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CRM Discipline

Every founder I talk to has a CRM with 500 contacts, 12 stages, and zero discipline. Data is stale. Deals sit in the same stage for months. Nobody knows what’s real.

As James Clear says in Atomic Habits you have to make a habit easy. I make the following easy:

• Pipeline hygiene: Clean data, accurate stages, real close dates
• Activity tracking: Every call, email, and meeting logged with context
• Deal reviews: Weekly pipeline reviews that actually move deals forward
• Automation: Rules and workflows that keep the CRM clean without manual effort
• Dashboards: Real-time views of pipeline health, conversion rates, and velocity

When your CRM tells you the truth, you make better decisions. When it doesn’t, you’re sweating when your VC asks for CRM access.

The Tool Stack: Superhuman, Attio, Granola, Claude & Linear

Superhuman for Founder Messaging & Velocity

Don’t understimate how much you’ll want to be involved. I work with founders who are just starting to sell. Early outbound requires a tight feedback loop with founders to hit the right tone without over-explaining. Superhuman is ideal for drafting, sharing snippets, and keeping response times down. I want to ensure you’re not dumping too much technical detail into initial emails or adding friction.

However, I do find the Superhuman native inbox reminders quickly turn into a cluttered, unmanageable mess as my personalized outbound volume scales (yes, I outbound outside of a sequencer as well). The solution is separating communication speed from deal management: use Superhuman strictly for rapid drafting and inbox execution, then offload strategic follow-ups directly into your CRM.

Customizing Attio as the Operational Backbone

Attio’s Deals object is bare-bones. You must explicitly model your business mechanics and campaign data:

               [Attio Deal Record]
                        │
    ┌───────────────────┼───────────────────┐
    ▼                   ▼                   ▼
Custom Fields      Attio Tasks       File Tracking
• Days in Stage    • Deal Chronology  • Missing NDAs
• Service Type     • Next Steps       • Quotes & POCs
• Referral Partner • Health Score

1. Deal Mechanics & Stage Analytics

• Pipeline Attributes: Add Close Date, Service Rendered (to distinguish software from services), and Referral Partner to track partner-led pipeline.
• Funnel Velocity: Create a custom formula for Days in Stage powered by a Stage Entry Date attribute. This yields real funnel statistics to diagnose stuck deals before momentum dies. I then export to Claude and run sales reporting week over week.
• Account Health: Add Next Steps, MEDDPICC status, and a dedicated Health Score attribute for active customers.

2. Workflow & Task Hygiene

• Instead of relying on email snoozes, track the deal chronology via the Next Steps field and manage execution using Attio Tasks.
• File Tracking: Configure Attio to verify required deal documentation—flagging missing NDAs, quotes, or POC evaluation templates automatically. You’ll need a checkbox field like “Has File” on the deal object since Files is not queryable yet (August 2026)
• Campaign Sync: Build a custom Campaigns object synced directly with Instantly to maintain full visibility over which contacts received specific outbound messaging.

External Intelligence: Granola & Claude pre-call prep

Debugging complex native CRM automations in Attio really sucks. It’s great at structured record keeping. Pushing notes and running pre-call prep externally creates a much smoother revenue workflow:

• Granola Notes to Attio: Automatically push raw Granola call notes directly into the corresponding Attio Deal object. An automated Attio workflow then reviews transcripts against MEDDPICC criteria to evaluate deal strength.
• Claude Skill + Slack Pre-Call Prep: Skip the friction of debugging in-CRM workflows. Instead, pass deal context to a custom Claude Skill that analyzes the company and meeting particpants and sends a prep briefing straight to a designated Slack channel before the next call. Webhooks work!

Using Linear for Operations & Knowledge Retention

Linear is built for high-velocity issue tracking, but using it to manage messaging revisions, campaign sign-offs, or lead list approvals adds unnecessary operational noise.

   [ Linear Workspace ]
            │
            ├── ❌ Outbound Messaging & Approvals  (Too cumbersome)
            │
            └── ✅ Knowledge Repository (Permanent Signal)
                   ├── Objection Handling Rules
                   ├── Product Roadmap Requests
                   ├── Competitor Battlecards
                   └── Operations Documentation

Reserve Linear for permanent GTM knowledge storage—storing objection handbooks, feature requests tied to deal blockers, competitive intelligence, and operational documentation that would otherwise get lost in Slack threads.