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Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

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Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#31

Post by ucarion »

ensignavenger wrote: post #14

Cool stuff, I've considered building something similar for my own needs. For me, I would never invest the time to learn and integrate something like this into my business processes if its not open source. But there is a large market of folks who don't care about that (obviously, as Salesforce isn't open source and does well enough), so you have a lot of potential. I played with the demo for a couple of minutes- one t…

You should check out Twenty! https://twenty.com/ (YC S23) -- they're an OSS CRM.

I totally agree the object management UI is too clunky right now. I want to redo that set of pages, they were the first ones we shipped. Not gonna lie, idk if anyone except me and Ned are really pining to learn hotkeys for managing object schemas, since in practice we're the only ones doing that on a regular basis -- we do initial setup on behalf of our customers.

Yeah, I consider latency part of UX. We're doing some somewhat fancy stuff to reliably replicate every record into a couple of stores, each of which is optimized for different access patterns (search, get latest by ID, etc.). The big central Postgres(TM) is mostly there to be authoritative and to transactionally maintain invariants in the system.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#32

Post by npace12 »

noleary wrote: post #26
robertlagrant wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reports are a big time sink. Have you thought of integrating a pre-baked tool? A quick google shows up Carbone[0] (I don't know if it's good; I'm not a customer/investor) but that sort of thing might get you going. [0] https://github.com/carboneio/carbone

Yep! Agree -- we're currently evaluating some vendors. I don't see much reason to build a bunch of stuff here if we can simply buy it. No decisions yet on who best fits our needs, so thanks for raising Carbone; it wasn't on our list yet.

vega charts are also decent and very configurable. LLMs know about them and can generate their schema too, which helps.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#33

Post by ucarion »

monknomo wrote: post #21

I've done some work with salesforce integrations and from my perspective, the pain comes in when trying to keep a bi-directional link between data in the CRM and data in the custom backend systems. At least in my case, there is a desire for a low latency sync so that the two data sources are as similar as possible. Salesforce, with its batch loads, open api spec, soap/rest api and 'use mulesoft' approach makes this p…

You should check out https://www.stacksync.cloud/ (YC W24) -- they do a bidi realtime sync between CRMs and databases. Not sure if that scratches your itch!

We are definitely looking to make our API public. We've built our core data model in such a way that business users can't accidentally break API users by, for example, making backwards-incompatible changes to their objects. It baffles me that everyone else in the space gets this wrong. But still, I want to feel really good about making an API that can stick around a long time before telling people to use it to run their business, and we're just not there yet.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#34

Post by bzmrgonz »

I think an omni-channel integration would be great and would have the potential to transform your crm into the first screen. For ex. Matrix.org's Element/synapse with their messenger bridges and sip bridge into your dashboard. Talk to them, they are very receptive and who knows, maybe your partnership with them can create a powerful first-screen for sales people.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#35

Post by infinita740 »

Congrats on your launch and good luck building it, I agree with other comments that dashboards and views are pretty important.

Small bug report: when editing the dropdown, current entries have "API Name" disabled (this is normal), but the value is changend automatically when editing the "Display name". The page errors out (400 error for UpdateObject).

When using devtools and editing "API Name" to stay the same, everything works.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#37

Post by bluelightning2k »

I'm confused why YC funded this.

This is the lowest engagement I've seen for a launch HN. It's because most people are too kind to give you the honest feedback that this seems extremely undifferentiated. It made me think of a CS-class project.

Every significant CRM has custom objects, in-place editing UI, and custom fields. Most have email integrations. Look at Monday CRM for example - it has a very powerful no-code automation engine, and you can upload custom react components. The biggest competitor to Salesforce CRM is HubSpot.

I really, truly hate to be negative but I think someone has misled you about the state of this particular market.

I went back and forwards on this because I don't want to discourage you. Sorry if this seems harsh or unhelpful.

Did any user tell you that they have the problem you are solving?

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#38

Post by bluelightning2k »

bluelightning2k wrote: post #37

I'm confused why YC funded this. This is the lowest engagement I've seen for a launch HN. It's because most people are too kind to give you the honest feedback that this seems extremely undifferentiated. It made me think of a CS-class project. Every significant CRM has custom objects, in-place editing UI, and custom fields. Most have email integrations. Look at Monday CRM for example - it has a very powerful no-code…

I suggest you ask ChatGPT to name 10 CRM systems which support custom objects.

The list didn't include the three mentioned in the comments here (Attio, Twenty, Monday). My strong suggestion is that you look at the current entrants and try to find some differentiation.

Response from ChatGPT:

"CRM systems with the capability to support custom data objects are designed to offer businesses the flexibility to tailor the CRM to their specific needs, such as tracking unique customer data, industry-specific information, or customized business processes. Here are ten CRM systems known for their ability to support custom data objects:

Salesforce: Known for its high degree of customization, Salesforce allows users to create custom objects to store specific business data and relate to other records within the system.

Microsoft Dynamics 365: Offers extensive customization capabilities, including the creation of custom entities (data objects) that can be integrated seamlessly with the rest of the system.

Zoho CRM: Provides the ability to create custom modules that can be designed to capture and manage business-specific information.

HubSpot CRM: Allows the creation of custom objects to store and organize data that doesn’t necessarily fit into the standard objects like contacts or companies.

Oracle NetSuite: Features a flexible platform that includes the ability to create and manage custom records tailored to your business needs.

SAP CRM: Part of the SAP Business Suite, SAP CRM offers the flexibility to extend its core functionalities with custom objects to meet specific business requirements.

Pipedrive: Known for its user-friendly interface, Pipedrive also offers custom fields and, in some plans, the ability to create entirely custom data objects.

SugarCRM: Provides a highly customizable platform where users can create custom modules and fields to adapt the CRM to their business processes.

Insightly: Offers custom fields and records, allowing users to tailor the CRM system to better fit their specific business needs and workflows.

Freshsales (Freshworks CRM): Allows for the customization of the CRM with custom fields and modules, enabling businesses to track unique data points relevant to their operations."

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#39

Post by ucarion »

infinita740 wrote: post #35

Congrats on your launch and good luck building it, I agree with other comments that dashboards and views are pretty important. Small bug report: when editing the dropdown, current entries have "API Name" disabled (this is normal), but the value is changend automatically when editing the "Display name". The page errors out (400 error for UpdateObject). When using devtools and editing "API Name" to stay the same, every…

Yup, that's a good catch. Fix going out now.

Re: Launch HN: Okapi (YC W24) – A new, flexible CRM with good UX

#40

Post by ucarion »

egorfine wrote: post #36

{ "error": [ "Your account has been locked for security reasons. Please reset your password." ] } And that's what I can see in network inspector, while the UI just does nothing after clicking on "Login" button.

Should be healthy again, sorry!
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