9 ms·

Streak.com (YC S11) Takes On Salesforce With A Simple CRM For Gmail

97 points by alooPotato 15y ago

jonbischke 15y ago
We've been using Streak at Entelo and we're very happy. The "social integration" provided by most CRM systems is lacking and when you combine Streak and Rapportive inside of GMail/Google Apps, it's really quite powerful. The CRM landscape feels like it's undergoing a change somewhat similar to what happened a decade ago when cloud-based providers like Salesforce disrupted incumbents like Siebel. Salesforce, while a very powerful product/company in many ways, is not immune to disruption and it's great to see folks like Streak, Nimble, 37Sigs/Highrise attempting to compete with them.
- ultrasaurus 15y ago
  I've been using Rapportive forever -- I am actually surprised there aren't more startups trying to eat Salesforce's $65-200 per seat per month lunch.
  - rubyrescue 15y ago
    ming.ly is another
twakefield 15y ago
I highly recommend this for those using google apps and looking for a light-weight CRM to handle inbound email leads. I looked at Salesforce and shuddered at the complexity when I just wanted a way to make sure I followed up with inbound email inquiries in a methodical fashion. It's a big upgrade from my previous homemade gmail tagging system / boomerang hack. Also, the reusable text snippets are a huge time saver. There are a few improvements that could be made, but overall I think the product was executed beautifully. Nice job guys.
andrewljohnson 15y ago
We have been using this for support for our app, and we are very happy with it. Started out using a different service, but the GMail integration was key for us.
instakill 15y ago
Well done. I've got this running on my Chrome.
porter 15y ago
We're using this combined with yesware and it's been great.
spyderman4g63 15y ago
This is interesting but it also means I would have to use gmail.
- grinich 15y ago
  What's wrong with that? What do you use?
  - devmach 15y ago
    You're relying two different services to run your business, which can be gone away in a moment. - If you're not in US, your goverment can shut down Gmail ( for ex. because google is trying to evade tax. ) - Streak can be sold to anycompany which just want to push their services. Streak should actually be something like Thunderbird extension with RDBMS running in background
    - dj_axl 15y ago
      > Streak should actually be something like Thunderbird extension with RDBMS running in background The most popular email client is Outlook with iOS devices in second place (as of June 2011). Although if you combine Hotmail + Yahoo Mail + GMail the total marketshare beats Outlook. http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/ http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/
xbryanx 15y ago
Pricing?
- alooPotato 15y ago
  Streak is currently free while in Beta and there will always be a free plan. In the future, Streak will offer paid premium features, stay tuned.
smilliken 15y ago
I've been one of Streak's biggest advocates for a while now-- I use it for everything. In particular, it's been extremely helpful for hiring, fundraising, and business development at MixRank. I highly recommend it.
- teamlaft 15y ago
  I like how it can apply to all the use cases you mention above, and also how they have a variety of demo videos on their website demonstrating them. About to try it out now for my startup.
goronbjorn 15y ago
There is definitely a lot of room for a lightweight, "bottom-up" CRM app out there that's focused on usability. I think Dropbox has handily proven that this sort of thing can get peppered across companies without a top-down, sales-driven deployment which is what Salesforce is.
squadron 15y ago
I voted this story up because I want somebody to kick Salesforce's ass.
rdl 15y ago
I wonder how hard it would be to also support self-hosted mail users (with a webmail client talking imap, or ideally something which works with mutt).
yelloweye 15y ago
It looks like it works for few people. But honestly i think people are hyping it for whatever reason..I have tried it for a week. It is not simple and i don't recommend to others. - for instance, you need to create a box for each incoming email in where other tracking systems you can set a queue. if you want simple, just use the labels in gmail or get a tracking system. this one is neither here nor there.
muhammadatt 15y ago
Its a fantastic app - I've been using it for about two weeks and its completely replaced a clunky process of trying to link lead spreadsheets, with Highrise contacts and Gmail emails. We store contacts in Highrise but it is pretty lousy for pipeline management. Because Streak lives inside gmail, it makes it really easy to see all the email associated with each lead. It also replaces Boomerang (email scheduler applet) and Tout (email template app) so I can get more done without leaving my inbox. Streak and Rapportive handle almost all my CRM needs at this point.
ThomPete 15y ago
I have tried a bunch of these tools now. I agree completely that there is a problem to be solved. I don't believe any of the tools I have tried have found a proper way to solve it yet. The best helper I have is still rapportive. There is something about the input output flow of information in these tools that is off.
thomasdavis 15y ago
Seems like it's gonna be pretty popular

