Why deeptech founders
choose Michi over Folk.
Folk is a beautiful contact management tool — great for keeping track of people. But if you need to manage a hospital pilot alongside a grant application and an investor roadshow, Folk gives you a contact list. Michi gives you a platform.
Beyond contact management.
Folk tracks contacts. Michi tracks relationships.
Folk is a contact book with tagging and sequences. Michi gives you purpose-built pipelines for pilots, grants, partnerships, and fundraising — each with stages, custom fields, and AI context that makes sense for that type of deal.
Michi AI knows what a grant is.
Folk's AI helps you write cold emails. Michi's Founder AI knows the difference between an NIH SBIR application and a Horizon Europe consortium call — and it reads your actual pipeline to brief you before a meeting.
GDPR-first, not GDPR-adjacent.
If you sell to hospitals or governments, your CRM needs to pass a security review. Michi is built with row-level security at the database layer, EU data residency, and a DPA available on Pro. Folk is a contact tool — not an enterprise-grade platform.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Folk | 道Michi |
|---|---|---|
| Commercial pilot tracking | Partial | Yes |
| Grant application pipeline | No | First class |
| Fundraising round management | Partial | First class |
| Strategic partnership tracking | Partial | Yes |
| AI briefings from your data | Partial | Native |
| Email sync (Gmail + Outlook) | Yes | Yes |
| Transcript → structured notes | No | Yes |
| EU data residency | Partial | Always |
| GDPR by design | Partial | Yes |
| Founder-specific AI prompts | No | Yes |
From Folk to Michi.
"Folk was fine for keeping track of contacts, but we needed something that understood what a grant pipeline actually looks like. Michi had SBIR and Horizon stages ready to go."
Placeholder — cleantech founder, US
[Replace with real testimonial before launch]
"We loved Folk's UI but outgrew it fast. Michi has the same clean feel but with actual pipeline management and an AI that knows what we're trying to do."
Placeholder — healthtech founder, Netherlands
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Ready to graduate from Folk?
Import your Folk contacts with a CSV export. Takes under 5 minutes.