OnePageCRM, founded by Michael FitzGerald, is an innovative sales management platform that reimagines Customer Relationship Management (CRM) for small businesses. Leveraging his experience with dyslexia and background in engineering and product design, Michael created a CRM solution that prioritises efficiency and user-friendly design. The platform’s unique “Action Stream” feature provides a holistic view of sales processes, enabling business owners to convert prospects more effectively with minimal administrative overhead. Michael’s approach to product development is deeply influenced by his dyslexic perspective, which emphasises simplicity, speed, and cutting through unnecessary complexity.
By focusing on what matters most—the next action to move a sale forward—OnePageCRM has distinguished itself in a competitive market. Recognised by Forbes Advisor as the top simple CRM with a 4.9/5 rating, the platform embodies Michael’s commitment to creating tools that genuinely support salespeople and entrepreneurs in their day-to-day operations.
- How has Michael’s experience with dyslexia influenced the direction of his career before he started OnePageCRM?
Michael chose a career path where he could work with concepts. As a Manufacturing Engineer, he would solve the big picture issue while others would focus on the detailed design and building. This big-picture view helps him identify issues. For example, in one case by looking at a production line holistically (all machines, processes, and people involved), Michael noticed inefficiencies and reduced the headcount needed from 27 people to 17. This led to a major reduction in costs. At that time, manufacturing in Ireland was under a lot of pressure because of rising employment costs.
From engineering, Michael transitioned into product development in the Concept department of Slendertone. This new job required him again to work with the bigger picture and collaborate with multiple external and internal stakeholders.
- What inspired Michael FitzGerald to create OnePageCRM, and how did his background in web development shape its design?
Michael was running a small business and wanted to grow it. At that time, all the existing solutions were built for managers, not salespeople or business owners. Sales managers need fancy charts and graphs, which are always the result of deliberate sales efforts. Michael noticed that there wasn’t a solution to support the sales efforts of business owners and salespeople. So he decided to build one himself.
This is a short story of how the Action Stream was born. The Action Stream is a unique feature of OnePageCRM, its cornerstone. The Action Stream shows a big-picture view of a sales process and helps salespeople and business owners convert prospects into customers in a simple and proactive way.
Several influences shaped the app’s design. Michael had experience in web design before building the product but he also worked with physical consumer products in Slendertone. Michael also used to design bicycle components for SRAM. This experience in the interactive consumer industry was invaluable for creating a simple and user-friendly digital product. In the interactive consumer industry, the bar is extremely high. If a product doesn’t live up to consumers’ expectations, you fail.
- What are some unique perspectives Michael’s dyslexia brings to his approach to product innovation?
Dyslexia brings a unique way of problem-solving. In Michael’s case, it’s through the lens of efficiency, in particular the efficiency of the user experience. Less clicks, less noise, less everything. The dyslexia character is impatient with unnecessarily long-winded approaches to anything in life.
- In what ways does OnePageCRM help small businesses achieve proactive sales management?
Focus! Small businesses are extremely busy and wearing multiple hats at work. They need to dip in and out of the sales function with ultra efficiency. When they do get in, they want to move the sale forward. That’s why the focus on what needs to be done next is so important—and OnePageCRM helps with this.
Staying focused is what brings results, not the charts or the extra admin work commonly found in other CRMs. In sales, speed and focus matter—or you risk losing prospects to your competitors.
- How did you go about building the team around the company to ensure its success, has this process changed since the beginning?
It’s easy to get stuck in day-to-day work and forget about the vision. However, the vision and direction are important for the company’s growth trajectory. Michael helps the team see the bigger-picture view and does his best to empower staff. Empowering a team is not a simple task. It was a learning process that keeps getting refined as the time goes.
While Michael is the product person with a clear vision, everyone on the team contributes to business success in their own way. Michael’s big-picture view helps him recognize the strengths of each team member and notice inefficiencies in team processes before they start causing issues.
- What benefits has Michael found in his dyslexia that positively impact his work as an entrepreneur?
It has a huge impact and benefit in being able to see past the fluff. Some things are distractions dressed up as opportunities—and dyslexia helps identify them. Building a CRM is a never-ending process with endless opportunities for new features. Michael is good at knowing what’s part of the original vision (keeping an eye on the bigger picture) and what would only add bloat.
- How did OnePageCRM’s “Next Actions” feature come to be, and why is it particularly effective for users?
Michael strives for efficiency. After reading, or rather listening to the GTD (Getting Things Done) book by David Allen, Michael recognized that the GTD approach is a very effective way to do sales too. In Michael’s opinion, it can be successfully used for sales, not only for task and project management as proposed by the book’s author.
In sales, the “task path” is unpredictable compared to project management. The prospect can throw anything in your way. This makes it difficult to plan too far down the road. Instead, it makes more sense to just focus on the next action that will move the sale forward.
Project managers deal with many tasks for a low number of projects whereas salespeople work with single tasks (actions) for a high number of prospects.
- What recognition has OnePageCRM received, and how does it reflect Michael’s goals for the platform?
Forbes Advisor has rated OnePageCRM as (by far) the best simple CRM on the market with a rating of 4.9 out of 5 and with the nearest competitor at 4.2. This is a reflection of the strive for perfection in product and technical competence of OnePageCRM’s team. A good product needs a good concept, good design / UX, good copy, fast response, 100% uptime, great support, easy configuration, easy understanding, and more. This is a tall order—only those who strive for the top will survive in the competitive CRM industry.
- Are there any other people companies or programmes in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion that you are a big fan of?
Diversity is not just about ticking a box. It’s about valuing differences and making sure that all voices are heard. At OnePageCRM, we are proud to have a mix of people from different backgrounds and with different life experiences. This balance ensures that we are not blinkered in our thinking.
There’s no one correct way to business growth so the variety of perspectives is super important for success. At OnePageCRM, we are hiring for character. So seek out characters in your business – characters that help the team grow, push back when needed, and add to the culture.