# Modal Customer Case Study - Attio CRM

## Key Quotes

- "When I first opened Attio, I instantly got the feeling that this was the start of the next generation of CRM." - Margaret Shen, Head of Business Operations
- "For there to be such a powerful and flexible object relational system was incredible. It finally felt like I could configure our CRM to fit our business needs, rather than the other way around." - Margaret Shen
- "Attio gives us confidence that we have a strong foundation of customer data that we can trust, which enables us to build very high leverage, high impact workflows and automations to drive our GTM motion." - Margaret Shen
- "To see the whole team, including the co-founders, be excited about Attio is incredible. Everyone is noticeably bought into the product, and actually happy to look at data in Attio." - Margaret Shen

## Company Overview
Modal is an AI infrastructure startup providing a serverless platform for AI and machine learning workloads, empowering data teams and other AI startups. Founded in 2021 by Erik Bernhardsson. The company raised $23M in Series A funding and serves thousands of developers building AI products, including customers like Ramp, Substack, and Suno.

## Challenge
Modal struggled with HubSpot's inflexible data model that couldn't support their product-led growth (PLG) motion. Key issues included:
- Unable to represent workspace data structures properly
- Cluttered CRM with duplicate records and mismatched data
- Forced workarounds that didn't reflect their business model
- High costs with poor functionality fit

## Attio Solution
Attio's AI-native CRM platform provided the highly customizable foundation Modal needed:

### Builder Platform Architecture
- Native Workspaces object that matches Modal's core product structure
- Powerful object-relational system enabling complex data relationships
- Extensible platform allowing custom configuration to fit business needs
- Builder-friendly interface for rapid customization

### Product-Led Growth Automation
- Automated workflows for lead identification and qualification
- Integration with Segment for real-time product usage data
- Automated outreach based on usage patterns and customer attributes
- Proactive churn prevention through usage monitoring

### Integration Capabilities
- Native Segment integration for product data synchronization
- API integrations with Loops email platform and Tally forms
- Comprehensive webhook support for custom workflows
- Deep stack integration enabling unified Go-To-Market (GTM) operations

## Results
Modal achieved significant improvements using Attio's extensible platform:
- Unified customer and product data in single source of truth
- Automated PLG motion with high-leverage workflows
- Improved retention rates through proactive engagement
- Team-wide adoption and engagement with the CRM platform
- Scalable foundation for future growth and customization

## Key Success Factors
Attio's AI-native platform design enabled Modal to:
- Represent complex workspace relationships accurately
- Build automated customer journeys based on product usage signals  
- Create targeted outreach using enriched data attributes
- Scale PLG operations efficiently on a flexible foundation

## Related pages
- [Customer stories](https://attio.com/customers/llms.txt)
- [AI-powered features](https://attio.com/product/ai/llms.txt)
- [Flatfile case study](https://attio.com/customers/flatfile/llms.txt)
- [Legora case study](https://attio.com/customers/legora/llms.txt)
- [Seedcamp case study](https://attio.com/customers/seedcamp/llms.txt)