Andrew 21 Dec 05

Looking forward to it. Any plans to continue the 37Signals’ family of apps integration? In other words, will this play nice with Basecamp?

Bill Preachuk 21 Dec 05

Great news! I’m looking forward to seeing it at the workshop.

My wife (who runs her own Pilates Studio) is anxiously waiting to become one of your first customers…

brian 21 Dec 05

Sweet! Finally!

Any hint about the pricing model? Like will there be a contact limit or something for free accounts? Will there be free accounts?

David Heinemeier Hansson 21 Dec 05

All our products will always have a free version. We’ll announce final pricing when Sunrise goes live. Expect Basecamp’ish levels.

Brian Breslin 21 Dec 05

so wait, did i miss out on finding out what campfire was?

crm-ish? hmmm consider my curiosity piqued.

Me 21 Dec 05

Just FYI: not all your readers know what “CMR” or “CMR-ish” means. Maybe try *explaining* your acronyms before branding your products with them.

Luc 21 Dec 05

(CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management)

JF 21 Dec 05

We’re not really going to use “CRM” much in the actual description of the product, but we’re using it loosely here to just define it early on.

myshpa 21 Dec 05

You’ve stolen my idea! DAMN! :)

Matt 21 Dec 05

You guys are turning into hippies with these names. What’s next Moonflower? Drumcircle? :)

brian 21 Dec 05

Cool. Thanks for the response.

I guess, really, all you guys need now is some kind of clever “mind-mapping” software or something to that effect, and I’ll have no reason to ever use anything but your software.

Anything like that in the works?

JF 21 Dec 05

Mindmapping? Nope.

MH 21 Dec 05

Slightly OT: glancing over at the 37S application icons/logos, I just noticed that Backpack and Basecamp’s “snowglobes” are blue, whereas Writeboard and Ta-da List’s are white.

Is there some significance to the coloring? The only thing I can guess is that the white apps are free and the blue ones have a pay version…

JF 21 Dec 05

MH, Writeboard and Ta-da are totally free products. Basecamp and Backpack are pay.

David Heinemeier Hansson 21 Dec 05

BTW, for those keeping tab on Rails development, we’ve already started abstracting the tech we’re using in Sunrise. Polymorphic associations and join models are both abstractions from Sunrise. The same goes for form_for/fields_for. All features targeted for Rails 1.1 but available in Edge Rails today.

Michael 21 Dec 05

Hey All,

We’ve been working on a similar project the last couple of months— a simple CRM for small businesses. We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible, but still useful.

We’re even using Ruby on Rails for development :)

Though going head-to-head with 37Signals is not something we planned on, we think the market’s probably large enough for us both, as this is definitely a well-defined unmet need.

We’ll be running a beta test starting in early January. If any of your are interested in participating, just send an email to [email protected] (no spam, we promise).

Thanks,
Michael

Dave 21 Dec 05

I can’t wait until they release Bear Attack.

Jacob Patton 21 Dec 05

David, will there be an API available for Sunrise? I certainly hope so.

mike doan 21 Dec 05

When people suggested that the Campfire announcement was an announcement for a CRM, I rejected the idea. But now I’m a little surprised by the announcement of Sunrise as a CRM-ish app.

37s seems to release products that are useful to them internally as well as the fortune $5MM. I can’t imagine why 37s would have a need for a CRM app internally, in the traditional sense of “CRM”. This is probably why they are saying it’s CRM-ish.

I can’t wait to see what Sunrise is really about!

Amders Tpxnpe 21 Dec 05

My guess is a Wiki CRM … so that they can reuse parts of their existing writeboard.

John S. 21 Dec 05

I wonder what the URL will be…sunrisehq.com isn’t registered by anyone…

John S. 21 Dec 05

Scratch that, it’s not…it was registered early today.

i see comments have been turned back on 21 Dec 05

Chiggerbite should be out early 2007.

Kyle 21 Dec 05

Campfire sounds like a small, easy to use online chat/conference tool for small business.