97 points by alooPotato 15y ago

We've been using Streak at Entelo and we're very happy. The "social integration" provided by most CRM systems is lacking and when you combine Streak and Rapportive inside of GMail/Google Apps, it's really quite powerful. The CRM landscape feels like it's undergoing a change somewhat similar to what happened a decade ago when cloud-based providers like Salesforce disrupted incumbents like Siebel. Salesforce, while a very powerful product/company in many ways, is not immune to disruption and it's great to see folks like Streak, Nimble, 37Sigs/Highrise attempting to compete with them.

ultrasaurus 15y ago
I've been using Rapportive forever -- I am actually surprised there aren't more startups trying to eat Salesforce's $65-200 per seat per month lunch.
- rubyrescue 15y ago
  ming.ly is another

twakefield 15y ago

I highly recommend this for those using google apps and looking for a light-weight CRM to handle inbound email leads. I looked at Salesforce and shuddered at the complexity when I just wanted a way to make sure I followed up with inbound email inquiries in a methodical fashion. It's a big upgrade from my previous homemade gmail tagging system / boomerang hack. Also, the reusable text snippets are a huge time saver. There are a few improvements that could be made, but overall I think the product was executed beautifully. Nice job guys.

andrewljohnson 15y ago

We have been using this for support for our app, and we are very happy with it. Started out using a different service, but the GMail integration was key for us.

instakill 15y ago

Well done. I've got this running on my Chrome.

porter 15y ago

We're using this combined with yesware and it's been great.

spyderman4g63 15y ago

This is interesting but it also means I would have to use gmail.

grinich 15y ago
What's wrong with that? What do you use?
- devmach 15y ago
  You're relying two different services to run your business, which can be gone away in a moment. - If you're not in US, your goverment can shut down Gmail ( for ex. because google is trying to evade tax. ) - Streak can be sold to anycompany which just want to push their services. Streak should actually be something like Thunderbird extension with RDBMS running in background
  - dj_axl 15y ago
    > Streak should actually be something like Thunderbird extension with RDBMS running in background The most popular email client is Outlook with iOS devices in second place (as of June 2011). Although if you combine Hotmail + Yahoo Mail + GMail the total marketshare beats Outlook. http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/ http://www.campaignmonitor.com/stats/email-clients/

xbryanx 15y ago

Pricing?

alooPotato 15y ago
Streak is currently free while in Beta and there will always be a free plan. In the future, Streak will offer paid premium features, stay tuned.

smilliken 15y ago

I've been one of Streak's biggest advocates for a while now-- I use it for everything. In particular, it's been extremely helpful for hiring, fundraising, and business development at MixRank. I highly recommend it.

teamlaft 15y ago
I like how it can apply to all the use cases you mention above, and also how they have a variety of demo videos on their website demonstrating them. About to try it out now for my startup.

goronbjorn 15y ago

There is definitely a lot of room for a lightweight, "bottom-up" CRM app out there that's focused on usability. I think Dropbox has handily proven that this sort of thing can get peppered across companies without a top-down, sales-driven deployment which is what Salesforce is.

squadron 15y ago

I voted this story up because I want somebody to kick Salesforce's ass.

rdl 15y ago

I wonder how hard it would be to also support self-hosted mail users (with a webmail client talking imap, or ideally something which works with mutt).

yelloweye 15y ago

It looks like it works for few people. But honestly i think people are hyping it for whatever reason..I have tried it for a week. It is not simple and i don't recommend to others. - for instance, you need to create a box for each incoming email in where other tracking systems you can set a queue. if you want simple, just use the labels in gmail or get a tracking system. this one is neither here nor there.

muhammadatt 15y ago

Its a fantastic app - I've been using it for about two weeks and its completely replaced a clunky process of trying to link lead spreadsheets, with Highrise contacts and Gmail emails. We store contacts in Highrise but it is pretty lousy for pipeline management. Because Streak lives inside gmail, it makes it really easy to see all the email associated with each lead. It also replaces Boomerang (email scheduler applet) and Tout (email template app) so I can get more done without leaving my inbox. Streak and Rapportive handle almost all my CRM needs at this point.

ThomPete 15y ago

I have tried a bunch of these tools now. I agree completely that there is a problem to be solved. I don't believe any of the tools I have tried have found a proper way to solve it yet. The best helper I have is still rapportive. There is something about the input output flow of information in these tools that is off.

thomasdavis 15y ago

Seems like it's gonna be pretty popular