The AI-Native CRM

Lightfield co-founder and CEO Keith Peiris details the transition from building the AI presentation tool Tome to developing Lightfield, a "business world model" CRM. This platform replaces rigid, schema-heavy databases with a chronological activity log that integrates disparate data sources like emails, meetings, and product usage. By prioritizing intelligence over traditional schema, Lightfield enables AI agents to perform complex tasks—such as identifying expansion opportunities or matching patients with clinical trials—that were previously impossible in legacy systems. The company’s growth stems from a strategy that prioritized deep customer feedback and high-fidelity business modeling over traditional, manual CRM entry. Founders navigating pivots should ignore external noise, maintain a maniacal focus on solving genuine customer pain, and prioritize flexible data structures to build enduring systems of record that adapt to the chaotic reality of modern business.