Sunrise just sounds useful, and I can’t wait to try it out!

And, David, thanks for the info on Rails — looking forward to giving it a shot!

Matt 21 Dec 05

Hi,

Everything sounds great. I’d love to add another vote for integration with Basecamp though. If done correctly this could make it much more helpful.

-Matt

Reinier Meenhorst /Djust.nl 21 Dec 05

Wow, great! Any chance we’ll see this in your presentation London, David?

Hunter 21 Dec 05

David -

What is the best way to get info on new features in Edge Rails… Of course I could read the source of the trunk but is there an easy way to see what has changed from the Web interface?

I assume no doco has been written yet.

pwb 21 Dec 05

I think this is a great call. It will be interesting to see the angle. CRM can sometimes be sales, marketing, email management or just plain customer management.

Ideas for more 37s services: workflow, ticketing (ie help desk), accounting, invoicing, bug tracking.

The time is ripe for these supposed mature categories to have some new entrants starting from scratch and targetting the smaller biz space.

Benjy 21 Dec 05

They could call a bug tracking app “Bug Juice” and keep the camp-related names going :)

Michael 21 Dec 05

Why dont people wait and see what it is all about, before they start praising the so called sunrise CRM’ish application. What a load of hype!

Its just a matter of time before the market is flooded with similar apps as the 37signals, especially because they are so damn simple.

Every year some sort of trend emerges on the web, and I guess that 2005 is the year of signals and rails … But then comes next year, and there is some new thing around to be hyped about.

Personally I think that 37signal apps are mediocre and actually not the usefull. I don’t see the value in them. But a lot of people do, and who am I to argue against popularity? But then thats exactly what they are; popular, a trend, that eventually becomes boring, and unpopular…. but then a new “camp’ish / wood’ish / outdoor’sy” name is announced, and here we go again. My god!….

JF 21 Dec 05

Michael, I don’t think people use our apps because they’re popular, people use them because they find them useful and valuable to running their business or organization. I’m sorry you don’t find them as useful and valuable as other people do, but I’m sure there are other products out there that may be a better fit for you.

Sam 21 Dec 05

If you’ve done it right, this should be your biggest hit yet.

From personal experience, managing contacts and information about prospects and clients among our small team and the fact that we mostly work remote from each other is a big challenge and is time consuming.

An app that can put us all on the same page while building a customer database would be a huge step forward.

One thing you might give thought to is how to get existing info into your Sunrise app. That would make it the killerest.

Dear Santa 21 Dec 05

Since the guys at 37S are being so giving and letting us know about Sunrise, all I want for the holidays is to know what the hell Campfire is.

I’ve been good all year, so please cut me some slack,
Little Timmy

Fred 21 Dec 05

Now all I need is an app to make cold calls for me.

Fred 21 Dec 05

How about those that want to use your free products, like Ta Da List, but want to run it themselves? I don’t want to depend on someone running this for free. One day it will go away, along with everything I’ve put into it.

How about explaining the license to this service/software? I would like to see it as open source.

Thanks!

Fred

Patrick Hall 21 Dec 05

Good god you read my mind.

BLESS YOU.

Eric 21 Dec 05

That was just the idea I was starting to work on. Oh well there are enough ideas to go around.

Fred S 21 Dec 05

Two Freds? Ok, from now on, I’m Fred S

campfire 22 Dec 05

Campfire == Customer support (Post sales)

Sunrise == CRM (Pre sales)

Alex Schroeder 22 Dec 05

Hm, I only worry about the name… Sunrise is a telco here in Switzerland — www.sunrise.ch.

Its ME 22 Dec 05

What I want to know is where is the shopping cart, e-commerce, all in one, easy to use software. All carts out there suck and nothing is flexible enough for the small business. Fix that and you’ll have my cash. ;)

Kyle 22 Dec 05

What I want to know is where is the shopping cart, e-commerce, all in one, easy to use software.

I think Shopify will be taking care of that one.

