
Show HN: Micro CRM, a CRM for People Who Hate CRMs - charly1811
 Hello Community!
My name is Charles-Eugene Loubao, I am a software developer who recently turned into an Indie Maker and I am sharing my new product with you today.<p>Micro CRM is a Customer Relationship Managment web app built to be easy to use and intuitive. Most CRMs can be complicated to use and come with an expensive price tag. Micro CRM is built to fill that need for a much simpler and cheaper contact managment platform that offers compeling features without being overwhelming.<p>What can I do with it ?<p>- Keep all your contacts in one place - Timestamped notes can be used to keep track of events associated with your contacts, or as a call log.<p>By getting the Premium Plan you also can also:<p>- Import your existing contacts from Excel CSV files - Organize easily with tags - Create email reminders to help you remember follow-ups<p>What&#x27;s next ?<p>Micro CRM is in it&#x27;s early days and I am planning on adding the following features:<p>- Search - Sorting and Filtering - Custom fields - Contact attachments (files, links, images, etc) - Team Collaboration - Possible Integrations (email, calendar, Slack, etc)<p>How much does it cost ?<p>Micro CRM is free to use for manual entry and simple contact managment. The premium plan is $5&#x2F;month and for a limited time I am offering a free 30 days trial with no credit card required when you create your account.<p>Head to https:&#x2F;&#x2F;microcrm.cc and create your free account today!
======
cyberferret
Great effort, and I applaud your efforts to try and come up with a solution in
this very crowded space.

For me, simplicity in a CRM is not the factor that will make me pull out my
wallet. After all, your current feature set I can already do using AirTable or
even a Google Sheet.

The killer features I need, that will make me pay actual $ for would be:

* Ability to have multiple team members in my company share and update my list of contacts

* Ability to add contacts from other sources (e.g. directly from my Inbox, by cc'ing any correspondence to a special CRM address, or by photographing a business card).

* Ability to group contacts by company or conference etc. so I can contact them at once.

Basically, anything that eliminates data entry, and takes the pain out of
manually creating a name, address, phone, email etc. Good luck with the build
out of your feature set.

~~~
charly1811
Thank you for your helpful insight. You listed most of the things I am getting
ready to build.

Stay tuned!

~~~
mehhh
Would you have any interest in pulling in CDRs & text message logs to give a
broader overview of interactions with clients? If so, I'd be interested in
helping write bindings for the open source PBX we use...

~~~
schappim
Could you please provide more info on how you’d do this? I have built a CRM
for internal use that does this with maxo.com.au . Is the open source PBX just
astrix?

------
microsage
I know you didn't ask for suggestions, but here's mine: the one thing I care
about a CRM doing really well is pipeline / funnel management, i.e, the
ability to define a set of stages that a contact goes through to close a deal
or reach some other desired result and track contacts as they move through the
pipeline(s).

For example: unqualified lead -> qualified lead -> responded to email ->
discussion with sales rep -> made purchase

Being able to organize my contacts in this way and quickly see which contacts
are at which stages and easily move them between stages (ideally with an API
endpoint) is a super powerful way to drive day to day workflow (and
automations like follow up emails, assuming there's an API endpoint for
querying).

~~~
londons_explore
A simple CRM, by just supporting labels, lets you implement pretty easily any
scheme like you have described.

Hierarchical labels (like gmail) are IMO the gold standard that every bit of
software should implement on every type of object.

~~~
notahacker
Flexibility of labelling is definitely the way to go with pipeline management.
Different organizations have very different ideas about sales processes (and
even what constitutes a sale/deal/partnership) and a CRM aiming for simplicity
should simply let users define (and reuse) their own.

------
rfdavid
I really admire your efforts and optimism around the product. I started
something similar 2y ago - not general like yours but a vertical CRM for a
specific segment. My value proposition was to create something really simple,
clean and start adding relevant features by compiling from my user’s feedback.
I end up building a lot of more features than I expected (pipelines, tasks,
workflow, email integrations, custom fields, filters, permissions, api,
webhooks, reports etc). No matter how your product is, once you position your
company as a CRM, the users will always compare you with others 9000 existing
similar softwares. If you are planning to integrate google mail and/or
calendar, be prepared to spend 15k to 90k for the third party company security
assessment. I wish you very luck and I hope you can create something
meaningful in this space.

~~~
jakemal
I was getting started on a calendar integration product targeted towards
businesses and I just looked up the security assessment rules after reading
your comment. Having to fork up tens of thousands just to allow the product to
be usable completely kills the possibility.

That's really disappointing. I suppose it's better to find out now rather than
later.

