Insights from first talks, with REAL customers

Last week, I shared some of my go-to-market strategies for getting my CRM in front of potential customers. I got so hyped up, I decided to dive in and start reaching out! And guess what - it went pretty well.

Now, I haven’t onboarded anyone yet (since the product isn’t live), but there’s very clear interest in what I’m building. Let’s dig into some of the feedback I’ve received so far and how it’s shaping the product.

Digging into the feedback

As I reached out to just a handful of companies, which led to five deep discussions, I got some valuable insights into how they use CRM today and what they’re looking for in the future. It’s one thing to have a vision for your product, but hearing directly from potential users makes it all real.

While it’s still a small sample size and made up by companies with fewer than 10 salespeople, it feels like I’m truly on to something.

However, the feedback didn’t just confirm everything I had in mind. It challenged some assumptions and made me rethink parts of the roadmap. These conversations are already influencing how I’m approaching the launch and what I’ll prioritize moving forward.

Wants, needs and don’t-wants

One thing is clear: simplicity rules. The smaller sales teams I’m targeting want a CRM that feels fast and is overly easy to use - not one that requires hours of training. They need a system that helps them manage customers and deals quickly and easily.

While simplicity tops the wish list, there are key features that need to be implemented ASAP to close many of the customers I’ve spoken to. One of the most recurring requests was for the ability to send deal data directly to the customer’s invoicing system. This was already on the roadmap, but I was planning to focus on it later - now, it’s been moved up the priority list.

As for the most frustrating aspects of other CRM providers? Lock-in contracts and expensive support came up in almost every conversation. And of course, the bloat. CRMs with endless features might sound great in theory, but in practice, they get in the way of getting things done, cluttering the interface with input fields and buttons. As mentioned: simplicity rules.

Note to self: Scratch some (more) things off the roadmap!

How the customers are shaping the product?

This early feedback is already changing the way I’m building Sunnycloud.

When you’re deep in the weeds of building features, it’s easy to get caught up in making things perfect. But I’m realizing more and more that delivering a small version of a feature is better than holding off for the full version. Two reasons why: it’s faster to ship and get into the hands of real users, and it allows me to show customers, "Yeah, we have that, and we’re constantly building it out," rather than saying, "We don’t have that yet, but it’s coming, I promise."

I’m also learning that it’s not about checking off every small feature that other CRMs are doing. Instead, having fuck-yeah features seems to matter more. The basics need to be there, of course, but beyond that, the focus will be on simple versions of killer features that really make an impact.

Conclusion

The feedback so far has been incredibly valuable, shaping the roadmap for Sunnycloud. From prioritizing invoicing integrations to cutting feature bloat, these conversations confirm that simplicity and killer features are key.

The focus now is to get a fast, functional product into users’ hands, and keep iterating based on what really matters.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts - what’s your biggest pain point with CRM systems? Hit reply and let me know!

Until next Thursday! (or Friday, depending on how the week goes 😅)