Rimantas 22 Dec 05

Its just a matter of time before the market is flooded with similar apps as the 37signals, especially because they are so damn simple.

It’s not the idea, it’s the execution. You may wait for years for
a big original idea to come, or you may take something simple and implement it better than it was done before.

Custom Web Design 22 Dec 05

Oh , very interesting .I hope you will do it well.

Rick 22 Dec 05

When, exactly, did you ‘change the small business project management’?

Sharaf 22 Dec 05

I do like what you guys have done so far, but….

I think what will be nice is if all of these 37 Signals web apps are integrated together somehow. I am tired of remembering a login for each service, Ta-Da List, Writeboard, Basecamp, Sunrise, Campfire, Backpack . I already have enought logins to remember.

Look at what Google is doing. They have come up with a Google Key which essentially combines all user/pass into one login for all of their services, Gmail to Adwords…it is great.

I think since you advocate simplicity…it will be a good idea to simplify your user access system.

Seth Weintraub 22 Dec 05

Please have a super duper import feature in this CRM from say NOW Contacts/Up-to-date.

Please please please

JF 22 Dec 05

We will definitely have vCard importing and exporting.

JF 22 Dec 05

I should mention that Sunrise will be “CRM-ish” — we think the whole concept of CRM is broken for small biz so we’re not following any existing models.

Kathy Sierra 22 Dec 05

“But then thats exactly what they are; popular, a trend, that eventually becomes boring, and unpopular�.”

There’s a big difference between “trend” and “fad”. A “fad” is a one-hit wonder that eventually becomes boring and unpopular, but a “trend” (which I believe the 37signals apps reflect) is a fundamental shift that speaks to underlying needs, interests, and/or desires. (I remember my boss telling me how the Web was a “fad”).

If I had a dime for everytime I heard someone call something a “fad” that turned out to be a “trend”, I wouldn’t have to write books for a living : ) Granted, it is often hard to know for certain at the beginning whether something really IS a long-term, deeper trend vs. a passing fad.

As a once-reluctant-now-happy Basecamp user, my money’s on trend.

Matt 22 Dec 05

Another shopping cart suggestion- have you tried monstercommerce.com? It’s great, and I have tons of clients with carts with them. They also don’t have shopify’s commission on sales. (not to get too off-topic).

-Matt

Mike Fullmore 22 Dec 05

Why don’t you try Salesforce.com, it’s easy to understand, not enterprisey. The advantage is salesforce will grow with your business. You may start off small but you want to get bigger? Right?

So go with a CRM tool that will go with you. Oh and there is nothing to install as this is a browser based tool.

Take a look at crmsuccess.

I think you’ll like it.

Alex Foley 22 Dec 05

37signals announces a CRM tool when SalesForce.com’s shares are hit by a database outage. Guerilla warfare? :)

eh 22 Dec 05

until you actually launch it, it’s not an innovative new thing, it’s vaporware.

Kurt 22 Dec 05

Salesforce.com is about the farthest from “Easy to Understand” you can get.

pwb 22 Dec 05

where is the shopping cart

Shopify is Rails-based.

Deirdre Saoirse Moen 22 Dec 05

Personally, I can hardly wait. While Backpack is the app I use the most, I’d like to see what else 37S has to offer. :)

Mat 23 Dec 05

Interesting but vague announcement. Seems that 37S productivity is still as high as ever - both in the development and marketing ‘departments’.

I noticed one or two comments mentioning competing applications (Michael).

Does 37 Signals now face a conflict of interest? It promotes a development platform for application developers (Ruby on Rails) and at the same time develops its own commercial applications. By doing both isn’t 37S competing with its own customers?

David Heinemeier Hansson 23 Dec 05

As far as I can tell, users of Ruby on Rails are not paying anything to 37signals for the pleasure of using the framework. Thus, they can hardly be called customers.

Rick Bateman 23 Dec 05

I am VERY interested in this. As the manager of our production departments (progamming, design, content, etc.) I have been occupied over the past year with putting “Agile” type methodologies in place throughout the company.

