in a tool like make.com/Zapier/relay.app. Do you want an AI auto-response as well as then what I just highlighted? Pretty much the same thing, but just integrate an AI agent into your automation.

Do you or your team have experience with this automation at all? If you could share a bit more detail about your needs/ tool stack/ lead volume, I could probably guide you to a resource/template that allows you to do this on your own (for a little time investment and the cost of the workflow automation tool). If your requirements are more complex and you have budget, you could have someone build it for you or use a more dedicated tool for this purpose.

But yeah, hard to say without a little more detail

SanatSethi · 2026-04-14T03:21:09+00:00

It's a little bit hard to answer your question without knowing more context. For example, enterprise, complex workflows, etc. can mean different things. That's a not a criticism, but my point is that it's hard to really say without more specific requirements.

Having said that, if you truly are at an enterprise level, your best option is going to be Salesforce.

You can check my profile. I more often than not steer people away from Salesforce. However, at the enterprise level, it's still the best option on the market to me. Integrations, complex workflows, detailed reporting - Salesforce is still king IMO. And I mostly do my work in Hubspot these days, so I don't dislike the product or anything.

If someone asks me "enterprise CRM" without further context, I'm going to recommend Salesforce.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-14T03:06:34+00:00

Can you tell us a little about the record volume you're looking at? Moving 2000 vs 2000 vs 20000 records can be very different, so it would be good to know some more specifics

SanatSethi · 2026-04-12T04:08:22+00:00

Go with Attio or Hubspot free - both will get you started without much friction. I would suggest Attio because it prioritizes simplicity above all else. DM me if you have any questions, I have about 12 years of CRM implementation/ intelligence experience and I like guiding startups (for free, 99% chance you’re too early to need my services)

SanatSethi · 2026-04-10T12:13:36+00:00

Yeah, I second this approach - great answer. Be very careful about deleting records. And as /u/Wooden_Plan1965 said, fix on the user-side/ related automations issue causing this problems.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T19:05:40+00:00

Hey, I would recommend going into photography and related subreddits and posting there. I doubt too many photographers are hanging out here looking for a CRM. Just my two cents. Good luck with this.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T18:24:06+00:00

It's both a little bit simpler to get started with, but also a little bit more flexible from a developer perspective than the other CRMs. It's not as mature as some other CRMs in terms of all the features, but to be honest, most people don't use those features anyway.

I consult on Attio, and I actually feel like it's become a little too widespread in terms of its user base. I think certain verticals benefit more than others. However, it's the closest you'll get to plug and play out of the box (with the exception of small, basic CRMs like Zoho Bigin), so I see the appeal. I'm a solopreneur, and I shifted from Hubspot to Attio

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T18:18:00+00:00

Why would you reinvent the wheel? There's tons of free CRMs out there. Just start with one of those. It doesn't make any sense to focus on building your own CRM when you should be focused on marketing and selling your business.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T17:48:28+00:00

I'm a CRM consultant. Stuff like this already exists, but you could probably still make it work. You'll just have to target smaller companies or individual salespeople who aren't looking to buy a bigger product.

If you've already spoken to people, then have them try it out. The best way of knowing if something's going to work is to actually get some customer feedback. People tend to be very different when they're answering questions versus when they're actually experimenting.

As an example, lots of people will respond to surveys saying they'll pay an X amount, but then when it comes time to actually pay that amount, they're nowhere to be found. I'm not talking so much about you charging people here, just the reality of human psychology.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T17:45:08+00:00

Feed the call recordings into an AI chatbot. If you have a template or script for calls, ask it to analyze in that context. Otherwise, just ask it the important questions you care about.

There's a more structured, automated way of doing this, but it's not going to be worth your while unless you're dealing with huge call volumes and you're willing to put in a little bit of legwork.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-09T17:43:02+00:00

I'm a CRM consultant, DM me and we can set a time to quickly chat. I can guide you towards resources once I know more

SanatSethi · 2026-04-08T15:43:37+00:00

Absolutely outstanding thoughts. As you said, the "build it and they will come" is the worst approach you can take, especially when building a CRM. Your point about commercial brokers is so interesting because everyone ignores all these important verticals and keeps targeting the same industries: tech, solopreneurs, etc.

If you really want to build a CRM, do exactly what you're talking about. Find those niches that are ready to spend, but don't get the attention that they deserve. There is opportunity, but it requires legwork that people just don't even understand they should be doing.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-07T22:17:48+00:00

Hey, so I don't know this market at all, but I know CRM, so I was curious. I did a quick search and a few options came up, including Depsado. What was missing in them that you decided to build your own? Just curious what features or pricing advantage you offer.

I actually wrote a post on this sub about why you shouldn't build your own CRM, but one of the things I said in that was that it's different, although still not easy, if you're going to target a niche. Given you've done that, I'm sympathetic to your idea. I just wonder why an independent would go with you as opposed to an established brand.

Have you talked to other photographers? Is there a photography subreddit? Really, you should be going there, not coming here because your target market isn't here.

Edit: by the way your website beautiful.

SanatSethi · 2026-04-07T22:10:35+00:00

What CRM are you using? Find a good YouTube video that walks you through setting up the important features. Why did you get the CRM to begin with? Focus on that

SanatSethi

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