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Finding the right CRM (customer relationship management) tool for your business can be tough. There are tons of options, and the search can often feel overwhelming. Luckily, we can help! If you want to add some good vibes to your work day, you need to check out karmaCRM. By focusing on simplicity and efficiency, karmaCRM emphasizes the importance of building and strengthening relationships—not only over the Internet, but in real life, too.
CRM platforms are an integral tool for many businesses. That’s why it’s so important to ensure that CRM servers are well-maintained and managed. We recently had a chat with John Paul Narowski, Founder and CEO of karmaCRM, about the platform he built and the role Speedyrails plays in his business.
What’s the story behind karmaCRM?
KarmaCRM was created out of an internal need I had for a high-quality, easy-to-use CRM tool. At the time, I was the Co-Founder and VP of sales at MetaSpring. My team tried every other CRM out there, but we just kept going back to using sticky notes and spreadsheets. It was driving me crazy! We weren’t doing the business we could’ve been doing.
One day, out of frustration, I told my sales guy, “I’m going to build a CRM this weekend and you’re going to use it!” So I did exactly that. I went home and built a CRM. We started using it and it worked well for us, and that’s how it came about. Eventually, I decided to sell my equity in MetaSpring and focus on karmaCRM full-time.
What lead you to using Speedyrails to host karmaCRM?
I was looking for a new hosting service because my original server guy, who was a one-man shop, stopped providing hosting. He ended up taking a job elsewhere, so I was stuck having to find a replacement.
Desperately trying to find somebody to take things over, I spent a lot of time searching for and researching hosting providers. That’s how I found Speedyrails! I decided to switch to you guys because of your willingness to set up my entire environment for me for free, just to see how it would run. I was very impressed, especially after my negative experiences with other hosting companies.
Hosting is a huge part of the stability of my platform and my business, so I was nervous about finding a new service. Other companies I talked to tried too hard to be enterprise-y. They would tell me it would take two months for them to set me up and that it would cost lots of money. I was blown away by how little most of the hosting companies cared about trying to accommodate small businesses.
In comparison, it really does show how much Speedyrails cares. Our servers were set up and ready in a few days. The set up went well and the pricing ended up being more or less the same as what I was paying before. Of course, I was nervous about downtime or having issues while switching over. We did have some issues (which were on our end), but someone from Speedyrails was on board to help out and fix them immediately. The experience really instilled a strong confidence in me that this is how it would always be while working together.
Tell us about your experience with Speedyrails!
Expectations were 100% met. I’ve hosted three of my other businesses with Speedyrails and I tell anybody that needs Rails hosting (or any kind of hosting) to go with you.
The experience has been continuously great. What really stands out is how quickly you respond. I don’t understand how the team gets any sleep. Maykel, Co-Founder and CEO of Speedyrails, has been amazing. Anytime I send him a message, he’s there. The fact that he’s so involved is another reason why I chose to go with Speedyrails.
After speaking to many different hosting companies, I got the feeling that I would be overcharged by them if there were ever any issues. With Speedyrails, there’s a very reasonable approach to what should be paid for. If I ask for something very customized, I have no problem paying for it… but we haven’t encountered that yet.
Maykel and his team go so far above and beyond. They’ve been great at accommodating us and our unique needs. With Speedyrails, I immediately felt that we could work together; I trusted that they would keep things up and running and help my business continue to grow. I never have to worry about ticket wait-times and the service is very personable. Any other established hosting company I’ve worked with has been nothing like this.
I’m incredibly happy we made the decision to go with Speedyrails, especially because I know what the alternatives look like. I’d like to see Speedyrails continue to grow. You keep solving problems, making my life easier, and doing it in a way very much above and beyond our expectations. That makes me a very enthusiastic customer.
Why is it so important for karmaCRM to use a managed hosting service?
I’m not a server guy; unmanaged servers stress me out. I run my businesses so that I can have a personal life. The whole point, for me, of growing a business is so that I can relax. I don’t want to be stressed out all the time in order to save some money. The fact that I know my platform is taken care of with managed hosting is reassuring.
One time, we actually had an issue while I was in a completely disconnected area. Part of our code was causing a problem and our app went down for multiple hours. My support team reached out and Speedyrails was able to address the issue pretty quickly. Although we were down for a few hours, without managed hosting we would have been down for way longer. I didn’t have access to text messages or Internet for that whole week. I couldn’t confidently do that without managed hosting.
What’s next for karmaCRM?
We’re working on a niche CRM app built for the unique needs of professional speakers called KarmaSpeaker. We’re trying to move away from the competitive general CRM market and into a more specific one. That’s our next big focus: to create and roll out a product that falls into the needs of a particular market very well.
Stressed about servers? Find some peace of mind with managed hosting—contact us today.