Today we’d like to introduce you to Lars Helgeson.
Hi Lars, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
GreenRope began as an idea back in 2000, before the concepts of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) had become mainstream. Our original product was called CoolerEmail, and it was focused on email newsletters and marketing. The business partner I had at the time and I worked out of our apartments and built that company up from scratch.
Around 2008, I started building the next-generation platform, which had CRM as the core. We had learned that the biggest problems businesses faced was with centralizing how they operate. Sales, marketing, customer service, and account managers all were used to working in different systems, and those systems never shared information efficiently.
The vision was to build a “Complete CRM”, one where a true team-based environment could be created. Sales, marketing, and operations could share and access data easily, and automation would help those businesses scale.
In 2011, I began the process of separating from my business partner, and by 2015, our new website, software, and team was in place and operating as GreenRope. We have been growing ever since and now serve clients in 40 countries.
To this day, we have built GreenRope as a sustainable business. We have never received investment and have focused on providing the best value and service to our customers. GreenRope counts clients, among others, in the marketing, government, finance, and education sectors. Through our value-added reseller (VAR) program, we also white label our software for brands and agencies who want to own the entire user experience. For this we have another website – www.completecrm.com – which explains how our platform can be used for generating recurring revenue and building brand loyalty. GreenRope also has a free program for registered non-profit organizations (501c3 and 501c6 in the US and other registrations in other countries) as part of our #GiveBackCRM program.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I don’t think anyone who’s started a business would claim the road has been smooth the entire time. We have had to deal with people attempting to use our system to send spam emails (something that’s explicitly against our terms of use), an employee (and personal friend) who embezzled money from the company, the Covid pandemic causing a large number of clients to go out of business, and the trials and tribulations of separating from a 50/50 business partner.
In spite of all of these challenges, I wouldn’t change a thing. I have always attempted to make the right decision, even when some of those decisions resulted in difficulties no matter what path I chose. Each experience has made me wiser and stronger and better able to adapt to future challenges.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
GreenRope is a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform that includes sales, marketing, customer service, and operations all fully integrated into one easy-to-use system. The platform includes email marketing, mobile marketing, marketing automation, sales enablement, event management, knowledge management, project management, customer service ticketing, and more.
GreenRope offers all of these functions with a simple pricing structure that’s based on the number of contacts loaded into the account. We work hard to make it easy for businesses to rely on GreenRope to streamline the way they work and grow.
The simple and all-inclusive approach to business management software, combined with our devotion to providing amazing customer service is what makes GreenRope unique. Our clients appreciate that we offer free support and that we genuinely care about their success.
GreenRope offers a free trial and a no-pressure demo of the platform with an actual person. We work with clients in every major industry from startups to government to large enterprises.
What were you like growing up?
As a kid, my parents pushed me to be successful in school. I was an introverted nerd, and truth be told, I still am. When I was 5 years old, my parents bought me my first computer and I started to learn how to write programs in BASIC.
My parents divorced when I was in high school, and I had to figure out the best way to pay for college without having any financial support. After considering all the options, I applied for an ROTC scholarship with the Air Force.
I won the scholarship and attended an engineering school in upstate New York, majoring in mechanical engineering and then biomedical engineering. My experience in the military opened my eyes to how business is conducted on a large scale. It also taught me what large-scale bureaucracy is like, and it was a motivator for me to become an entrepreneur.
Pricing:
- Starting at $99/month for up to 500 contacts
- Plans increase from there, with high volume accounts costing about 1 penny/contact/month
- Users are free
- Emailing and use of all the other features is free
- We pass through network costs for sending/receiving SMS, MMS, and voice calls
Contact Info:
- Email: sales@greenrope.com
- Website: https://www.greenrope.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GreenRope
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/greenrope
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/greenrope
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/greenropevideos
- Other: https://www.completecrm.com
