Montreal Tech Watch

While technically MontrealTechWatch focuses on Technology and Innovation in Montreal, it’s with pleasure that I hear what’s being done in Ottawa, especially by Scott Lake (see startupottawa), Scott Annan, or Aydin Mirzaee.

Scott Annan, who was a regular contributor to StartupOttawa, was nowhere to be found though for the past 6 months… which for an entrepreneur means that he was working non-stop on a new project, unveiled today. The application’s name is Network Hippo, and it’s a CRM focusing on quality and qualification of relationships.

The product is designed for consultants, individuals, as well as small businesses. In an earlier blog post, Scott Annan tells how rotten the CRM market is, with most providers selling unusable entreprise software. NetworkHippo’s bet is then to focus on contacts; with its unique algorithms, it will be then be able to show in a glance the deal flow as well highligting the best opportunities.

Unlike popular competitors like HighriseHQ, NetworkHippo offers email integration via imap (good!), free trials and free plans for individuals, plus also integration with social networks (for instance, showing the Twitter stream of your contact).

I am in no way qualified to state if NetworkHippo is going to revolutionize the CRM market. I have to say though that it brings fresh ideas, in a space where you always need a whole week to learn your way around a software… and then fight with the software every day after that. The clean user interface, the focus on usability, great prices, and the team’s experience (it’s the version 2 after dexapp) gives it winning points and get them quickly customers.

Congrats to the whole team at Mercury Grove!