How to Find Companies That Use Salesforce (or Any CRM)
You've built a Salesforce integration. Or maybe it's a HubSpot Chrome extension. Or you're selling implementation services to Pipedrive users. Either way, you need customers who use that specific CRM.
The conventional move is buying a list from ZoomInfo for $10k+/year. As a bootstrapped indie hacker, that's not happening.
Here's what nobody tells you: companies leak CRM usage signals everywhere. Job postings mention the stack they're hiring for. Community forums show who's troubleshooting what. App reviews reveal power users by name. Public instances sit indexed in Google. You just need to know where to look.
I've used these techniques to build qualified prospect lists for multiple B2B products without spending a dollar on data providers. The companies you find this way aren't just CRM users – they're companies actively struggling with implementations, hiring for CRM roles, or investing in add-ons. That's better signal than any static database can give you.
Here are 8 techniques that work for Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, or any CRM you're targeting.
1) Check app review sections on integration marketplaces
Most CRMs have an app marketplace where third-party tools can integrate. And every app has reviews written by real users – complete with names, companies, and often LinkedIn profiles.
For Salesforce: Browse the Salesforce AppExchange. Find apps that your target customers would use. For example, if you're targeting companies doing complex quoting, read reviews on Conga CPQ. If you're targeting service teams, read Talkdesk reviews.
For HubSpot: Check the HubSpot App Marketplace. Similar setup – every review shows the reviewer's name and often their company. Look for apps relevant to your target segment. If you're targeting marketing agencies, read reviews on tools like Databox or Supermetrics.
For Pipedrive: Browse the Pipedrive Marketplace. Reviews here are less detailed than Salesforce or HubSpot, but you still get names and occasionally job titles. Focus on the most popular integrations in your niche.
The key: pick the right app to review. Don't just browse randomly. Think about what type of customer you want, then read reviews for the apps they'd actually use. Companies that care enough to buy an add-on and leave a review are way more engaged than random CRM users.
2) Join CRM-specific Slack communities and monitor active channels
CRM users congregate in Slack communities to ask questions and troubleshoot issues. These communities are goldmine for finding active users who need help right now.
For Salesforce: Join Ohana Slack. Don't monitor the entire community – just join channels relevant to your product. If you're building Service Cloud tooling, camp on the Service Cloud channel. If you sell CPQ consulting, watch the CPQ discussions.
People asking "How do I configure this Lightning component?" aren't asking hypothetically – they're building something today. That's a warm lead.
Most people use their real names on Slack. If someone has an uncommon name, just Google it: "Jessica Martinez" hubspot linkedin and you'll find their profile in seconds.
For HubSpot: Join HubSpot User Groups and look for Slack communities run by power users and agencies. The Revenue Operations Slack also has active HubSpot channels since RevOps teams are heavy HubSpot users.
For Pipedrive: The Pipedrive Community Forum is less active than Salesforce or HubSpot equivalents, but you can still find users asking implementation questions. Monitor it weekly and you'll spot companies actively using the platform.
The real advantage here is timing. You're finding people with active problems, not names from a six-month-old database.
3) Search trust centers for CRM vendor disclosures
SaaS companies that sell to enterprises often publish "trust centers" or "security pages" listing every third-party vendor that touches customer data. This is required for SOC 2 compliance and GDPR regulations.
If a company uses a CRM to manage customer data, they're usually required to disclose it. And since these pages are public, Google indexes them.
For Salesforce: Search Google for:
site:trust.*.com salesforce -salesforce.com
The -salesforce.com part filters out Salesforce's own trust page, so you only see companies disclosing Salesforce as a vendor they use. Each result is a legal confirmation that they use Salesforce.
For HubSpot: Try:
site:trust.*.com hubspot -hubspot.com
site:security.*.com hubspot -hubspot.com
For Pipedrive: Search:
site:trust.*.com pipedrive -pipedrive.com
This method works best for finding enterprise and mid-market SaaS companies. Smaller companies often don't publish trust centers. But if you're targeting B2B companies with compliance requirements, this is one of the most reliable signals you can get.
4) Search job boards with Google operators (not LinkedIn)
Searching job postings for CRM mentions sounds obvious, but most people do it wrong. LinkedIn and Indeed are flooded with recruiter spam. You'll waste time filtering out Randstad and Robert Half listings that don't tell you the actual end client.
Instead, use Google with site: operators to search job boards where companies post directly.
For any CRM, try these searches:
For startups and tech companies:
site:job-boards.greenhouse.io "Salesforce"
site:jobs.ashbyhq.com "HubSpot"
site:lever.co "Pipedrive"
For enterprise companies:
site:myworkdayjobs.com "Salesforce"
site:oraclecloud.com "HubSpot"
site:icims.com "Pipedrive"
For SMBs:
site:paylocity.com "Salesforce"
site:bamboohr.com "HubSpot"
site:workable.com "Pipedrive"
You can get even more specific. Want companies using Salesforce AND hiring for RevOps?
site:job-boards.greenhouse.io "Salesforce" "revenue operations"
Want companies implementing HubSpot Marketing Hub specifically?
site:myworkdayjobs.com "HubSpot Marketing Hub"
This takes 30 seconds and gives you companies actively spending money on the CRM. Way better than searching across random postings on LinkedIn.
