Basic Make.com Automations for Every Startup Founder

This guide shows you 5 simple Make.com automations every founder should use to boost their business efficiency and help their company grow.

1. Lead Capture & CRM Entry Automation

Why Founders Need This: Getting sales leads is great. But manually putting lead info into your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool wastes time. It can also lead to errors. Automating this keeps your sales process smooth and your CRM up-to-date. This also enhances your marketing automation efforts.

How to Build It in Make.com:

1. Start with the "Trigger": This is the event that begins your automation. Imagine a customer fills out a contact form on your website. Your trigger module would be a "Webhooks" module, linked to your form tool (like Typeform, Jotform, or even Google Forms). Make.com will wait for a new form submission.
2. Add the "Action" Module (CRM): Once Make.com gets new form data, it acts. Add your CRM module (like "Airtable," "HubSpot CRM," or "Pipedrive"). Choose an action like "Create a Record" or "Create a Contact." This is the core of your CRM automation.
3. Map the Data: Now, link the form data to your CRM fields. For example, drag "Form Field: Name" from your trigger module to the "CRM Field: Contact Name." Do this for email, phone, and any other data you want to save. This mapping ensures correct contact management.

Example for a SaaS Founder:
Your website uses Typeform for demo requests. A potential client fills out the form.

• Trigger: Typeform (New Entry).
• Action 1: Make.com sends the lead's name and email to your HubSpot CRM, creating a new contact.
• Action 2 (Optional): Make.com sends a personalized "Thank You" email from Mailchimp to the new lead.
• Action 3 (Optional): Make.com sends a message to your sales team's Slack channel saying, "New Demo Request from [Client Name]!"

This lead generation automation ensures no lead falls through the cracks and saves your team valuable time on administrative sales lead management.

2. Customer Onboarding & Welcome Sequence Automation

Why Founders Need This: Happy customers stay. A great customer onboarding experience makes clients feel valued from day one. Manually sending welcome materials and setting up access takes a lot of time. Automation makes it simple and ensures no step is missed, improving customer retention.

How to Build It in Make.com:

1. Set the Trigger: What happens when a new customer signs up or makes a purchase? This could be a "New Customer" trigger in your payment platform (like Stripe, Gumroad, or PayPal) or when a new user signs up in your web app (via its API or webhooks).
2. Add Email Module: Use an email marketing service module (like "Mailchimp," "ConvertKit," or "SendGrid") to send your welcome email. Select the action "Send Email" or "Add Contact to List" for your automated emails part of the welcome series.
3. Add Other Actions (Optional): Want to add the customer to a project management tool? Add a module for "Asana," "Trello," or "Google Sheets" for seamless client management. Need to notify your support team? Add a "Slack" module.
4. Map Data and Create Content: Pull the new customer's name and email from the trigger. Use these to personalize your welcome email. Make sure the email content explains the next steps for the customer.

Example for an Online Course Creator:
Someone buys your "Master Your Habits" online course via Gumroad.

• Trigger: Gumroad (New Sale).
• Action 1: Make.com sends a welcome email with course access links from ConvertKit to the buyer.
• Action 2: Make.com adds the new student's name and email to a Google Sheet titled "Course Enrollments."
• Action 3: Make.com creates a new Trello card for your support team, reminding them to check on the student after their first week.

This automated onboarding process creates a smooth start for every student, leading to better long-term customer satisfaction and retention.

3. Social Media Content Scheduling & Monitoring Automation

Why Founders Need This: Building your online presence is vital. But constant social media updates and monitoring can be time-consuming. Automating parts of this lets you maintain a steady flow of content without being tied to your phone, while also keeping an eye on your brand reputation. This is key for your marketing tasks.

How to Build It in Make.com:

For Content Scheduling:

1. Choose Your Trigger: If you schedule posts, a "Google Sheets" module might be your trigger. When you add a new row with your post content, date, and platform, Make.com can act. You can also use a "Scheduler" module to post at set intervals. This helps build a solid content calendar.
2. Add Social Media Action: Use a module for your chosen social media platform (like "Twitter," "Facebook Pages," "LinkedIn"). Select an action like "Create a Post."
3. Map Data: Connect your Google Sheet cells (e.g., "Post Text," "Image URL") to the social media post fields.

For Brand Monitoring (Different Scenario):

1. Choose Your Trigger: For brand monitoring, the trigger might be "Twitter (Search Tweets)" or an "RSS Feed" for mentions of your company blog on other sites. This supports active social listening.
2. Add Notification Action: Use a "Slack" or "Email" module to send yourself an alert.
3. Filter (Optional but Recommended): You can add a "Filter" in Make.com to only get notified for specific keywords (e.g., your company name, "problem with [your product]").

Example for an E-commerce Founder:
You have a Google Sheet content calendar for your weekly sales posts.

• Trigger: Google Sheets (New Row with Scheduled Time).
• Action: At the specified time, Make.com publishes your promotional text and product image to your Instagram business account (using an "Instagram Business" module).

