AI notetakers are everywhere. But which one actually fits the way you work?

In this series, we talk with the founders and CEOs behind the top AI notetaking tools to learn how they’re built, what they do best, and how they fit into real sales and CS workflows.

In this video, we dive into a conversation with Mike Adams, founder of Grain.

We talked about how Grain helps teams turn meetings into action. From structured notes to HubSpot automation to cross-meeting insights, Mike shared how the tool has evolved, what makes it different, and what they're building next.

Note: I recommend watching the video for a full walkthrough and behind-the-scenes look at how Grain works!

Meet Grain

Grain launched in 2018 to help teams get more value from their meetings. It started as a simple way to clip and share key moments, but has since grown into a full platform for turning conversations into structured, actionable data.

Today, Grain supports workflows across sales, customer success, and product teams. With support for frameworks like SPICED and MEDDIC, built-in coaching tools, and a deep HubSpot integration, Grain goes far beyond basic meeting notes.

Feature highlights

Clean meeting summaries with context‍

Grain generates structured summaries with key takeaways, action items, and detailed breakdowns by topic. Teams can also apply frameworks like SPICED or MEDDIC to automatically extract relevant sales insights from each meeting.

Custom templates for every team‍

Teams can build their own note templates in Grain. These templates power summaries that reflect your internal processes, such as capturing customer pain points, goals, and objections.

Deep HubSpot integration‍

Grain can automatically sync meeting summaries, SPICED analysis, and other structured data into HubSpot. You can choose to log it as a meeting or note. It also matches participants with HubSpot contacts and can create new records if needed.

Track deal momentum across calls‍

Grain’s deal dashboard pulls in open deals from HubSpot and aggregates call insights across multiple meetings. This gives reps and managers a full view of pain points, risks, and next steps, even if they were mentioned weeks apart.

Sales coaching workflows

‍Grain includes scorecards to help managers leave coaching comments tied to specific call moments. Reps get structured feedback on things like qualification or rapport building, with links to specific clips for context.

Easily share clips‍

Grain started with clips, and they’re still one of the best parts. It’s easy to pull highlights from calls and create shareable videos or internal “stories” to showcase things like feedback, objections, or feature requests.

Privacy and security‍

Grain is SOC 2 Type II compliant and designed with strict privacy standards. Your meeting data belongs to you, and Grain doesn’t use customer data for model training.

Why Grain stands out

Grain feels like it was built by people who actually use it every day. It’s easy to get started, but flexible enough to adapt to your team’s workflow, whether you’re in sales, CS, or somewhere in between.

What makes it different:

→ Custom templates you can tweak to match your process (SPICED, MEDDIC, or your own)
→ Deal insights that pull from multiple meetings to show a full picture, not just a one-off call
→ Coaching features that let managers leave feedback tied to exact moments in the call
→ Simple setup, affordable pricing, and a product that’s genuinely easy to use

One thing we loved: Grain’s “Ask” feature lets you query your meeting history like a second brain. It surfaces insights across your deals, not just one meeting at a time.

Try Grain for yourself

If you want to explore Grain’s AI notetaking and HubSpot workflows firsthand, you can sign up for free. It’s built for teams, easy to get started, and flexible enough to fit into your existing sales or CS process.