5) Monitor CRM vendor LinkedIn posts and extract commenters
Go to your target CRM's LinkedIn company page and find their popular posts – especially product announcements and new feature launches. Then look at who's commenting.
For Salesforce: Visit Salesforce's LinkedIn. Posts about Agentforce, Data Cloud, or Einstein typically get hundreds of comments. Who comments? Salesforce admins, consultants who implement it, and users excited about the feature. All confirmed customers.
For HubSpot: Check HubSpot's LinkedIn. Posts about new Sales Hub features or marketing automation updates attract HubSpot power users and agencies.
For Pipedrive: Browse Pipedrive's LinkedIn. Their audience is smaller but more focused on SMB sales teams – perfect if that's your ICP.
Posts with 500+ reactions and dozens of comments give you a concentrated list of engaged users. You can manually browse commenters or use a tool like Databar.ai to scrape everyone who engaged with a specific post.
This works for any vendor. Find the LinkedIn page, find popular posts, harvest the commenters. Repeatable playbook.
6) Browse official community forums for users asking questions
Most major CRMs have official community forums where users troubleshoot issues and ask questions. Unlike Slack, people here use real names and often list their companies publicly.
For Salesforce: Visit the Salesforce Trailblazer Community. This is where Salesforce admins go for help. Browse sections relevant to your product – there are specific forums for CPQ, Marketing Cloud, Data Cloud, Einstein, and more.
When someone asks "How do I configure Agentforce for my use case?", their company is actively using it. Click their profile and you'll see their name, job title, and often their company. Find them on LinkedIn and you have a warm outreach target.
For HubSpot: Check the HubSpot Community. Users here are less likely to display company info publicly compared to Salesforce, but you still get real names and can cross-reference with LinkedIn. Focus on the "Ideas" forum where people request features – these are power users.
For Pipedrive: Browse the Pipedrive Community. Smaller community but more tightly focused on SMB sales teams. People asking integration questions are good targets if you're building Pipedrive connectors.
The advantage here: you're finding people with problems right now. Someone asking "How do I set up HubSpot workflows for our sales process?" has an active need today, not six months ago.
7) Search Google for public CRM instances
Many companies run public-facing pages on their CRM without realizing they're discoverable. Two types are especially easy to find:
For Salesforce:
Search for Experience Cloud sites (customer portals and help centers):
site:my.site.com
You'll find URLs like nasacentral.my.site.com or patagoniasupport.my.site.com. The subdomain prefix usually reveals the company. Click through and you'll see their branding.
Also search:
site:force.com
This finds customer support forums and partner portals like fanduelsupport1.force.com.
For HubSpot:
HubSpot's knowledge bases and support portals often live on subdomains. Try:
site:hubspotpagebuilder.com
Or search for common HubSpot CMS patterns:
inurl:hs-sites.com
For Pipedrive:
Pipedrive doesn't have as many public-facing instances, but some companies use Pipedrive web forms which can be found via:
site:pipedrive.com/webforms
You can also use URLScan.io to find internal instances. Search for page.domain:my.salesforce.com or page.domain:app.hubspot.com and you'll see subdomains belonging to different companies. The prefix usually contains the company name or abbreviation.
8) As a last resort: Use free tools or free trials
If the manual methods above feel too time-consuming, or you need a larger volume of companies fast, there are some tools with free tiers or trials you can use.
Wappalyzer Browser Extension: The Wappalyzer browser extension is free and lets you see what technologies any website uses just by visiting it. Install it, browse to a company's website, and it'll show you if they're using Salesforce, HubSpot, Pipedrive, or other tools.
The downside: you need to already know which websites to visit. It's not great for discovery, but it's perfect for qualifying companies you've already identified through other methods. "Is this prospect using HubSpot?" Just visit their site and check.
For Salesforce specifically: Bloomberry offers a real-time list of companies using Salesforce (and even companies that churned). While it's a paid tool, they have data you can access that's more affordable than enterprise options like ZoomInfo. Worth checking if you're specifically targeting Salesforce users and want to skip the manual research.
The key with all these tools: use them to augment manual research, not replace it. The companies you find manually (through job posts, forums, Slack) come with context about their current needs. A name from a database doesn't tell you if they're struggling with an implementation right now.
The Bottom Line
You don't need a $10k/year data subscription to find companies using specific CRMs. Community forums, app reviews, job boards, trust centers, Slack groups, LinkedIn comments, and public instances all give you the same information – often with the exact person to contact.
The real advantage isn't just that these methods are free. It's that they surface companies that need help right now. Someone posting a HubSpot admin job, asking how to fix a Pipedrive integration in a forum, or troubleshooting Salesforce flows in Slack has an active need today. That's fundamentally better than a name on a six-month-old static list.
For indie hackers building on tight budgets, this kind of scrappy research is table stakes. You can build a highly qualified prospect list in a weekend using nothing but Google and some creativity. No credit card required.