This social media automation keeps your customers engaged. Similarly, you can set up a different automation to monitor Twitter. If anyone tweets about your store, Make.com sends a direct Slack message to your customer service team. This brand monitoring helps you quickly respond.

4. Expense Tracking & Receipt Management Automation

Why Founders Need This: Staying on top of your business finances is crucial. Lost receipts or messy expense logs mean missed deductions and wasted time at tax season. Automating expense tracking ensures you have clear records and supports solid financial management.

How to Build It in Make.com:

1. Set the Trigger: The easiest trigger for receipts is often email. Set up an email forward rule to send specific receipt emails to a unique email address provided by Make.com. So, your trigger module would be "Email (Watch Email)."
2. Add Storage Actions:
   • Cloud Storage: Use a module like "Google Drive" or "Dropbox" to save the receipt attachment. Choose "Upload a File."
   • Data Log: Use a "Google Sheets" or "Airtable" module to create a new row or record with details like date, vendor, amount, and category.
3. Parse Data (Optional but powerful): For smarter automation, you can use a "Text Parser" or integrate with an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) service (some available through Make.com integrations) to pull out details like amount and date from the email or receipt text. This enhances receipt tracking.

Example for a Small Agency Owner:
You get many receipts via email from online subscriptions or ad spending.

• Trigger: Forward these receipt emails to a unique Make.com email address.
• Action 1: Make.com extracts the receipt attachment (PDF or image) and uploads it to a "Receipts" folder in your Google Drive.
• Action 2: Make.com creates a new row in your "Expense Tracker" Google Sheet. It adds the email subject (often the vendor name), date received, and a link to the saved receipt.

This expense automation simplifies your bookkeeping and ensures all your records are neat for when you need them. It greatly improves your overall financial processes.

5. Internal Notifications & Reminders Automation

Why Founders Need This: Effective team communication keeps your startup running smoothly. Missing critical updates or forgetting deadlines hurts productivity. Setting up automated notifications ensures everyone knows what's happening and when, reducing bottlenecks and keeping internal processes on track. This boosts overall productivity automation.

How to Build It in Make.com:

1. Identify Your Trigger: What kind of event should trigger a notification? It could be:
   • A new task assigned in your project management tool (e.g., Asana, ClickUp, Trello - "Watch Tasks" module).
   • A critical error logged in your system (e.g., "Webhooks" from a monitoring tool).
   • A daily or weekly reminder (e.g., "Scheduler" module for routine workflow automation).
2. Choose Your Notification Method: This is usually a messaging app or email. Popular choices include:
   • "Slack" (Send a Message).
   • "Discord" (Post a Message).
   • "Gmail" (Send an Email).
   • "Telegram Bot" (Send a Text Message).
3. Customize Your Message: Use data from your trigger to make the notification useful. For example, if a new task is created, include the task name, who it's for, and the deadline in the notification message.

Example for a Product Manager Founder:
Your development team uses Asana for task management. You want to know immediately about new critical bugs.

• Trigger: Asana (Watch Tasks, filtered for "Priority: Critical" and "Type: Bug").
• Action: Make.com sends a direct message to your Slack channel (#dev_alerts) with the bug title, who it's assigned to, and a link to the Asana task.

Another Example:

• Trigger: Make.com "Scheduler" module (set to run every Monday morning).
• Action: Make.com fetches the top 3 open tasks from your team's Trello board and sends a weekly summary email to the team members.

This workflow automation keeps your team informed and proactive, boosting overall team efficiency.

Getting Started with Make.com: Simple Steps for Beginners

Make.com uses a visual builder. You link "modules" together to create "scenarios" (your automated workflows).

• Modules: These are blocks representing apps (like Slack, Google Sheets, Stripe) or actions (like parsing text).
• Triggers: The first module in your scenario. It's the event that starts the automation.
• Actions: The subsequent modules. They perform tasks once the trigger happens.
• Mapping: Connecting data between modules. You simply drag and drop information from one module to the next.

Start small. Pick one automation that truly annoys you. Try to build it. Make.com offers helpful tutorials and support if you get stuck.

Why Automation with Make.com Benefits Every Founder

Using Make.com helps you turn ideas into reality faster by automating boring, time-consuming tasks.

• Save Time & Money: Reduce manual effort, which frees up time for strategy and growth. This means you spend less on hiring extra staff for simple data entry.
• Boost Productivity & Efficiency: Your business runs more smoothly. Workflows happen instantly and correctly every time.
• Reduce Human Error: Machines make fewer mistakes than humans on repetitive tasks. Data is clean and reliable.
• Scale Your Business: Automations let you handle more customers or data without needing a bigger team right away. You can grow your startup with fewer roadblocks.
• Focus on Core Business: Instead of managing data, you can focus on making your product better, finding new customers, and achieving your crucial business goals.

Don't let manual tasks slow your business growth. Choose one of these 5 simple automations and build your first Make.com workflow today. Action builds business. Start small, start smart—then scale!

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