We are a 40 person company but I have worked in IT for banks, governments, and multinationals etc. over the past 25 years and you are dead right in your view of most softwares usability.

Our company has outgrown its current CRM-ish solution and the problem is that the next level of available solutions is a huge step we really don’t want to make because it IS overkill.

Your Basecamp solution has caught on like wildfire with my staff. I look forward with real interest to your Sunrise application.

Kind Regards
Rick Bateman
Manager, Corporate Projects
Etraffic Solutions Inc. - an eLearning company

Nik Cubrilovic 23 Dec 05

We are a small startup and we are using Salesforce only because it runs almost all of our backend. I would be interested to know if Sunrise will be just a glorified contact manager, or will it be a real replacement for existing CRM/ERP/SFA suites. You can’t lump CRM requirements by business size, we are less than 10 people and we use almost all of what Salesforce offers - and we actually *save* money by doing so.

You must be talking non-tech micro-businesses as your targets (there are many 1-2 man businesses).

JF 23 Dec 05

or will it be a real replacement for existing CRM/ERP/SFA suites

No, it won’t be a full featured replacement for your entire backend. It will do a few things well and then get out of your way. It’s an 80/20 app like our other apps.

christopher 24 Dec 05

JF - I understand and love the notion of doing a few things well! Like Nik’s post mentioned, as a small company we are keenly interested in Sunrise as a replacement for SugarCRM - or - might Sunrise present the option/ability to leverage what it [Sunrise] does well AND link/integrate with other apps (e.g. Sugar OS) and let them fill the gaps??

I guess what I am seeking is NOT a be all end all, but rather an app that has strengths and is open enough to let other apps fill in or connect its gaps

[hope that made sense]

-christopher

christopher 24 Dec 05

JF - I understand and love the notion of doing a few things well! Like Nik’s post mentioned, as a small company we are keenly interested in Sunrise as a replacement for SugarCRM - or - might Sunrise present the option/ability to leverage what it [Sunrise] does well AND link/integrate with other apps (e.g. Sugar OS) and let them fill the gaps??

I guess what I am seeking is NOT a be all end all, but rather an app that has strengths and is open enough to let other apps fill in or connect its gaps

[hope that made sense]

-christopher

JF 24 Dec 05

Christopher, I doubt you’ll be satisfied with Sunrise as a replacement for SugarCRM. Sugar is very full featured — an “everything and the kitchen sink” type of app. Sunrise not that at all.

Anyhow, no point in discussing this further as the app isn’t done yet. When it’s out have a look, but I don’t think it’ll be what you are looking for if SugarCRM-like functionality is what you need.

Garth 26 Dec 05

I’d be interested in seeing how this goes up against Microsoft CRM.

christopher 26 Dec 05

Thanks JF - it may sound rudimentary, but all that I want is (this sounds like a christmas list):
- Accounts
- Contacts (with grouping abilitty)
- Calendar
- Tasks (i.e. calls, mtgs, to-do, etc. could all be covered with a simple custom field)
- Notes
- Opportunity/projects group
- Someway to link to inbound & outbound emails
- and the ability to create numerous custom fields, categories, linked-relationships, and groups for all of the above.

It’s almost like a super customizable Basecamp

Mustafa 27 Dec 05

That’s what I LOVE about 37signals - they place fewer features in their apps and there “are” the features most ppl need.

Brandon 27 Dec 05

Wondering if this will synchronize with PDAs. Even some smaller companies are beginning to outfit their reps with Blackberries, Pocket PCs or Palms. We shall see.

Scott 28 Dec 05

I do a lot of work with web-based CRM applications like Salesforce.com for small, medium and large businesses. I am very interested in seeing your take on CRM. If you are looking for beta testers, please contact me.

