Why I built Mates and Sheilas
Helping you remember what matters about your mates — backed by 28 years of CRM expertise and one very specific gap I needed to fill.
My story
My wife was the one who remembered everything. After every dinner, every chance run-in, she'd reel off the details — kids' names, holiday plans, a parent's health update, someone's favourite meal. She made the people around us feel known. When she passed away, I didn't just lose my partner. I lost the person who held our entire social world together.
I tried keeping up on my own. Notes in my phone. Scrolling old WhatsApp threads before meeting mates. The details kept slipping — not because I didn't care, but because remembering everything about everyone is genuinely hard. I went looking for tools that could help and found only professional CRMs built for salespeople. Nothing built for actual friendships.
I've spent 28 years in CRM and online marketing, with the last decade as a Salesforce Architect — building systems that help organisations know the people they serve. The technology to solve this existed. So I taught myself to code and built Mates and Sheilas: an app for the bloke who cares but keeps forgetting to show it.
— Michiel van Gaalen, Founder
What I believe
Friendships deserve real effort
We invest heavily in our work relationships and leave the personal ones to memory alone. The people who sustain us deserve at least the same thoughtfulness.
Your memories belong to you
Everything is encrypted and private. We don't sell your information, and AI never trains on it. What you share with Mates and Sheilas stays yours.
Technology should disappear
The best tools are invisible. Log a quick note, glance at a profile before coffee, and let AI handle the rest quietly in the background.
How Mates and Sheilas is different
Built for actual friendships
Most personal CRMs are professional tools in disguise. Mates and Sheilas is built for keeping up with the people who matter — warm, complicated relationships that deserve more than a contact card.
European-built, globally minded
Built in the Netherlands with privacy by design and support for 10 languages. Friendship looks different around the world, and the app respects that.
AI that answers to you
AI extracts details and suggests talking points, but you always review and confirm. Nothing is saved to a mate's profile without your approval. You stay in control.
Ready to be the mate who remembers?
Free in under a minute. No credit card.