Share Contacts with Your Team - folk

Folk: A New Approach to Relationship Management

A novel productivity application, Folk, has been launched by European startup studio eFounders. The startup has recently secured $3.3 million in seed funding, spearheaded by Accel, alongside a substantial cohort of angel investors.

The Limitations of Current Contact Management Systems

Conventional wisdom suggests that professional contact and relationship management is a well-addressed area. Numerous products and companies have arisen to tackle this challenge, most notably within the realm of CRM systems.

However, what precisely does CRM – Customer Relationship Management – entail? If a team’s work doesn’t revolve around customers, then traditional CRMs may not be the optimal solution.

Introducing xRM: Beyond Customer Relationships

Teams in public relations, logistics, event planning, and similar fields interact with journalists, suppliers, partners, and other key stakeholders. Folk aims to provide a relationship management solution tailored for these non-customer-centric teams.

Often, these teams rely on shared spreadsheets or maintain information in isolated silos. Folk seeks to address this inefficiency.

The company is pioneering a new category, termed “xRM” – extended relationship manager. According to Folk CEO Thibaud Elziere, “The ‘x’ in xRM represents anyone; it facilitates managing not only clients but also journalists, suppliers, and partners.”

Folk’s Interface and Functionality

Folk’s interface is visually reminiscent of a spreadsheet, allowing for the addition of custom columns to store specific details.

Progress tracking is enabled through the use of tags. Similar to Airtable, Folk offers filtering, data rearrangement, and sorting capabilities.

Detailed Contact Pages and Collaboration

Selecting a contact opens a dedicated page for more comfortable data modification and comprehensive information viewing.

This page allows for the addition of comments, contact assignment to colleagues, and a review of all interactions with that contact.

Seamless Integration with Existing Tools

Folk integrates directly with Gmail and Google Calendar, automatically importing data regarding meetings and email correspondence.

This ensures team-wide visibility into contact engagement. Users retain control over privacy, with the option to share specific contacts while keeping others private.

Investor Support and Leadership

The seed round included participation from 35 investors, many of whom are experienced operators within their respective companies.

A complete list of investors can be found at the conclusion of this article.

Notably, Folk’s CEO, Thibaud Elziere, is also a co-founder at eFounders, a startup studio responsible for the creation of successful SaaS tools like Front, Aircall, and Spendesk.

His extensive network of contacts is expected to be a valuable asset in driving Folk’s commercial success.