Yeah, integration work never ends but having a few popular ones built in + api and docs goes a long way. I've honestly never seen anyone in mid/big companies consider Zapier, but it's been a few years since I was in that space, so could have changed. Getting into those bigger companies, you're basically going to need everything, or hope for a small team within the company to like your CRM.
Those small teams/companies basically want a simple Hubspot, not salesforce, but a lot of times, they don't really know the difference. Something that can take Apollo leads, build some "simple" email campaigns [1], some landing pages [2], track one-off emails and report on all that for cheaper than the $25k/yr or whatever hubspot charges would be a great tool. I know, not exactly a CRM, but people call it that.
I don't think it matters if you integrate other providers or build it in, but having an easy setup where users don't have to go sign up, manage and integrate with a bunch of other services could help you get the small/startup space.
[1] Lots of things to deal with if you're taking on the email sending & tracking part, automated clicks, safari privacy, etc.
[2] This is a can of worms, but being able to build simple landing pages for people to click on from an email is pretty important.
While the boundaries continues to fade, what you described is generally called a Marketing Automation system. Hubspot is becoming more CRM now, but its roots were and still are Marketing Automation.
Those small teams/companies basically want a simple Hubspot, not salesforce, but a lot of times, they don't really know the difference. Something that can take Apollo leads, build some "simple" email campaigns [1], some landing pages [2], track one-off emails and report on all that for cheaper than the $25k/yr or whatever hubspot charges would be a great tool. I know, not exactly a CRM, but people call it that.
I don't think it matters if you integrate other providers or build it in, but having an easy setup where users don't have to go sign up, manage and integrate with a bunch of other services could help you get the small/startup space.
[1] Lots of things to deal with if you're taking on the email sending & tracking part, automated clicks, safari privacy, etc. [2] This is a can of worms, but being able to build simple landing pages for people to click on from an email is pretty important.