CRM Choices: What To Use, When To Switch

A CRM is just a list of people you talk to and what's happening with them. At 10 customers, a Google Sheet is enough. At 100, you're losing track of follow-ups. At 500, you need automation. Pick the tier of tool that matches your actual volume, not the one you aspire to.

The five fields that matter

1. 1Name + company
2. 2Stage (lead / contacted / call booked / proposal / won / lost)
3. 3Last touch date
4. 4Next step (what you owe them, by when)
5. 5Notes from most recent conversation

Everything else is optional. More fields = more things to keep updated = less likely you'll update anything. Five fields, disciplined.

Attio — the modern default for small teams

In 2025-2026, Attio has become the default for teen and small-team founders. It's fast, has a free tier generous enough for small outbound, integrates with Gmail, and feels more like a database than a rigid old CRM. HubSpot Free is the bigger-company comfort pick. Salesforce is overkill until you have a sales team.

A Claude prompt to set up your CRM

"I'm setting up [HubSpot Free / Attio]. My sales process is:

1. [Describe your pipeline stages]
2. [Typical deal cycle length]
3. [Team size — solo / co-founder / small team]

Design me:
- The 5-7 pipeline stages with clear entry/exit criteria for each
- The 5 required fields per contact (minimum viable)
- Rules for what moves a deal forward or back
- 3 automations I should set up on day one (e.g., auto-task after 7 days no contact)
- A weekly CRM hygiene ritual (15 min, what to review)

Keep it simple. If I can't explain it to a new intern in 5 minutes, it's too complex."

The 'integrate, don't import' rule

Connect your CRM to Gmail, Calendly, and your product. Logging should be automatic where possible — emails and calls attached to contacts without you copy-pasting. The less manual data entry, the more likely the CRM stays accurate. Manual CRMs rot inside 60 days.

What 'good' looks like

A good CRM setup: every active conversation has a row, every row has a next step with a date, nothing is older than 7 days with no activity without a flag, and the weekly review is an hour you actually do. Tool matters less than discipline. A perfectly maintained Google Sheet beats a neglected Salesforce install.