RichC 28 Dec 05

This is exactly what I’m looking for and am looking forward to seeing how it fits my small publishing companies sales force. If you need another beta group (or single) send a note my direction. Otherwise keep Sunrise on the front burner.

ns_user 29 Dec 05

A couple folks have mentioned, but I would like to reiterate the importance of having a solution to migrate from current CRM applications. (Salesforce.com, SugarCRM + NetSuite)

Stuart Robertson 04 Jan 06

Very good to hear you’re focusing on making it easy to use for non-technical users — most CRMs (aside from blogging software) fall on their faces in that area.

Noah Aboussafy 04 Jan 06

I’m shocked only one person has brough up DayLite.

I kind of wonder if their lawyers won’t try and block this name.

Ariwal 09 Jan 06

Wow, I am keen to see this too. Good luck.

hi2005 17 Jan 06

i believe it’s a good news. small biz has a very different demands for their CRM systems. hope to catch up the latest updates.

JP 27 Jan 06

Good day, sunshine?

Anonymous Coward 28 Jan 06

dfsgggggh

lgomez 31 Jan 06

Any time soon now?

Anonymous Coward 02 Feb 06

eagarly awaiting…. When can we expect it to drop???

Vladimir 02 Feb 06

So, it should be out by now? Can you post any information? about when?

rickoman 02 Feb 06

Was very disappointed to not even get an update on the 27th. :( Any update would be greatly appreciated.

Pankaj Tyagi 08 Feb 06

When is the Sunrise!!! Deliver us from Darkness

Rocketman 14 Feb 06

heard about Basecamp on Venture Voice poscast, sounded good, tried it, loved it.

heard about Sunrise on another ediiton of Venture Voice, sounds like a good concept, the topic needs attention, for all the money invested in CRM tools, most are woeful, and I’ve seens lots of em… so bring it on

(by the way - when’s it coming out?)

Campfire? I dunno, but Skype does me and I run projects across 3 different continents, I’ll check it out tho just to see if I’m missing anything

Rocketman 14 Feb 06

heard about Basecamp on Venture Voice poscast, sounded good, tried it, loved it.

heard about Sunrise on another ediiton of Venture Voice, sounds like a good concept, the topic needs attention, for all the money invested in CRM tools, most are woeful, and I’ve seens lots of em… so bring it on

(by the way - when’s it coming out?)

Campfire? I dunno, but Skype does me and I run projects across 3 different continents, I’ll check it out tho just to see if I’m missing anything

Chris Potter 17 Feb 06

Jason,

Are you able to give us an approximate release-month for Sunrise?

I *really* need a CRM tool for my small biz, and I want to wait for Sunrise… but I can’t if it’s still too far out.

Any insight you could share would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Chris.

Adam 01 Mar 06

I’m in the same boat as Chris right above me. Any further news on the release?

Pankaj 06 Mar 06

Dear Jason:

Any updates for us? We have already postponed our implementation of a competing CRM system, but I can only hold off the barbarians at the gate for so long.

Soon we will have to go with a Big Ugly. I really don’t want to do it.

Please, Please give us some idea or else I’ll have to go on with other solutions.

Pankaj

derk 06 Mar 06

I’m in the same situation as Pankaj above.. could you guys please provide some insight on the expected release-date? thanks very much..

Core 09 Mar 06

Any update on the expected release date of Rails 1.1 would be very much appreciated.

derk 20 Mar 06

ehm… could you mystery people give some sign of life…?

Rick Bateman 20 Mar 06

Since there has been no sign of life here, and no responses to the emails I have sent directly, I have had to go with another solution. Now that I have done so it will be impossible to switch to Sunrise no matter how groovy it is.

If the crew had only provided us with a simple update I might have been able to hang in there. This PR fumble has certainly taken the shine off things for me. What a pity. I have a suggestion for a chapter in their next book…

Wulff 21 Mar 06

So, how are things moving along with your “CRM’ish” product, “Sunrise”?

On December 21st you stated something about launching
a CRM tool for small business SOON and that you were working on this product RIGHT NOW.

According to “Getting Real” principles like; “build less”, “flex scope”, “scale later”, “half, not half -assed”, “essentials only”, and of course “RACE to Running Software” …. then I would think that the product would be just around the corner?

