Nikolay Tsanev is founder of CRMNOW, which is a simple cloud based software for small companies that allows businesses to store customer data, track leads and manage the sales process easily, without being distracted from useless features that you never use. Thanks to the pre-built in components, the software can be customised easily based on the company’s processes.
Why did you decide to become a founder?
It just happened naturally based on my previous experience.
How did you find the problem and the solution?
Before I joined a startup, I’ve been mostly working in large corporations where I had the chance to be responsible for managing the internal CRM softwares. Luckily, those were some of the system leaders nowadays – Salesforce and Pipedrive. What I found irritating was that those systems are full of features that nobody is using. Even worse, you would need your own personal IT team to just get everything set up correctly. So when I joined a startup two years ago we were looking for a simple and inexpensive CRM system to store customer data, track leads and manage the sales process. I found out that most of the softwares on the market are not custom based and they are expensive for the startups. This is why, together with a friend, we decided to develop our own simple crm system that solve those problems.
Do you have a co-founder and if yes, what’s the best thing about her/him?
The best thing about my co-founder is that his experience and skills are also related to CRM systems and he has a great technical understanding from the development side.
If you can go back in time, what would you do differently?
If I would go back in time, the only thing I would change is to believe more in myself and the product.
How did you approach your first customers?
They came to us with a problem, so we decided to solve it for them by customizing the software specially for our early adopters.
What’s your advice on approaching investors?
We are not looking for investors at the moment
What advice would you give to an early stage entrepreneur? A thing you wanted to know when you started off?
Validate and communicate clearly your value propositions
How do you see your idea in 10 years?
Automate the processes in a way that makes the system work for you