------
mr-karan
Just curious, have you taken a look at
[https://github.com/frappe/frappe](https://github.com/frappe/frappe)

~~~
shivekkhurana
AFAIK Frappe is the framework on which the CRM is build. The actual product is
ERPNEXT ([https://erpnext.com/](https://erpnext.com/))

------
4684499
How does it compare to Monica[1]?

[1]:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14497295)

~~~
charly1811
Hey, thank you for checking out Micro CRM.

At first glance Monica is a great open source CRM with a lot of good features.
The main difference with Micro CRM is that I am trying to implement
integrations such as email and calendar and build an API for third party
integration without users having to deploy their own CRMs

The other difference is that being a closed source product, paying customers
will have a person to talk to directly in case of a problem.

Lastly I am proud of my product and will also say it is better haha!

~~~
kstrauser
> The other difference is that being a closed source product, paying customers
> will have a person to talk to directly in case of a problem.

To be clear, "closed source" is unrelated to "has a support plan". You can buy
support for FOSS projects, and good luck getting Google on the phone even if
you pay them.

------
unlinked_dll
What is a CRM, and what problems does this solve instead of being
simple/cheap? (not all of us work in the same industries with different
acronyms)

~~~
undoware
'CRM' stands for Customer Relationship Management, and in a sentence is
usually short for 'a CRM app'. CRMs are what folks use to keep track of their
relationship with a given client. E.g. when you call your bank, the person at
the other end knows your info, what happened last call, etc. That's because of
the CRM.

Lots of solo-entrepreneurs struggle with CRMs, because the existing solutions
are geared for large corporations or specialty verticals (e.g. healthcare,
banking). Formerly, singletons used solutions like Access and FileMaker, but
these are obviously deprecated in 2019 for all the usual reasons, some of
which are good.

OP has created a general-purpose CRM fit for solopreneurs. I'd throw down
right away for this if I wasn't worried about what happens to my data if this
offering disappears, which is the Usual Problem with SaaS and one not really
addressed by this product (nor is it reasonable to expect it to be.)

~~~
charly1811
Thank you for your proper explanation of a CRM. I understand about your
concern with your data but I can assure you, I am building this SaaS product
for people like you and it is here to stay.

I am also planning on building an exporting feature , not because this product
will disappear one day (which will not happen) but because I want you (the
user) to be able to access your data whenever you need.

I am more than happy to hear any concerns you might have

~~~
Operyl
Who takes over if you unexpectedly die or fall into a coma? That’s the hardest
question I can give you, I don’t like thinking about it either .. but before I
trust a huge business decision with a new SaaS these need to be asked. Do you
have a team, a cofounder?

~~~
charly1811
Valid concern. Who wants to use a product and see it be discontinued. As of
right Micro CRM is a bootstrapped product and I do not have a co-founder.
However as a Solo entrepreneur I am dedicated fill gaps in markets like this
one.

The ideal future for me would be having a small team to work on these projects
with me but as of right now it is a one man show.

------
gexla
I'm not even going to look at something on a .cc domain name. Get a .com or
anything but ,cc. The .cc is notorious for spam.

~~~
gitgud
Does an obscure TLD really stop you from checking out a site? This is a bit
worrying, as it's increasingly expensive to get a ".com" that matches your
product...

~~~
aaomidi
Agreed. It's some weird gatekeeping to care about the TLD.

There is nothing special about com that solves spam.

~~~
gexla
Google has mass purged .CC from the search engine in the past. In handling a
small biz mail server, I auto blocked everything .CC. It's just a bad
neighborhood from my experience. YMMV.

~~~
t0astbread
I don't mean to be a dick but that's exactly the kind of discrimination that
drives the centralization of email. Please reevaluate this policy.

------
andy800
Might there be a future version which can be embedded in a larger web site or
app? In other words, being able to drop in contact management features within
a mobile app or React/Vue site?

~~~
charly1811
I am planning on building an API to make integrations with other systems
easier. That feature however would be available in the Enterprise Plan
($100/month, unlimited users) which I plan to introduce once the API for third
party integration is implemented.

A mobile app is also on the works

~~~
arethuza
"$100/month, unlimited users"

Just a not that, to me at least, that kind of pricing seems a bit unrealistic
- a lot of CRM products charge that per user per month and do very well.

NB I'm not implying that you can't serve that demand - just that to anyone
familiar with existing CRM products that seems bizarrely inexpensive.

~~~
charly1811
I am trying to build a different kind of CRM. Something easy to use and
affordable.

------
demandwork
Charles, I really appreciate your effort here. But, boy! you choose the wrong
name for the CRM. Search engine will be filled with Microsoft Dynamics
results.

~~~
nannal
Counter argument

DDG:
[https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Micro+CRM&t=ffcm&atb=v117-1&ia=web](https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Micro+CRM&t=ffcm&atb=v117-1&ia=web)

G:
[https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Micro%20CRM](https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Micro%20CRM)

------
kkaske
What if a user was planning on importing contacts and using tags so they sign
up for the premium account. Then they decide to drop down to the free tier.
Are the tags still there that they can see but just unable to add more tags?
Do the tags disappear? Or once you have a paid account you can't just drop
back down to free?

I always wonder how other app developers handle this kind of thing.