But then again “Getting Real” doesn’t - to my knowledge - ever state clearly what all the above principles (plus many more) actually mean in terms of development TIME.

What is fast? Just “faster than”? What is less? Just “less than”? How long should the process/project from �start� to “first launch� (not beta:) of a new product be in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, (I’m sure not years!!!)?

Is it possible to draw a general conclusion on this?

Shannon Overman 21 Mar 06

I’m in the same boat. Been holding out but hard to keep doing so with no idea of a release date.

Rick Bateman - can you tell me what you decided to use? Any other suggestions much appreciated.

Ed Shull 27 Mar 06

I’m really looking forward to this. According to your own interviews, a product shouldn’t take more tha 3.5 months. I hope that means you’re just about done.

I like Salesforce.com, but anything you need to pay a consultant to help you use is too difficult. I’m really anxious to see what you come up with.

Richard 27 Mar 06

Any news on a date. We want to be web-based or at least web-enabled, which makes Daylite difficult. Have been looking at various Creative Management apps in Filemaker, and of course SugarCRM. New please?

Oh, and one important question will it “integrate” with Basecamp. It would be great to convert a lead to a project, and pull contacts into Basecamp.

Elymar Apao 27 Mar 06

Hello, we’re also interested in this. Our company is already subscribed to a couple of your services. Now, we’re looking for a CRM. We urgently need one. Our choice, at the moment, seems to be Salenet.com but we found that is was rather limiting - in runs only on Internet Explorer. We hope you can have this new service up soon.

Rick Bateman 28 Mar 06

In answer to Shannon Overman’s question above, we are implementing “ACT! Premium For The Web”. My experience with previous versions of ACT! has been frustrating. Going to this newer version is a case of going with “the devil you know”. I cannot yet say how the new web version will be.

Jo-Lee 28 Mar 06

I can almost guarantee my company will sign up…in fact I have been asked to find a CRM tool, and would love to say Sunrise if only I knew when it would be available…

Pankaj 30 Mar 06

So after doing a lot of Google searching (5 minutes) I feel that we will not see this product till “June 06”:http://sfdc.arrowpointe.com/taxonomy/category/competition/.

Reilly Sweetland 02 Apr 06

Given Rails 1.1’s enhancements in the area of API’s, can we assume that Sunrise will include one?

We are concerned with migration of data if we invest the time in another solution. But if there is an API, the community can build their own migration scripts if it came to that. Any words of wisdom there or on migration in general? (A common concern as I’ve seen above.)

And how about a release date? We’re dying here, guys!

Ron 08 Apr 06

I’m another one in the same boat - would love to give Sunrise a try, but due to the stonewall regarding its estimated release date, we’re going with Zoho CRM instead. Looks pretty good so far.

mark 20 Apr 06

sort of stating what’s probably the obvious here, but would the crm most likely include all of the other modules? i find myself wishing we could use aspects of backpack, basecamp, campfire, etc. ideally, the crm would incorporate these, or integrate very easily with them at least. now thats something i’d buy and implement for my team in a heartbeat….

mark 20 Apr 06

sort of stating what’s probably the obvious here, but would the crm most likely include all of the other modules? i find myself wishing we could use aspects of backpack, basecamp, campfire, etc. ideally, the crm would incorporate these, or integrate very easily with them at least. now thats something i’d buy and implement for my team in a heartbeat….

mark 20 Apr 06

sort of stating what’s probably the obvious here, but would the crm most likely include all of the other modules? i find myself wishing we could use aspects of backpack, basecamp, campfire, etc. ideally, the crm would incorporate these, or integrate very easily with them at least. now thats something i’d buy and implement for my team in a heartbeat….

mark 20 Apr 06

sort of stating what’s probably the obvious here, but would the crm most likely include all of the other modules? i find myself wishing we could use aspects of backpack, basecamp, campfire, etc. ideally, the crm would incorporate these, or integrate very easily with them at least. now thats something i’d buy and implement for my team in a heartbeat….

