Case study Agency · Built for ourselves · CRM

We stopped losing leads
in our own phones.

Every agency has this problem. A good lead arrives as a WhatsApp screenshot at 11pm and dies in a chat thread. So we built a CRM you feed by forwarding a screenshot to a bot. 116 leads, 11 countries, and not one of them typed into a form.

send Telegram in, pipeline out
Live since July 2026
The lead pipeline dashboard
Logged by bot
116 leads

Our own live board. Names and notes replaced for this page, the numbers and the layout are real.

116
leads captured
11
countries
8
sources, one inbox
0
forms filled in by hand
Manan Mehta with the AI Crew team in the Mumbai office
From our office
Built by a team you can call.

Twelve years of marketing DNA. AI Crew is the AI consultancy arm of MarketinCrew.

The AI Crew team at work
Who you work with
Manan Mehta and the crew
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A real lead, before
Hey, my cousin runs a restaurant in Dubai, he wants to talk to you about the website
[screenshot]
Sure, send me his number
... 400 messages later ...
gone
01 · The situation

The CRM was never the problem. Getting anything into it was.

We had tried proper CRMs. They all work the same way: someone has to sit down and type. Nobody does that at 11pm on a Saturday when a referral lands in a group chat, so the tool stays empty and the lead stays in the phone.

chat
Leads arrive as screenshots

A WhatsApp forward, an Instagram DM, a LinkedIn message. Never as a filled-in form.

edit_off
Data entry never happens

The gap between getting a lead and logging it is where leads die. Every time.

groups_2
Two partners, two phones

Neither could see what the other was working, so people got chased twice or not at all.

02 · What we built

Forward the screenshot. That is the whole workflow.

No fields, no app, no discipline required. Send the bot a picture or a couple of words. It reads what it can, files the rest, and the board updates.

1Forward it to the bot

A screenshot of the DM, or three words typed in. From either partner's phone, in seconds.

AIIt reads the picture

Name, business, city, phone, email and what they want, pulled straight off the screenshot.

AIIt works out the source

LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, email, website or referral, detected from the screenshot itself.

4It lands on the board

Both partners see it immediately, with the original screenshot attached to the card.

The pipeline board
Then it behaves like a CRM
  • filter_listEight stages, New through to Won, changed from a dropdown on the card
  • publicFilter by source, category, country or priority, because the list crosses eleven countries
  • imageThe original screenshot stays attached, so the context never gets lost in a retype
  • callCall and email are one tap from the card, on a phone
  • lockOne link, one passcode, added to the home screen. Nothing to install
account_treeHow the CRM works

A screenshot in. A filed lead out.

No fields, no app and no discipline required. Forward it, and the board updates.

Comes in
WhatsApp forwardA referral in a group
Instagram DMScreenshot of the chat
LinkedIn messageOr three words typed in

The Telegram bot

Forward it. The bot does the typing.

  • check_circleReads name, business, city, phone and email
  • check_circleWorks out the source from the image
  • check_circleKeeps the screenshot on the card
Goes out
Lead recordStored with its screenshot
view_kanbanThe shared boardEight stages, New to Won
callOne tap to callFrom the card, on a phone
Partner
01Forward it to the bot

A screenshot of the DM, or three words. From either phone, in seconds.

AI
visibility02It reads the picture

Name, business, city, phone, email and what they want.

AI
travel_explore03It finds the source

LinkedIn, Instagram, WhatsApp, email, website or referral, from the image.

Board
view_kanban04It lands on the board

Both partners see it at once, with the original screenshot attached.

Partner
filter_list05Work it like a CRM

Eight stages, and filters by source, category, country and priority.

Partner
call06Call from the card

One link, one passcode, added to the home screen. Nothing to install.

Built withTelegram botvisibilityVision reading of screenshotsSupabaseboltEdge function APIadd_to_home_screenHome screen web app
03 · What changed

The pipeline finally matches reality.

Before
  • closeLeads lived in chat threads on two different phones
  • closeNo shared view of who was talking to whom
  • closeNo idea which channel was actually producing work
  • closeFollow-ups depended on remembering
After
  • check116 leads in one place, captured in seconds each
  • checkBoth partners on the same board, same link
  • checkEight sources and eleven countries, filterable
  • checkEvery lead carries its own screenshot and history
Telegram bot visibilityVision reading of screenshots Supabase boltEdge function API add_to_home_screenHome screen web app
Built in public, on ourselves
  • The itch
    Two partners, one shared frustration. Every CRM we tried needed typing, so none of them stayed full.
  • Phase one, July 2026
    Bot, database and board live. Both partners whitelisted, first leads flowing the same week.
  • Survived a backend move
    Rebuilt onto a new database mid-flight with 98 existing leads carried across intact.
  • Where it is now
    116 leads and counting. We use it every week, which is the only real test of an internal tool.

If we would not run our own business on it, we would not sell it to you.

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