1. Pipedrive - Here’s our Pipedrive discount code. This code gets you a double-length trial (28 days) and then a discount on your Pipedrive annual plan.

  2. Apollo - AJFOUNDERSGROUP22 offers you 20% off on annual plans (this is on top of the existing 20% offer that they typically give).

  3. Pipedrive & Apollo Methodologies: Here’s where I document how I do both CRM and pre-CRM for technical founders. If you need the very large Apollo discount code that is used by AJ Founders, and you do not have access to our Discord instance, email [email protected]. We also have separate entire sections of our Notion just for Pipedrive and Apollo. Those are here (Pipedrive Section) and here (Apollo section).

  4. Pipedrive (discount code here, this extends the length of your trial to 30 days, gives you a bunch of other rewards**)**: This is the CRM system that I’ve found to be the most effective for companies under $10M in revenue or $800k in MRR. It can be started for as little as about $100/user. Many engineers and technical founders may ask “Why should I use a CRM, rather than a spreadsheet? Spreadsheets are free!”

    1. There are many different ways to set up Pipedrive, but the place to begin is here, using Pipedrive Academy. That’s their repository of their very best videos. As long as you begin with Pipedrive Basics, which is only 30 mins long, you will be 100% good to begin.
    2. Pricing: You can generally get away with the $12.50/mo/user pipedrive plan, which is called their Essential plan. This handles most basic forecasting for startups
    3. Pipedrive Versus Foundersuite for VC/Fundraising: I do not recommend using Pipedrive for VC fundraising. Here’s why. It causes a ton of extra rework. Foundersuite (promo code: METZ40) makes it so founders do not need to do all of the digging for VC contact information, and it also keeps all of the data separated from any sales team data, so founders can manage the fundraising pipeline privately. I’d encourage founders to keep the sales team focused on sales and manage fundraising privately with their co-founders, and then provide weekly updates to the team.
    4. Analytics and Sales Pipeline Analysis (Finding Trouble Spots): This is where Pipedrive truly shines, and it’s where I typically see founders leaving Hubspot and other freemium or inexpensive suite-type solutions for Pipedrive. The problem with other solutions is that it’s very difficult for founders to tell where the problems are in their sales pipelines, and Pipedrive is very good at this, even with a limited amount of data (say, 20-30 deals).
    5. Forecasting: Pipedrive’s forecasting is extremely good for software that costs $12.50/seat. This is not only beneficial for knowing cashflow, but also for determining product-market fit, and knowing whether a given hire is or is not working.

  5. Apollo: First, here’s a link to get about 50 free credits on Apollo. You’ll need that to get started. The basic version of Apollo that most startups can get started with is the $99/mo version. You’ll also need 3-4 other things:

    1. A Namecheap account AND One regular domain similar in name to your company’s domain
    2. At least 1 google apps domain with one seat. You can buy this for $6/mo from your Namecheap account, once you’ve purchased that domain. If your domain is johnsmith.com the new domain you buy for Apollo can be johnsmithmail.com or something similar.
    3. A sendgrid account (the $10/month version works fine to begin with)
    4. You will need this separate domain just for email campaigns.
    5. Begin by doing all of the Basic Apollo Set-Up Here
    6. We will be doing a series of Apollo trainings in the group in the near future

  6. Can’t We Just Use A Spreadsheet? Isn’t That A Better Deal? This argument appears to be academically correct, on the surface. In reality, spreadsheets are very, very expensive, in that they offer very little value for what the user pays for them (nearly $0), and they consume inordinate amounts of the sales professional’s time, and give very little value back to the organization. There’s a tremendous difference between the amount of value a startup can derive from a pseudo-spreadsheet type CRM like Airtable versus a real CRM like Pipedrive, which is capable of highly sophisticated analytics and forecasting, which can drive business decisions and quickly help teams find product-market fit, if the team has not arrived at it.

  7. Motorcycle Gang Methodology: Building outsourced teams is not easy, but the biggest thing that founders need to remember is that when you’re building an outsourced team is that the old way of building them is similar to building a pyramid, in that they would be hierarchical in nature. That is a very 2000-2012 way of thinking of building an outsourced demand-generation team. Today, it’s better to think of an outsourced team as an anti-fragile organism, one that can do well when put under pressure. Here are the key things to look for when building a team:

    1. Platform: Begin sourcing all on one platform. Generally, I have had good experiences on Upwork.
    2. English Test: Before any work is done, give every prospective team member an English test with standardized levels, and offer to pay for the time spent taking the test. The best ones will level team members at B1, B2, etc. I prefer to use Lingoda. Make sure that you have the test-taker videotape the entire test, both their screen and themselves taking the test, including the test results. Refuse to accept any test that does not include the entire test, including test results, their video, and the test video. This is very important.
    3. Trials: Begin with a short 10-hour trial project, then do a 40-hour trial project after that.
    4. Location: There are many locations to choose from but I prefer locations that have a great deal of startups in the immediate vicinity - typically 500 within a 4-5 hour drive. My favorite cities for this type of work include Cairo, Manila and other 10M+ population metro areas with very large university populations, where average monthly rent is about $400-1000+.
    5. Education: Insist on college degree or nearly completed college degree.
    6. Hours: Do not take anyone for less than 3-4 hours per day, 5 days per week. Insist on the same work hours every day.
    7. Communication: You will need a Slack or Discord instance for this, and you may need to use a paid version, as you will eventually need to use the full search history.
    8. Language: If the team is from a region other than your home region, encourage the team to communicate in whatever language is their native language when they communicate with one another.