Mick Carrollst 21 Apr 06

Anything doing with Sunrise? I’ve tried Sugar and Zoho and they look ok but lack that robust simplicity (and adaptability) that I’m sure Sunrise will inherit from BC and all the other 37S stuff. Update, please!

Mick Carroll 21 Apr 06

Anything doing with Sunrise? I’ve tried Sugar and Zoho and they look ok but lack that robust simplicity (and adaptability) that I’m sure Sunrise will inherit from BC and all the other 37S stuff. Update, please!

Stefan Lindmark 08 May 06

I’ve tried Zoho briefly, but I wasn’t very impressed. It’s not like Zoho doesn’t fulfill the expectations I would have on a CRM system. But it implements it the same way it’s been done before.

I’m looking for an alternative to the regular workflow “Create account” -> “New contact” -> “Define opportunity” -> “Associate products”. That workflow is only natural if you consider it a mapping of a database structure onto a graphical user interface. But it doesn’t feel like an optimal way to be creative with your customer data and opportunities. The multiple parameter fields and separate screens tend to break the flow of thought. It also puts the main focus on the data entry process instead of supporting creativity and data exploration.

I’d love to see something new. Perhaps similar to the way the Wiki notation reversed the web authoring process by allowing outlining and structuring of information and pages that don’t even exist yet.

So, I’d like to see a CRM system…
- that works with any email system, even web-based accounts
- that doesn’t introduce yet another calendar system
- that can scale down and still provide value to a single sales rep
- that doesn’t enforce the use of any particular date format
- that’s so simple and fast that nobody would even consider setting up separate offline databases or spreadsheets to track day to day notes and customer data
- that lets us tag data fields for later completion instead of showing messages like “missing field xyz” or “date required”
- using web 2.0 features where appropriate and automatically saving forms without clicking on “Apply”-buttons
- that can export all of it’s data and structures into an open format to avoid a CRM lock-in

Paul Rothrock 10 May 06

What about adding address-book like features to backpack? That would make coordinating things like parties or road trips very easy.

Digger 22 May 06

Sound like just what the doctor ordered. We use Salesforce and it’s overkill for our small team and lots of features we need are in more expensive versions.

We are slowly moving everything from Windows to Mac.

The key to a great contacts app is integration with client apps for speed of data entry and synching across apps to things like my Palm Treo, etc.

So please think about syncing with offline apps such as Mac Address Book, Entourage, Outlook, etc.

A widget would be great too. What about wireless syncing.

Next - have a look at Joyent and the way they capture email. The thing salesforce misses is that received email is not processed through their system - so I have to add each email to the salesforce record.

A mashup with Gmail and syncing with Mac mail, etc would be killer.

Can’t wait.

Ben Carcio 30 May 06

I know Im likely late to the game, but is there anyway to BETA a product like Sunrise. I need it now.

chrisb 07 Jun 06

Please release this. Today.

Thanks!

- The Fortune 5,000,000

Franklin 14 Jun 06

Any idea on a release date for Sunrise?

Rick Bateman 15 Jun 06

Thought I would check in to see if the 37 Signals crew ever had cahones to walk their talk and actually respond to their customers. Apparently not. Oh well, this will be the last time I am back here I suppose. I notice this blog is devolving into a sort of general social rant anyway.

By the way ACT! Premium For The Web turned out to be free of all its ancestral bugs and is working really well for a reasonable price. We had an ACT! VAR install it for us. No pain. I can recommend it. Best of luck to the rest of you guys.

Rick

Chris Potter 19 Jun 06

37s - please provide some guidance on a release month or quarter for sunrise.

Sincerely,
CRMless in Toronto.

Florida e-Commerce 03 Jul 06

Here’s to hoping Sunrise will have easy to use data import/export especially for leads and existing customers, products, etc. Love to see ACT, Sugar and vTiger conversion options as well.

