Let's face it: most of us spend a humongous chunk of our workday using email. Even with the onslaught of team chat apps and communication platforms, the new architecture of these tools—while brilliant—simply hasn't yet replaced traditional methods of correspondence. 

So it's a good thing when other tools we rely on for work can be baked into email itself. Streak, a flexible CRM tool that lives inside your Gmail inbox, is that kind of tool. It's designed so that you can manage your pipeline without having to constantly hop between apps for a comprehensive overview of leads. 

If you find yourself in need of a CRM to manage leads (or already have one but grow tired of hopping in and out of Gmail), Streak's easy pipeline layout is a life-saver. Plus, if your inbox is a mess, then Streak just might be your new (tidy) best friend with a penchant for organization.

Streak origins: Casting away the chaos of multiple services

Streak was founded in 2011 by Aleem Mawani (a former product manager at Google) and Omar Ismail (founder of ProductWiki). Frustrated with the constant switching between their inboxes and external systems, they set out to create a solution.  

Back then, most people who were trying to track customers (or leads) were using a separate CRM and email app. Feeding information into different systems and keeping track of emails required a ton of extra work. 

The founders bypassed this by creating a CRM extension for Chrome. That way, people could close more deals faster, resolve more tickets, and essentially manage everyday processes directly within Gmail. 

Streak today: Streamlining pipelines in Gmail

Today, thousands of customers worldwide use Streak across HR, sales, project management, customer support, real estate, and even journalism. Its similarity to spreadsheets makes it appealing to lots of users and cuts out the steep learning curve of learning new software. 

Users get custom views of their pipelines and can search, filter, and sort their data directly in their inbox. Teams can also track and share every interaction with each other so everyone gets the context they need when communicating with leads.  

Acceleration through automation: Popular Streak workflows 

Unlock even more value out of your CRM by connecting Streak with Zapier. That way, you'll be able to easily automate workflows with other apps you use. Here are a few popular workflows to get you started: