Why I Built Tagup.pro: From Scattered Notes to Systematic Relationship Management

The Problem I Couldn’t Ignore

After 25 years in IT, I’ve come a long way and grown in technical aspects and leadership. I have architected complex systems, built high-performing teams, and delivered results. But there was one challenge that I kept coming back to: managing the sheer volume of professional relationships that came with leadership.

It started when I began managing larger teams and transitioned to fully remote work. Suddenly, I was conducting 15-20 one-on-one meetings every week - each one lasting 15-30 minutes. Weekly check-ins with my team of 10+ direct reports. Bi-weekly meetings with other department heads. Regular calls with vendors, staffing partners, and cross-functional colleagues. The meetings were back-to-back, and I was constantly hopping from one virtual meeting or call to another.

I often found myself drowning in context switching.

The Notes That Never Worked

Like most managers, I tried everything to stay organized. OneNote. Text files for each person. Various note-taking apps. I looked into various tools that offered 1-on-1 meeting features, but they were always bundled into larger project management or HR suites - overbuilt for teams but underbuilt for what I actually needed: a person-focused system to manage individual relationships.

The fundamental problem was simple but maddening: I was always searching for the right notes for the right person. There was no way to see all my commitments in one aggregated view. No way to prepare systematically. At times, I walked into meetings feeling unprepared, winging it instead of having a clear agenda or plan.

I was losing context, and it was affecting the quality of my leadership.

The Moment That Changed Everything

The wake-up call came during a quarterly review with one of my direct reports. They were disappointed about their compensation, and the conversation became tense when they suggested I had misrepresented or misconstrued what they should expect earlier in the year.

I scrambled through my notes. What exactly had I said in that January conversation? What expectations had I set in March? I couldn’t find the specific conversation quickly enough. The lack of clear, chronological documentation made me look unprepared - or worse, like I was backtracking.

That moment crystallized something I’d been feeling for years: I needed a tight history and detailed notes on every substantive interaction. Not just for accountability, but to be the leader my team deserved. To recall what was said. To revisit commitments. To track progress on goals we’d discussed months ago.

Paper notes, scattered text files, and OneNote weren’t cutting it. The CRM tools built for sales teams didn’t understand my needs as a people leader. And the features built into our enterprise HR suite mostly focused on goals and performance management. The day-to-day relationship management for interpersonal needs often felt like an afterthought.

Talking to Other Managers

I started asking peers and other leaders how they handled this. What I found was both validating and surprising. Most were using variations of my broken system - notebooks, docs, spreadsheets, or note-taking templates. The focus was often more on meeting structure (which is important) but never on the system for organizing, tracking, and recalling relationship context over time.

Everyone had the same pain points:

• Losing context between meetings
• Forgetting important personal or professional details
• Missing follow-ups and letting commitments slip
• Feeling unprepared despite good intentions

Nobody had found a good solution.

Over time, the vision for Tagup.pro was born from personal experience and pain points: organize interactions by person, keep them logged chronologically, and make that the focal point of the entire system.

Building Tagup.pro

We’ve spent a few months building what we are calling Tagup.pro - a relationship management platform for professionals who understand that meaningful connections drive success.

The MVP (or maybe MVP-plus, since it’s already pretty feature-rich) handles the complete meeting workflow:

• People Profiles: Store everyone’s details - contact info, notes, social links, communication preferences - in one searchable place
• Conversation Log: Record meeting details with rich notes and preserve context so you’re never starting from scratch
• Stay Connected: Set follow-up reminders, schedule recurring check-ins, and track tasks tied to specific people
• The Big Picture: See all tasks, reminders, and deadlines in one dashboard

It’s the system I wish I’d had for a long time and certainly during that difficult compensation conversation a while back.

Who It’s Really For

While Tagup solves my pain points, I quickly realized it solves problems for a much broader audience:

• People leaders and managers running regular 1-on-1s with their teams
• Consultants and freelancers managing multiple client relationships
• Business development professionals nurturing partnerships and prospects
• Tutors and mentors tracking student or mentee progress
• Relationship-focused sales professionals who prioritize depth over volume

Basically, anyone who understands that professional success comes from maintaining meaningful relationships systematically, not reactively.

Join the Beta

We are currently in the beta testing phase, and looking for professionals who share this pain point. People who are tired of scattered notes, lost context, and missed follow-ups. Leaders who want to show up prepared and present for every important relationship.

Tagup.pro is completely free during beta, and you’ll have direct input into how the platform evolves. If you’ve ever felt that pang of “I should have remembered that” or “I need to be more systematic about this,” I’d love to have you try it.

Ready to transform how you manage your professional relationships? Apply for beta access and join me in building the future of relationship management.