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CRM Options for Game1 BD

Current State

  • Small team, pre-revenue
  • Roughly 20 leads in the pipeline
  • Pipeline currently tracked in GitHub markdown files
  • Discord is the team's communication hub

The Real Question

At 20 leads with a small team, do you need a CRM at all? The answer: not a traditional one. You need a system that is low-friction, visible to the team, and does not add overhead. Here are the options ranked from simplest to most complex.

Option 1: GitHub Markdown (What You Have Now)

How It Works

Markdown files in the repo with lead info, status, notes. Updated via commits.

Pros

  • Zero cost
  • Version controlled (you can see history of every change)
  • Lives where the team already works
  • No new tool to learn
  • Crafty can read and update it directly

Cons

  • No built-in views (kanban, timeline, filtering)
  • Updating requires a commit workflow
  • No automation (reminders, follow-up alerts)
  • Does not scale past 30-50 leads without getting unwieldy

Verdict

Sufficient for now. At 20 leads, the overhead of a new tool likely costs more in context-switching than it saves. Consider upgrading when you hit 40+ leads or need team-wide pipeline visibility beyond what markdown provides.

Option 2: Google Sheets with Automation

How It Works

A shared spreadsheet with columns for lead name, club, contact, status, last contact date, next action, notes. Use conditional formatting for visual status. Add Apps Script automations for reminders.

Cost

Free.

Pros

  • Everyone knows how to use it
  • Easy to share, sort, filter
  • Can connect to Discord via Apps Script (post weekly pipeline summaries)
  • Can add simple automations: highlight leads with no activity in 7+ days, send reminder to Discord

Cons

  • No relational data (linking contacts to clubs to interactions)
  • Gets messy with multiple editors
  • Not a real CRM, just a spreadsheet

Discord Integration

Use the same Apps Script approach from the Google integration doc. A script reads the sheet, finds leads needing follow-up, posts a summary to Discord daily.

Verdict

Best upgrade from markdown if you want something quick. 30 minutes to set up. Recommend this as the next step.

Option 3: Notion

How It Works

Notion databases with properties for each lead. Kanban board view for pipeline stages. Linked databases for contacts, clubs, and interactions.

Cost

  • Free for personal use
  • Plus: $8/user/month (better for teams)

Pros

  • Beautiful kanban and table views
  • Relational databases (link a contact to a club, link interactions to contacts)
  • Templates for CRM are widely available
  • Good for documentation alongside the CRM (meeting notes, proposals)
  • API available for automation

Cons

  • Another tool to maintain
  • Notion API integration with Discord requires custom code or Zapier
  • Can become over-engineered (people spend more time organizing Notion than doing the work)
  • No native Discord integration

Discord Integration

Requires Zapier/Make.com or a custom integration via Notion API. Not trivial.

Verdict

Good option if the team already uses Notion. Overkill if the only purpose is tracking 20 leads.

Option 4: Airtable

How It Works

Like a spreadsheet that acts like a database. Supports multiple views (grid, kanban, gallery, calendar), linked records, and automations.

Cost

  • Free: 1,000 records, 1 extension, no automations
  • Team: $20/user/month

Pros

  • More powerful than Google Sheets for relational data
  • Built-in automations (send email when status changes, etc.)
  • Pre-built CRM templates
  • API for custom integrations

Cons

  • Free tier is limited on automations
  • Paid tier is expensive for a pre-revenue startup
  • Yet another tool

Discord Integration

Airtable automations can call webhooks, so you can post to Discord when records change. This works on the paid tier.

Verdict

Best-in-class lightweight CRM, but the cost is hard to justify pre-revenue. Consider if/when you close first deals and need more structure.

Option 5: Dedicated CRM (HubSpot, Pipedrive, etc.)

HubSpot Free CRM

  • Free for up to 1,000,000 contacts
  • Email tracking, deal pipeline, meeting scheduler
  • Heavy, complex, designed for larger sales teams

Pipedrive

  • $14/user/month, no free tier
  • Simple pipeline-focused CRM
  • Good for sales-heavy teams

Verdict

Too heavy for current stage. Revisit when you have a dedicated sales person or 100+ leads.

Cost Comparison

Tool Cost Setup Time Discord Integration
GitHub Markdown Free Already done Native (Crafty reads it)
Google Sheets Free 30 min Via Apps Script
Notion Free-$8/user/mo 1-2 hours Zapier or custom
Airtable Free-$20/user/mo 1 hour Webhook automations
HubSpot Free Free 2-3 hours Zapier
Pipedrive $14/user/mo 1-2 hours Zapier

Recommendation for Game1 Right Now

Stay with GitHub markdown for now. Upgrade to Google Sheets when it starts to feel limiting.

Reasoning:

  1. At 20 leads, any CRM is overhead that does not pay for itself.
  2. The GitHub files work with Crafty natively, which is your biggest advantage.
  3. When you need more structure (40+ leads, multiple team members updating daily), move to Google Sheets with a simple Apps Script that posts daily pipeline summaries to Discord.
  4. Save the Notion/Airtable migration for when you have paying customers and a repeatable sales process.

One Improvement to Make Now

Structure the markdown files consistently. Use a standard format:

# [Club Name]

- **Contact:** Name, title, email, phone
- **Status:** Cold / Contacted / Meeting Set / Proposal Sent / Negotiating / Closed
- **Last Contact:** YYYY-MM-DD
- **Next Action:** [what to do] by [date]
- **Notes:** [conversation history, key details]

This makes it easy for Crafty to parse and for a future migration to any tool.