Customer Relationship Management
Also called CRM
Customer relationship management software that tracks leads, contacts, deals, and interactions in one place, so a team can manage its pipeline and history. Salesforce and HubSpot are common examples.
Why it matters
A CRM is the system of record for sales, without one, pipeline lives in heads and spreadsheets and forecasting is guesswork. Setting one up early, even a simple one, builds discipline as you scale.
For example
The team runs every lead, deal, and conversation through HubSpot, so the pipeline is visible and forecasting is not a guess.
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Related terms
Also in Starting Up
See how founders actually handle this on Getting your first customers, part of the Starting Up hub.