IcePanel is a diagramming and modeling tool for software architecture that helps engineering teams explain their systems to both non-technical stakeholders and technical design teams. With a lean team of seven people generating nearly $2.5 million USD annually, they've created a powerful yet intuitive platform that's changing how technical teams communicate complex concepts.

The challenge: When two founders answer the same email

Before Missive, Ice Panel founders Jacob and Victor were drowning in customer emails. Their shared inboxes were becoming increasingly difficult to manage as their customer base grew.

Their workflow would sometimes look like this:

• Customer sends an email to their shared inbox
• Both founders see it and start drafting responses separately
• Customer receives two different answers to the same question
• Customer confusion ensues: "So which is it? Can I or can't I do this?"

This communication breakdown wasn't just embarrassing—it was taking valuable time away from building their product. The founders needed a solution that would allow them to collaborate efficiently without duplicating efforts.

Finding Missive: A serendipitous discovery

While searching for office space, Jacob spotted a chatbot powered by Missive on a prospective office's website. Intrigued, he looked into the platform further.

"We weren't actually looking for an email client," Jacob admits. "We were looking for a ticketing service because we had this scrappy mindset and were using free solutions like Gmail."

Their requirements were clear:

• Lightweight and lean
• Not built for large enterprises
• Affordable for a growing startup
• Simple to implement without extensive setup

They had tried other options like Intercom and FreshDesk, but these felt too heavy and expensive for their needs. Missive unexpectedly checked all their boxes and solved their primary problem: collaborative email management.

The transformation: More than just email

Implementing Missive immediately solved their double-response problem, but the benefits went far beyond that initial use case.

"As the non-technical founder, I would get messages I couldn't answer because they were too technical," Jacob explains. "Before Missive, I'd forward that email to Victor in Gmail, but wouldn't always know if he responded unless he CC'd me."

Missive streamlined this process with:

1. Shared, threaded conversations that gave both founders visibility into customer communications
2. @mentions and assignments that allowed them to easily delegate emails to the right person
3. Contextual information showing previous interactions with each customer
4. Integration with Stripe and analytics tools providing instant access to crucial customer data

"In Missive, I just do '@Victor, here's the context, here's the email.' Small things like that ended up being huge wins we didn't even foresee when we started using the platform."

Beyond email: A lightweight CRM and sales pipeline

Ice Panel eventually replaced their dedicated CRM tool (Pipe Drive) with Missive, creating a streamlined system for managing their entire sales pipeline using labels and rules.

"We set one up for sales, one for support, one for general inquiries," says Jacob. "Now everything customer-related runs through Missive."

Their sales process works like this:

1. New demo requests are automatically tagged as "interested" via rules
2. When customers move to procurement, the label changes
3. Keywords in comments can automatically move deals to the next stage
4. Typing "won" or "lost" as a comment automatically updates deal status

"It felt like we weren't getting anything additional with PipeDrive that Missive wasn't already giving us," Jacob explains. "The only thing I miss is a board view of the sales pipeline, but otherwise, the current system is very lean and effective for our bottom-up, product-led growth strategy."

Customer support with built-in accountability

As the team grew from two founders to seven team members, Missive became even more valuable for managing customer support workflows. The platform now helps them:

• Automatically tag customers by plan type (free, growth, enterprise)
• Set custom rules for Service Level Agreements (SLAs)
• Get notifications when responses are nearing or in breach of SLAs
• Link customer emails directly to their Stripe information and user analytics
• Maintain inbox zero across shared inboxes

"One of our team members has been on paternity leave for the last couple of months, and suddenly this sheer volume of emails landed back on my plate," Jacob laughs. "I hadn't realized how much he'd been taking away from me through Missive!"

Results: A more organized, efficient team

Since implementing Missive in mid-2023, Ice Panel has:

• Eliminated confusing double responses to customers
• Improved response times through better delegation
• Streamlined their sales pipeline management
• Enhanced customer context for support conversations
• Saved time by consolidating multiple tools into one platform

"Missive is definitely the tool I use most every day," Jacob says. "I now have a handful of unread emails in my personal inbox, which includes a few shared inboxes. That would never have happened in Gmail."

For a team that wants to spend more time building their product and less time managing email chaos, Missive has become an indispensable part of their workflow.

"We're unlikely to move to anything else," Jacob concludes. "Missive successfully manages all our customer-related aspects, including our sales pipeline and feature requests, fulfilling our need for a simple, effective solution."