Our Story

How It Started

In the Beginning Was the Napkin

Before OnePageCRM was even a napkin sketch (we’ll get to that), our founder Michael FitzGerald was looking for a CRM software to help him grow his website development business.

As it happens, all CRMs he looked at were pretty much sophisticated, “dead” databases. He thought, “Excel can do that, Excel doesn’t make you get up in the morning and go at sales.”

So one sunny December afternoon, he went out for lunch and returned carrying a bucket of ice cream for his team and a plan for a new, actionable CRM software sketched on the back of a napkin. The CRM was to be based on the GTD (Getting Things Done) productivity principle that encouraged a person to remove the clutter and focus on a task at hand. While his team was happily consuming the creamy treat, Michael announced that they were going to ship this new product… in three months time.

2010

Ready or Not, Here We Come

The strict deadline was a result of a hard lesson learned from a previous venture that never reached the customers’ hands due to continuous “improvements”. This time, Michael was guided by two principles. One was Seth Godin’s “Build in shipping as a feature,” which came down to the question: if shipping on a date was a key objective, what features could you leave out in order to ensure that was honored? And the second was a quote from LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman: “If you are not embarrassed by the first version of your product, you’ve launched too late.”

So on March 22nd, with the Activity Stream and the Next Action as its heart and body, OnePageCRM went live.

2011-2012

All In

We got our first paying customers and, most importantly, the first feedback. Our app was built with the clients, but with a strong conviction that our action method is the ultimate way to go for efficient sales. We believed (and still do) in our app and used it ourselves. All other distractions (including a profitable business) were set aside, and OnePageCRM became our main and only focus.

2013-2014

Investment in Talent

We were fortunate to have secured funding from Enterprise Ireland and private investors. In addition to security, it gave us the needed financial boost. We could grow the business and invest in hiring the best talent, like engineers and marketeers. That’s also when we started building our customer support team. Today, we pride ourselves on having a white-glove customer care. We believe in building long-term relationships with our clients and going above and beyond to answer any questions, queries, and jump on a webinar or a call whenever it’s needed.

We were probably doing something right, because we marked 2014 with 6,000 paying customers from across the world!

2016

Top Class Sales On-the-Go

We know that field sales can get hectic. That’s why we decided to make sure you can access your CRM software at any point in time, even when on the road. In 2016, we launched native iOS and Android mobile apps, ensuring our customers always keep the ball rolling and have all the updates safely logged.

2017

Automation Is Key

We always believed that the only thing salespeople should spend their time on is… sales. It might sound trivial, but we have seen too many salespeople wasting their time on unnecessary admin tasks rather than investing in building relationships with their prospects. In 2017, we decided to make this task easier. We have introduced Deal Items to build deals with a click. In addition, we’ve released Saved Actions to accelerate the sales process. As well as Email Templates and Bulk Send to avoid repetition of the same emails over and over, and Quick Quotes to assemble and send sales quotes in seconds. That was also the year when we hit the 10,000 paying customers mark!

2018

Walking in Our Customers’ Shoes

In 2018, Michael set out on a 30-day trip around the UK, in a camper van the likes of Jamiroquai’s, to deliver a crucial message—for SMBs around the world it was time to think global.

During this trip, Michael had a unique opportunity to spend time with OnePageCRM customers, get to know them, their life stories and needs, sit by their side, and see our product through their eyes. As a result, he got invaluable insights into the way they use our system—some things you’ll never get from an email, a phone call or a web form.

Thanks to the wealth of knowledge and action points that Michael brought back, we got a direction on how to make OnePageCRM the best version of itself!

2020-…

To Infinity and Beyond!

In 2020, we are proud to have over 11,000 paying customers, ranging from small startups to international giants like Ryanair, Hewlett Packard, and UPS Store. Our team is beautifully eclectic, we value our differences and the unique perspective they give us. We’re passionate about what we’re doing and our product. We are building the most effective sales app in the world. And our story is just beginning!