About Beers With Friends
Beers With Friends is a Scarsdale, New York-based creative agency founded in 2023. The firm operates on a project model built around five-day ideation sprints called Beer Runs, bringing together three to five fractional creative experts per engagement. With two co-founders at the helm and no permanent staff beyond them, Beers With Friends serves challenger brands and seasoned CMOs looking for focused creative firepower without long retainers. The agency also maintains a network of fractional experts it draws from across every engagement.
The Challenge
Beers With Friends had been through several CRM attempts before landing on Attio, most recently Pipe Drive, but had never set one up in a way that stuck. The workspace had accumulated contacts from cold outreach campaigns run through Apollo and Lemlist, prospects found on LinkedIn, and warm introductions, all mixed together without a clear structure for telling them apart.
Two distinct use cases needed to work in parallel: a prospecting pipeline for finding and closing new Beer Run clients, and an expert network database for tracking the fractional specialists the agency hires per engagement. The co-founders also wanted to manage warm introduction requests, track which contacts in the network could introduce them to specific companies, and eventually automate outreach sequences tied to deal stage.
The primary user was the commercial co-founder, with the creative co-founder as a secondary user focused on browsing the expert network to staff engagements.
Our Approach
Novlini delivered the implementation over approximately one month, working through data model design, object architecture, integration setup, and workflow configuration.
Two-Object Architecture
The core architectural decision was building two distinct objects alongside companies and people: a prospect pipeline for client deals, and an expert network object for fractional talent. This separation meant the commercial team could focus on live deals and outreach without wading through expert profiles, and the creative co-founder could browse the talent database cleanly when staffing a Beer Run.
A custom intro tracking object was also built to manage warm introduction requests, capturing which contacts in the network could make introductions to specific target companies and where each intro request stood.
Typeform Integration
Typeform was connected to Attio for expert onboarding. When a new fractional expert submits their profile form, their record is created in the expert network object automatically with all submitted attributes populated, including specialty, sectors, and availability signals.
Apollo and Lemlist Setup
Apollo was connected for contact enrichment and outbound list building. Lemlist was configured for email outreach sequences tied to deal stage in Attio, so when a prospect moves through the pipeline, outreach steps trigger automatically.
Klaviyo Integration
Klaviyo was connected for newsletter management, with subscription status syncing back to Attio records so the team has visibility on who is subscribed, who has unsubscribed, and who needs to be added to the newsletter without cross-referencing separate platforms.
Technology Stack
Attio - CRM, prospect pipeline, expert network, intro tracking (source of truth)
Typeform - expert onboarding intake, native Attio integration
Apollo - outbound list building, contact enrichment
Lemlist - email outreach sequences, stage-triggered campaigns
Klaviyo - newsletter management, subscription status sync
The Results
Beers With Friends went from a mixed-up Attio workspace with unclear object structure to a clean two-pipeline system with integrated outreach, expert onboarding, and newsletter management.
Two objects clearly separated - prospect pipeline and expert network no longer mixed, each usable independently by the relevant co-founder
Expert onboarding automated - new fractional talent enters Attio via Typeform without manual data entry
Outreach sequences connected - Lemlist campaigns triggered by deal stage, removing manual follow-up management
Newsletter sync live - Klaviyo subscription status visible on every Attio contact record
Warm intro tracking in place - the team can see which network contacts can make introductions to target companies and where each request stands
"The novlini team helped us design a smart, scalable data architecture and implement automations that align perfectly with our workflow. They quickly understood our goals, offered strategic guidance, and executed everything efficiently. The system now gives us better visibility and saves time daily. Highly recommend novlini for anyone looking to optimize their CRM with confidence."
Dana H. - Beers With Friends ★★★★★
Why It Matters
For a two-person agency that operates through expert networks and warm introductions, the CRM needs to do two very different jobs at once: manage a sales pipeline for new engagements and maintain a talent database for staffing them. Mixing those jobs in a single object, as most default CRM setups do, makes both harder. The architectural decision to separate them, and to build an intro tracking layer on top, is what makes the system usable in practice rather than in theory.