Our four person startup in Portland just hit the point where customer emails are scattered across three different inboxes and we keep losing track of who's responding to what. We need something that lets us all see incoming questions in one place and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks without being overkill for our size. I tried using a shared Gmail account for a week but it was a mess with multiple people jumping on the same ticket. We're handling maybe 50 support requests a day right now but that number keeps climbing. What features actually matter when you're this small? Does it make sense to pay for something robust now or start with a free tier and upgrade later when things get busier?