Close

When I began sharing my new role at Close earlier this year, it almost felt like a "Who's on First?" skit. People thought I was referring to another company with a Z, another company that starts with a K, or close.io (okay, so we were close.io, but we're not anymore). Then, when I learned more about the company, I couldn't believe the entire world didn't know who Close was. That's all changing now, obviously 😏 The company: - Bootstrapped and profitable - Fully-remote global team - An intentionally crafted team, culture, and way of operating (seriously, I have never experienced such pristine onboarding or documentation in my life). - Beautifully kind and brilliant humans who authentically embody values like "build a house you want to live in" and "no BS" from the top down and bottom up. - Everyone here is a hand-raiser. Remember the kids in school who always had a smart question, the right answer, a helpful suggestion, or an edit to the teacher's slides? Yeah, they're all here. The product: - The best fit for teams <100 - Faster than other popular CRMs (no, for real, we've run the tests, and we're 50% faster) 🏃♀️ 💨 - Simple, easy to use, intuitive ... sounds so refreshing for anyone who's ever used Salesforce or HubSpot 🥵 - Designed to accommodate the way sellers actually sell - Features automations to allow you to focus on the work and relationships, not admin work - Consolidated comms: phone calls, emails, SMS, manage follow-ups, and track pipeline (all in one tool) Sure, I'm a little biased. But I've been working with sellers for three companies now. I've seen and been on teams that make their lives significantly harder (+ $$$$) because they think they need to use a large or incumbent CRM. For a tool integral to your business, take a step back and evaluate how a better, simpler CRM could change your life. (Start a 14-day free trial and let me know what you think.) And for all my solopreneur friends out there, we're a best fit for you, too. 😘 PS. Thanks to Will Aitken for letting me pop up in his head and ask him questions. 😂

If SaaS brands were NFL teams, which ones would they be? 🤔 Our football-obsessed Senior Content Marketer Desiree Echevarria has some thoughts… 🏈 Salesforce: The New England Patriots. Both Salesforce and the Patriots were once great dynasties that dominated their respective landscapes. But the magic of these juggernauts has been lost since their glory days, as fresher and more innovative options rise to take their place. Will they ever be GOATed again? 🏈 Slack: The Kansas City Chiefs. Like the Chiefs, Slack is a crowd-pleaser. A party SaaS. Everyone loves it! And like Patrick Mahomes slinging a behind-the-back pass, Slack always has some new trick up their sleeves. Both Slack and the Chiefs are at the top of their game now, but after so many years of uninterrupted winning, there’s an underlying sense that there’s a target on their backs. Who will replace them at the top of their niche? 🏈 HubSpot: The Dallas Cowboys. They seem like they *should* be the best. They both have a lot going for them—HubSpot has an outstanding marketing CRM, and the Cowboys have an exceptional offensive duo, Dak Prescott and CeeDee Lamb. The problem is that neither HubSpot nor the Cowboys is great at closing. That is to say: Unlike their marketing tools, HubSpot’s sales tools leave much to be desired. As for the Cowboys, despite their winning record at the end of every regular season, they just can’t seem to close the deal in the playoffs. 🏈 Google Workspace: The San Francisco 49ers. With Christian McCaffrey, George Kittle, Deebo Samuel, and Nick Bosa, the 49ers boast a reliable set of performers and a stacked roster—much like Google’s reliable and stacked roster of workspace products. They're not everyone's favorite brand, but they can both be trusted to get the job done at a high level. (P.S. Does this make Brock Purdy the Google Sheets of football players? 🧐) 🏈 Close: The Baltimore Ravens. We see a lot of ourselves in these scrappy underdogs. The Ravens execute a fast-paced running offense; our CRM runs up to 50% faster than other CRMs. They have a highly rated front office, and according to our 1,087 five-star reviews on G2, Close does, too. The Ravens have a smaller market and fanbase, but they’re yearly Super Bowl contenders. Likewise, Close is consistently top-ranked alongside our much bigger CRM competitors based on the strength of our CRM’s performance—not our brand name. Agree or disagree? What other SaaS brands remind you of NFL teams? Sound off in the comments! ⬇️

There were two potential outcomes when we started testing AI in Close: 1. The robots took over, ousted our founders, and made us all worship them. 2. AI became super useful and could summarize a lead’s history with our company in just one click. 😱 Today, we find out which one it was ... Meet AI Lead Summaries 🤖 🎉 Get an instant recap of your lead's recent activity, helping you cut through the noise and focus on what matters most. (Available now on Professional and Enterprise plans.)

As a small and impact-driven team, our culture emphasizes ownership. Joe Kemp, our Director of Backend Engineering, talks about what that means our for engineering team in this article from BuiltIn. 💻 He touches on our product development methodology, rotating project leads, and a customer-first mindset! Sound interesting? Give it a read...and then check out our open Sr./Staff Backend Engineering role on close.com/careers!

CRMs that are clunky, complex, and expensive? not very mindful. not very demure. see how we look presentable? see how easy we are to use? very intentional. very demure. (are we doing this right?)

Me when someone says they spend countless hours updating their CRM

Last, but far from least, is the value that’s the cornerstone of how we live and operate here at Close — Build a house you want to live in. 🏠 This year’s recipient of this Value Award is Alec Rosenbaum, who (unsurprisingly) builds a killer house on the engineering team.  We’re lucky to have you, Alec! Congrats! Here’s what his team had to say about it.

Underrated work hack? Keeping your word to yourself and others. 🙏 That’s the core of our value, “Discipline equals freedom,” and we’re stoked to honor the ultimate discipline pro, Lauren Weisenthal for her daily embodiment of this value. Congrats, Lauren! And thank you for your model leadership. Hear more about Lauren from her team.

If there’s a marketing project to be slayed, you can trust that Emily’s on it. 💪 “Strive for greatness,” is one of our favorite values and it just so happens to be Emily McGuire's middle name. So it’s only fitting she received this year’s corresponding Value Award. Help us celebrate her today. 🎉 Go, Emily! Here’s what her team had to say. 

Has a recruiter ever been one of the reasons you joined a company? Sounds rare but here it’s a pretty common occurrence. All week we’re celebrating the recipients of our 2024 Annual Value Awards… Join us in celebrating our magical recruiting mastermind, Maddie Tierney who is being recognized for our value, “Invest in each other.” Well done, Maddie! 🎉