Intercom as the Next Mainstream CRM after Salesforce.com

Four years ago I offered up the idea that HubSpot would introduce a CRM and be in a great position to capture CRM marketshare in the post HubSpot as the Next Mainstream CRM. HubSpot has continued to execute well, is approaching a $400 million run-rate (NYSE:HUBS), and launched an excellent free CRM. Originally, I thought a tangential product in the marketing space would be in the best position to enter the CRM market as opposed to one of the solid CRM upstarts like Pipedrive and Insightly.

Now, after talking to a number of companies over the last year, I believe Intercom is in the best position to succeed Salesforce.com as the next mainstream CRM (see Quick Notes on Fast-Growing SaaS Startup Intercom from earlier this year). Intercom is growing at an incredible rate, going from $1M to $50M in three years. More importantly, the product is a customer communication platform to manage functions like live chat, in-app messages, email triggers, and usage analytics. Of course, customer communication platform and customer relationship management have one critical word in common: customer.

Look for Intercom to continue their torrid growth rate for several more years and introduce functionality to manage the entire customer lifecycle, including CRM. Salesforce.com will be paying close attention to Intercom.

What else? What are some more thoughts on Intercom as the next mainstream CRM after Salesforce.com.