How Watchdog cut its sales cycle in half after leaving CRM behind
The Norwegian startup cut its average sales cycle from 60 to 30 days. Zero keeps its sales data up to date, gives the team the context they need before meetings, and powers the CRO's daily AI agent.
“Zero gives us control over the pipeline without adding more CRM work. We have the context, we know what needs to happen next, and we close deals faster.”
Challenge
The CRM was never the place sales actually happened
Sebastian Ferraz joined Watchdog as CRO in March 2026 after spending two years leading sales for several companies. He had worked with HubSpot, Salesforce, Attio, and other sales systems. The pattern was familiar: the systems were noisy, workflows were slow to automate, and too many buttons, fields and extra steps sat between the salesperson and the customer. More importantly, Sebastian never fully trusted the data. He kept a Google Sheet alongside every CRM as his final source of truth.
At Watchdog, that would not scale. The team sells across several industries and moves fast, new SDRs join regularly, and every prospect needs consistent follow-up. The pipeline had to stay current without turning record-keeping into a second job.
“With every CRM I'd used before, people lost control. Lists weren't followed up and the data wasn't trusted. Zero is the first system people actually keep up to date because it's easy and intuitive. It doesn't feel like a punch in the face when you open it.”
Solution
One complete customer record, with agents doing the admin
Watchdog moved its sales process into Zero.
Meeting notes and transcripts flow straight back onto the deal with no manual input. Every conversation, meeting and follow-up lands on the record automatically, so the context is there the next time someone opens it.
Watchdog sells to several industries at once, so the team needs to change its pipeline as it learns what works. Sebastian can pull potential ARR by stage directly from Zero, while each rep can build a list view around the work in front of them.
Watchdog's SDRs can still work through familiar calling lists, but those lists are connected to the rest of the customer data instead of becoming another disconnected spreadsheet.
He configured a Slack agent that, every morning, gives him the day's deals and meetings, the goal for each meeting, deal sizes, and the full history behind each opportunity.
The agent works because it has the full customer context. An AI agent is only as useful as the data it can see. Because Zero keeps conversations, meetings, contacts, tasks and deal history together and current, the agent can prepare Sebastian for the day instead of summarizing stale CRM fields and fragmented notes.
“I love Google Sheets. But with HubSpot, Salesforce and Attio, I needed a spreadsheet on the side just to know what was actually going on. With Zero, I don't need it anymore. The data is right, so I can trust it.”
Results
From 60 days to 30
Since adopting Zero, Watchdog's average sales cycle has dropped from roughly 60 days to 30 days, including enterprise customers. Large enterprise deals that require legal teams can still take three to six months, but across the broader pipeline the company is moving twice as fast.
Sebastian attributes the change to the team always having the right context at the right moment. Before a meeting, he can see what was discussed, what each side committed to, which tasks are still open, and what should happen next. Follow-ups do not disappear into notes or personal spreadsheets. The system keeps the work moving between meetings.
Over the same six-month period, Watchdog has grown ARR 10x. Zero helps the eight-person team handle more deals without adding more admin.
“We didn't need a better CRM. We needed the sales work to happen without us constantly managing the system. That's what Zero does.”