What’s your tech stack? It’s one of those questions that sounds simple until you’re actually in the middle of it.
For a lean agency like ours juggling strategy, content, design, client approvals, and deliverables all at once, building the right operational system is genuinely hard. Picking a tool is the easy part. The harder work is making time to configure it properly, map out how work should ideally flow, and being willing to let go of processes that no longer serve you.
Most people skip over that part or underestimate it. Taking things apart, testing options, and rebuilding from scratch is a real disruption. But the investment is worth it.
We’ve been there more than once.
The Breaking Point
As Captiva grew, one side of our operations was working and one side wasn’t.
On the project management side, we had a system that kept work organized and moving. But on the business development side, we were still running things too manually. Lead capture, nurture sequences, follow-up reminders all of it lived in our heads, our inboxes, and a patchwork of tools that didn’t talk to each other.
On top of that, we were toggling between too many platforms to do things that should have lived in one place. Every time we onboarded a new client or followed up with a warm lead, it meant jumping between tools, copying information, and hoping nothing slipped through.
What we really wanted wasn’t just a better CRM or a better project management tool. We wanted one system that could hold both sides of the business and actually connect our processes.
That’s what sent us searching.
The Search
We started where most people start: the big names. We’ve used Asana, Wrike, and ClickUp over the years. Each one has real strengths. None of them quite fit the way our team has evolved.
We also looked at HubSpot (excellent CRM, not a true project management tool, and the price climbs fast), Zoho Projects (solid, but not flexible enough for agency workflows), and HighLevel (powerful for marketing automation, but not built for robust project management and requires significant setup).
The frustrating part is that most platforms are designed for enterprise sales teams not for a small agency managing strategy, lead follow-ups, client relationships, deliverables, and operations all in the same breath.
Every platform promised to solve everything. The reality was more complicated.
The Shift
At some point, we stopped asking “which tool has the most features?” and started asking a different question: which tool can adapt to how we actually work?
To borrow a line from the movie Miracle — we weren’t looking for the best platform. We were looking for the right one.
That’s how we landed on Notion.
Technically, it’s not a native CRM or project management system. And that’s exactly why it works for us. Notion doesn’t force you into its structure. You build the structure around your team.
We brought in someone already using Notion who understands agency workflows to help us customize from the inside, building pipelines, task dependencies, resource management, and a knowledge base all in one place. The flexibility and room to grow is built in.
Where We Are Now
We made the switch several months ago and we’re still discovering what the system can do. That’s a good sign. It means it has room to grow with us.
The difference is already clear. Better team visibility, business development no longer running on memory or silos, and work not disappearing into email threads. Winning!
Next challenge on our plate to tackle: automations and AI integrations.
But the biggest lesson surprised us. We spent months evaluating tools. Turns out, choosing the tool was the easy part. What actually made the difference was slowing down to design a system around how we work, not the other way around.
We also learned you don’t have to figure it out alone. Leveraging the experience of people who’ve already built what you need is one of the fastest ways to get there.
The Stack Snapshot
Past tools: Asana | Wrike | ClickUp
Strong contenders: HubSpot | Zoho Projects | HighLevel
Current system: Notion (custom-built hybrid PM + CRM)
Your Turn
What tool has made the biggest difference for how you and your team operate? We’d love to know.