~~~
charly1811
Hey! Right now if a user wants to switch back to free plan, the tags are still
there. They just can't access them. Same thing for the import feature. The
contacts stay but they are unable to import more contacts.

------
rodriguezartavi
Good for you @charly1811 - keep going!

I suggest adding a silent layer of data aggregation like Clearbit, it will
feel like magic to people by removing the pain of manual data entry.

* used to work @clearbit

~~~
charly1811
Thanks for the idea !

------
dillonmckay
I like that this is actually for “customer relationships” and not sales-funnel
software, where once a sale is made, the system is no longer updated.

~~~
charly1811
Thank you. MICRO CRM is a relationship management app. The only thing from a
funnel software that I plan on Implementing is a pipeline which I believe can
be useful.

------
charly1811
Any suggestions is welcome !! I am trying to build a CRM for small businesses
and freelancers so I want to know what you guys need !

~~~
projektfu
I’m a veterinarian. I’ve been looking for a product that I can auto forward
our emails to and log calls to without any friction. I want to be able to make
notes and assign tasks. It would be nice if it would integrate with my
practice management software.

~~~
charly1811
Hi! Thank you for checking out Micro CRM. An email integration is on the
pipeline of features to implement. What software do you use at your practice?

~~~
projektfu
Go ahead and e-mail me and we can chat about it. I've got some ideas for you.

------
peterdemin
What’s your plan on promoting it? I feel like this space is overheated and
it’s impossible to stand out

~~~
charly1811
You are right, the CRM space is really crowded. I am not trying to build the
next Salesforce or next giant in the CRM space. I believe the reason why small
businesses and freelancers struggle so much is because most CRMs out there do
not ask them WHAT THEY NEED. My plan for Micro CRM is to build a simple
product that will grow with my customers overtime.

Right now my main strategy is to manually promote to places like HN,
IndieHackers, ProductHunt (Official ProductHunt launch is Monday Nov 4) and
listen to what you guys have to say and what you guys need

~~~
MaxfordAndSons
> I believe the reason why small businesses and freelancers struggle so much
> is because most CRMs out there do not ask them WHAT THEY NEED.

I work for a smallish CRM company targeting the SMB space. Not to be
defensive, but making a general purpose CRM is _hard_. It's not that we're not
asking, but there are as many different answers as there are customers out
there. Some want contact management, some want task management, some want
pipeline management, some want productivity and collaboration tools, all
ending up shopping in the same bucket of "CRM". The list of potential features
to add is endless, as is the scope creep and complexity creep of your software
as your feature interactions multiply.

Though I suppose, the silver lining for you is that if you are operating as a
bootstrapped business rather than growing under duress from investors, you can
choose your battles (and customers) more judiciously. Best of luck out there.

~~~
charly1811
Thank you! See you on the CRM battlefield ;)

------
lepetitpedre
Great work. At first glance, I appreciate the clean design and simple
features.

I've used Hubspot free plan 3 years and it works great. Not complicated and
has all the features I expect a CRM to have.

------
hapidjus
Tip: use ”real” fake data instead of lorem ipsum in the examples.

~~~
charly1811
Thank you for your feedback.

------
bggy00
Why not just use the free hubspot plan, and you get pipelines with that as
well as email integration etc.

~~~
charly1811
Hey! Micro CRM is not trying to compete with CRMs like HubSpot. Such CRM seem
to be target for marketing team. Micro CRM is a general purpose contact
management with a fixed set of features .

------
JackPoach
The best, free, and totally underappreciated CRM is Bitrix24.com IMHO. There's
just nothing else free on the market that combines client and project
management like Bitrix24. Check out
[https://bitrix24.com](https://bitrix24.com) or
[https://bitrix24.eu](https://bitrix24.eu)

~~~
dsr_
Do you work for Bitrix? Because this reads like an ad.

~~~
JackPoach
Yes, I did help Bitrix24 launch back in 2012. Didn't mean the comment to come
across as an ad. I am 100% sincere in my believe that as a CRM and PM Bitrix24
got many things very right. Plus, free is free.

------
rman666
Can you export data with either plan?

~~~
charly1811
I did not implement export yet but I will probably have it in the premium plan

It is in the pipeline of immediate features

------
zerubeus
Good job, I'm curious why Vuejs ?

~~~
charly1811
Vue.js is my go to for frontend development. It is easier than react in my
opinion and allows me to architecture my app however I want

