why talent management systems are stuck in 2015 (and what we built instead)
the custom crm we built to modernise management teams - waitlist now open!
let’s lift the lid on something.
when i started in talent management 10 years ago, there were no systems.
no dashboards. no deal trackers. no revenue forecasting. just inboxes and whatsapp chats.
and real talk? it was chaos.
you’d be managing 40-50 live deals at once. contracts buried in email threads. briefs lost in whatsapp messages between memes and voice notes.
talent would ask:
“what’s happening with that deal?”
“when is that invoice due?”
“what have i got coming in next month?”
and you’d feel that tiny flicker of panic because you hadn’t chased it yet. not because you didn’t care. but because there was nowhere clean to track any of it.
this is the bit no one talks about.
creators can have a £100k month… and then a £0 month.
without clear forecasting, that’s anxiety-inducing. they need visibility. reassurance. data.
but managers didn’t have that visibility either. so everyone was operating slightly in the dark. things got missed. payments were late. updates were reactive instead of proactive.
and i remember thinking - this cannot be the standard.
when i built tbh, i knew it had to be different
from day one, i didn’t want talent managers drowning in admin.
because the job of a talent manager isn’t to forward emails and chase invoices.
it’s to build strategy. spot opportunity. shape long-term careers.
so we built our whole system out on monday.com
live deal trackers. due date reminders. contracts saved centrally. individual deliverable checklists. invoice status updates. live dashboards so talent can see what’s forecast, what’s invoiced, what’s paid.
no more “can you send me the brief again?”
no more lost whatsapp threads.
every deliverable has its own space. every deal has clarity. talent can log in and see everything in real time.
it changed everything.
not just operationally - emotionally. less anxiety. less embarrassment. less ball-dropping. more control. more oversight. more confidence.
and honestly? it’s one of the reasons we’ve been able to scale quickly. when new talent sees that level of transparency, it builds trust instantly.
but here’s the thing…
monday.com is still generic software.
and there were certain things we just couldn’t quite nail.
contact databases that didn’t automatically update across the team. brand/agency relationships that had to be manually managed. customisation limits that meant we were bending the system around us, instead of it being built for us.
i’ve been talking about fixing this for three years.
and then over christmas, i was explaining the frustration to my brother (who builds apps and systems for a living).
he looked at me and said,
“i think i could fix that.”
so… we did.
what we’ve been building quietly
for the last month, we’ve been building our own crm.
specifically for talent managers.
not a generic tool we’re hacking into shape. not something built for sales teams or recruiters. something designed for our industry.
it has:
a live, shared contact database (so every manager works from the same updated brand + agency information)
deal flow tracking with forecasting built in
individual talent dashboards
invoice + payment tracking
a mass outreach function with outreach tracking
centralised brand/agency intel
and every operational feature we already use… but slicker, faster, and built natively for management teams
the difference?
every update we make will be made with talent managers in mind. not based on what works for a corporate sales pipeline. for managers who want to be strategic, not stuck in spreadsheets.
this is what it really solves
it solves the type-a anxiety of dropping the ball.
it removes that feeling when talent asks for an update and you’re scrambling.
it gives you data at your fingertips - so you can forecast properly, build strategy properly, and lead properly.
because the truth is… most managers are so bogged down in admin that they don’t have the headspace to think long-term.
this gives you that headspace back.
i mentioned this briefly at our event last year (and didn’t even realise i had)… and we already have over 100 managers on the waitlist.
which tells me this isn’t just our problem.
we’re currently stress-testing it to make sure it works perfectly.
and we’ll be onboarding a small beta group first.
if you’re:
a talent manager inside an agency who wants to take something smarter to your founder
or a solo manager who’s ready to operate like a full agency
you can join the waitlist below.
this has been three years in the making. and honestly? it feels like the missing piece.
join the waitlist here → waitlist
more soon.
verity x