Codie Sanchez is the founder and CEO of Contrarian Thinking, a financial media company with over 8 million followers, and author of the NYT bestselling book 'Main Street Millionaire.' A former Wall Street executive and award-winning journalist, she built a portfolio of 26-30 'boring businesses' - think laundromats, car washes, and handyman services - and teaches her audience how ordinary businesses can create extraordinary wealth. Her weekly newsletter reaches over 1 million readers, and her mission is to create 1 million financially free humans through business ownership.
Tara McMullin is a writer, podcaster, and business philosopher who helps small business owners build sustainable, humane companies. Formerly known as Tara Gentile, she spent a decade building a formidable reputation before reclaiming her own name in 2018. She is the founder of What Works, a digital platform and podcast downloaded over 2 million times, co-founder of YellowHouse.Media, and author of books including 'What Works' (Wiley). Drawing on feminist theory, critical sociology, and media studies, she challenges conventional business wisdom with intellectual rigor and a sharp editorial voice.
Insightly is a San Francisco-based SaaS CRM platform founded in 2009 by Anthony Smith in Perth, Australia. It offers an integrated suite of CRM, marketing automation, and customer service tools targeting small to mid-sized businesses and mid-market companies. With over 1.5 million users across 200+ countries and ~25,000 customer organizations, Insightly differentiates itself through deep integrations with Google Workspace and Microsoft 365, a unified platform (CRM + marketing + service), and mid-market pricing. In July 2024, Insightly was acquired by private equity firm Crest Rock Partners and merged with Unbounce, the Vancouver-based landing page platform. In December 2025 it launched an AI Copilot for natural-language CRM interactions.
Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) is an all-in-one CRM and marketing/sales automation platform built exclusively for small businesses. Founded in 2001 in Arizona by Clate Mask and the Martineau brothers, Keap helps entrepreneurs automate follow-up, manage contacts, process payments, and grow revenue through a unified platform. With over 31,500 customers, $85M+ in annual revenue, and a history of processing billions in payments, Keap is a leading SMB-focused CRM that was acquired by Thryv Holdings in October 2024 for $80M.
Less Annoying CRM (LACRM) is a bootstrapped, self-funded SaaS company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, that builds a deliberately simple and affordable CRM designed exclusively for small businesses. Founded in 2009 by brothers Tyler and Bracken King, the company has grown to serve 100,000+ users across 70+ countries with a single flat-rate pricing tier of $15/user/month — no contracts, no hidden fees, and free customer support included. Rated #1 easiest-to-use CRM on G2 and named Best CRM by U.S. News & World Report multiple years running, LACRM stands out for its radical simplicity, customer-first culture, and commitment to never taking outside investment.
Maximizer is one of the world's oldest CRM software companies, founded in 1987 in Vancouver, Canada — predating Salesforce by 12 years. It provides a powerful, customizable CRM platform targeting sales teams, SMBs, and financial services professionals including wealth managers, financial advisors, and insurance brokers. With 120,000+ customers and 1 million+ users over its 35+ year history, Maximizer offers cloud, on-premises, and hybrid deployments with a strong focus on data sovereignty (Canadian and UK data centers). In 2023, the original founder Mark Loveys re-acquired the company, signaling a renewed focus on its core identity as a CRM built for sales leaders. In 2024–2025, Maximizer launched a purpose-built Financial Services Edition and IQ Boost, a Canadian-built AI tool helping financial advisors navigate Canada's $1-trillion intergenerational wealth transfer.
Streak is a CRM platform built entirely inside Gmail, enabling sales, recruiting, fundraising, and support teams to manage pipelines, contacts, and workflows without leaving their inbox. Founded in 2011 by ex-Googlers Aleem Mawani and Omar Ismail through Y Combinator, Streak has grown to 750,000+ users and ~$10M ARR while remaining lean (~35 employees) and profitable — having raised only $1.9M and never pursued follow-on venture funding. It is Google's G Suite Technology Partner of the Year and one of the most capital-efficient CRM companies in the market.
Zoho CRM is the flagship product of Zoho Corporation, a bootstrapped Indian SaaS powerhouse founded in 1996 that has never taken external funding yet grown to over $1.4 billion in annual revenue and 1 million+ paying customers. Zoho CRM is a cloud-based customer relationship management platform used by 250,000+ businesses in 180+ countries, offering AI-powered sales automation, marketing automation, and omnichannel communication—all at a fraction of competitor pricing. Zoho Corporation's wider suite of 55+ integrated business applications makes it one of the most comprehensive software vendors in the world, competing simultaneously with Salesforce, Microsoft, Google, and SAP while championing privacy, rural employment, and long-term independence over short-term shareholder returns.
Harper (YC W25) is an AI-native commercial insurance brokerage that turns the $100B+ industry of email and spreadsheets into a fully autonomous engine for Main Street America. Co-founded by Dakotah Rice and Tushar Nair — two Goldman Sachs alumni who swore they'd never work in insurance — Harper uses its internal AI platform, Harper Hub, to automate form completion, carrier matching across 160+ carriers, underwriter follow-ups, and client communications. The result: 1–2 day quotes instead of 5–7, 85% success rate on traditionally 'uninsurable' cases, 5,000+ businesses covered across 35 states, and 1,000+ customers handled per month versus 20–30 for a typical human brokerage. Backed by $54M in total funding led by Emergence Capital, Peak XV, and Y Combinator. Named after Dakotah's mother's maiden name.