CRM Stack Migration: HubSpot to Attio + Customer.io¶
HubSpot is costing Gen H ~$5,000/month and underdelivering on all three functions it serves: email marketing, CRM, and live chat. The contract expires April 2026, creating a tight but welcome forcing function to move to a stack that actually fits how Gen H operates.
What's Wrong with HubSpot¶
Three problems, each compounding the others:
- Email marketing is poor - partly because HubSpot's email tooling is weak, partly because the data feeding into it is weak. The result: Gen H does email marketing badly.
- CRM doesn't model the business - HubSpot's data structure doesn't reflect how Gen H actually runs. The sales team is hamstrung by tooling that doesn't give them insight into who to target, how to sell, or what to sell. This is a major contributor to sales effectiveness being below where it should be.
- Live chat is fine but overpriced - HubSpot's live chat works, but you're paying a premium because it's bundled with everything else.
The core frustration isn't any single feature - it's that bad tooling is actively making the sales team worse at their jobs. They can't find the right prospects, can't see the right context, can't act on the right signals. Fix the tooling and you unlock sales capacity that's currently wasted.
The Target Stack¶
| Function | Current | Target | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRM | HubSpot | Attio | Exploring |
| Email marketing | HubSpot | Customer.io | Exploring |
| Live chat | HubSpot | Help Scout or Intercom | Shortlisted |
All three systems need to link up and talk to each other. HubSpot gets removed entirely.
Why Attio¶
Attio's data model is flexible - it can be configured to reflect how Gen H actually structures its relationships (brokers, networks, corporate accounts, funders) rather than forcing the business into a generic CRM schema. This is the key bet: if Attio models the business properly, the sales team gets genuine insight instead of noise.
Why Customer.io¶
Purpose-built for marketing automation with strong data integration. If the underlying data is good (which depends partly on Attio), Customer.io should enable materially better email marketing than HubSpot ever did.
What Needs to Happen¶
Immediate priorities (now through March):
- Evaluate Attio properly - configure it to model Gen H's business structure, not just kick the tyres on a demo
- Evaluate Customer.io - test with real data, build a few actual campaigns
- Decide on live chat (Help Scout vs Intercom) - less critical than the other two
- Map data migration path from HubSpot - what moves, what gets rebuilt, what gets left behind
Before April deadline:
- Have Attio configured and team onboarded (or at minimum, a clear migration plan with timeline)
- Have Customer.io set up with data feeds working
- Have live chat solution selected and integration planned
- Execute HubSpot contract non-renewal
The Uncomfortable Question¶
Six weeks is tight to evaluate, decide, configure, and migrate three systems. What's the minimum viable migration? Probably:
- Attio as CRM with core data migrated - this is the must-have
- Customer.io with basic email capability - can iterate on sophistication post-migration
- Live chat can lag slightly if needed - existing HubSpot chat could potentially run on a reduced plan or month-to-month while the replacement is set up
The risk isn't choosing the wrong tools - Attio and Customer.io are both well-regarded. The risk is underestimating migration complexity and ending up in April with HubSpot turned off and nothing fully working. Having a fallback plan (even if it's "extend HubSpot month-to-month while we finish") would be prudent.
Also worth asking: is the sales team's underperformance primarily a tooling problem, or does tooling just make an existing problem more visible? Better CRM data will help, but if the issue is also process, training, or targeting strategy, new tools alone won't fix it. Worth being honest about that as you evaluate.
Connections¶
- Automated Report Pipelines - if Attio properly models Gen H's broker and network relationships, the data feeding into network/corporate account reports gets significantly better. CRM migration is upstream of report quality.