Small tech startups almost always face the same dilemma when choosing a CRM: do you go with an unaffordable giant (like Salesforce or HubSpot Enterprise) or do you cobble together a fragile Frankenstein-like setup using cheap tools and Zapier?

Both options have major drawbacks:

• The Monolith: A single tool that has to do everything (sales, onboarding, support, engineering triage) quickly becomes a bottleneck. Every workflow must fit within the limitations of that one system. Moreover, per-user licensing costs skyrocket as soon as you add modules.
• The Frankenstein setup: Stringing together disparate tools with Zapier is inexpensive to get started with, but it will inevitably break as soon as you change APIs or your data volume grows.

The solution: Modular consolidation (e.g., via Odoo). Choose a system with a modular structure based on a single central database ("Single Source of Truth"). With platforms such as Odoo, you install separate, lightweight modules: the CRM app for sales, the Project app for onboarding, and the Helpdesk app for triage.

They operate as separate, fast-loading apps but automatically share customer information. When a deal is marked as “Won” in the CRM, an onboarding project is immediately set up. You get a clean customer history and reliable automations without paying the high price of enterprise packages.