Richard Moyles 05 Jul 06

can you update us on the development of this, currently use basecamp, have to implement a crm solution but can’t wait much longer.

need sunrise 10 Jul 06

I really want to keep using basecamp, but need a crm badly. I would rather wait for sunrise, but I really have to make a move!!! Please help! Sun-rise!

Kelsey Ruger 18 Jul 06

Any update. I don’t even care if it’s integrated with Basecamp ;) I am just tried of crappy CRMs.

Richard Moyles 20 Jul 06

Appreciate an update from 37signals on this, it is a long time since last december and we can’t be waiting in anticipation of greatness… and be either disappointed or pleased.
Just give us a planned date for launch….

Ryan Deussing 20 Jul 06

Very eagerly awaiting Sunrise.

Ryan Deussing 20 Jul 06

Very eagerly awaiting Sunrise.

David Kindon 20 Jul 06

It’s been a dark night and we’re all looking forward to sunrise. I’d like to arrange a wake-up call - any idea what time this should be?

Adam Foster 26 Jul 06

Jason, an estimate date will be appreciated by a lot of people this side of the Atlantic too.

Alex black 26 Jul 06

I have more than one client that I am delaying installing sugar for in the hopes we can get them on sunrise (on the assumption that it does what I need it to do) but six months with no other information is a bit of a stretch.

I understand the folly of making public release date proclamations, but come on, we need a little information so we can make decisions here -

_a

Brandon 27 Jul 06

The “coming soon” announcement from late last year, followed by 7+ months of silence is soooo Microsoft! And very un-37Signals like…

Why the major delay? Why the lack of details? Have you scrapped the project altogether?

Man Ray 01 Aug 06

Man I love my Sunrise! Working like a charm, man. A ray of sunshine on an otherwise dark and stormy landscape of people-pleasing pomp.
Thanks, 37!

Andreas 04 Aug 06

I just got to know about sunrise by accident (reading the rails blog). We are basecamp users and in the phase to decide about a CRM. We more or less decided on Sugar. But now…
Is there any chance to know, when you expect to release Sunrise? Next month, next year?
Thanks

Jim Callender 04 Aug 06

this is good news, looking forward to using the new CRM-ish web based application from 37 Signals. Go Ruby!

Darek Rusin 05 Aug 06

Here’s another soul, anxiously awaiting any kind of news on Sunrise. Please share with us.

Terry 08 Aug 06

Ever am I only and lost.
Drifting in life’s murk and madness,
Rudderless with rocks in sight,
Damn this emptiness.
The ever disappointing realities.
Potential wasted on time stolen,
Robbed of more than mediocrity.
A skull crushed on architecture,
That feels nothing and cares less.
Where is the end of this bloody mess?
At the Sunrise…. but when!?

Darryl Ring 08 Aug 06

I love how every time 37Signals announces an application there’s always the few people that say things like, “[U]ntil you actually launch it, it�s not an innovative new thing, it�s vaporware.”

The funny thing is, you guys keep delivering innovative new things. Keep up the excellent work.

Owen 09 Aug 06

Forgot to mention that Foundations is totally free.

We are building out extra modules and functionality that we will charge for, but Foundations is and always will be free.

Allan 25 Aug 06

I actually had to take a look at Foundations since there is no news on Sunrise. Just give me a system that lets a group record contact information, relationships (group memberships, interests, etc…), and contact events (like I called Bob on 8/21 and left a message). Then let me search through contacts based on that information.

ryan 07 Sep 06

gmail integration…pretty please.

blend 25 Sep 06

tung tung tung

blend 25 Sep 06

tung tung tung

blend 25 Sep 06

tung tung tung

Doug 07 Oct 06

Looks like we should be calling this product Sunset - update PLEASE!!

Alex 10 Oct 06

How is work on Sunrise going ahead? We’re about to lock in on a CRM solution in the coming weeks, so it would be great to know if it makes sense to wait for Sunrise or just push ahead and choose something else (e.g. absoluteBusy)…