Your LinkedIn network is a mess. Mine is too. It's this weird, ever-expanding digital Rolodex filled with college classmates you haven't spoken to in a decade, that one guy you met at a conference in 2017, and about a hundred recruiters who all seem to have the perfect opportunity for you. It's a powerful platform, no doubt, but managing the actual people on it? It feels like trying to sort a deck of cards in the middle of a hurricane.
I've tried everything. The native LinkedIn tools are... fine, I guess. But they feel clunky. Full-blown CRMs are often overkill (and expensive!) for what I need. I just want to remember why I connected with someone. Is this a potential client? A great podcast guest? Someone I owe an email to?
So, when I stumbled upon a new Chrome extension called CherryPick, my interest was definitely piqued. The promise is simple: Master Your LinkedIn Network. A bold claim. But after playing around with it for a bit, I think they might actually be onto something.
So, What Is This CherryPick Thing Anyway?
In the simplest terms, CherryPick is a lightweight layer that sits on top of your LinkedIn experience. It’s a Chrome extension that lets you create custom tags and apply them to your contacts directly on their profiles. Think of it like putting little digital sticky notes on people's foreheads. A yellow one for “Hot Lead,” a blue one for “Follow-up Q3,” a green one for “Knows good coffee spots in Austin.”
It doesn't try to reinvent the wheel. It doesn't want to be your all-in-one project management and sales behemoth. It does one thing—tagging and organizing contacts—and from what I’ve seen, it does it really well. You tag people as you browse, and then you can manage these curated lists from a central dashboard. Simple, clean, and effective.
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The Actual Problem CherryPick Solves
The core issue with LinkedIn is its lack of context. Sure, you connected with “John Doe, VP of Synergy,” but the platform doesn’t remind you that you met him while waiting in line for a terrible conference lunch and bonded over a shared hatred for lukewarm chicken. That context is everything.
This is where a tool for better LinkedIn contact management becomes more than a nice-to-have. It becomes a necessity for anyone using the platform professionally. Without a system, you're just collecting connections like they're Pokémon cards, with no real strategy. CherryPick gives you that system. It turns your chaotic network into a searchable, sortable database that you control.
A Quick Look at How It Works
Getting started is ridiculously easy, which is a huge plus in my book. I have zero patience for tools with a steep learning curve.
Seamless Integration and Tagging
Once you install the extension, it just... works. You head over to someone’s LinkedIn profile, and a new little CherryPick menu appears. You can create a tag right there—say, “SEO Experts”—and apply it. The next time you visit a profile of another SEO pro, that tag is already in your list, ready to be assigned. It’s this “tagging on the fly” that makes it feel so intuitive. You dont have to break your workflow to go organize something in another tab. It all happens right there.
The Dashboard and Exporting Your Data
This is where the magic really happens. All your tagged contacts show up in the CherryPick dashboard. You can see everyone tagged as “Potential Client” or “Podcast Outreach” in one clean view. And the best part? You can export these lists as a CSV or JSON file. This is huge. It means you can easily pull a curated list of leads and pop it into your email marketing tool, a Google Sheet, or even a more powerful CRM. It bridges the gap between LinkedIn and all the other tools you use to actually do your job.
Who Should Be Using This Tool?
The CherryPick website says it’s for pretty much everyone, from students to founders. And while that's true, I think a few groups will find it exceptionally useful:
- Sales Reps & Managers: This is a no-brainer. It’s a fantastic, lightweight sales prospecting tool. You can segment leads by industry, interest level, or stage in the pipeline without paying for Sales Navigator.
- Recruiters and HR Teams: Imagine creating tags for different roles you're hiring for, like “Java Developer - Senior” or “UX Designer - Austin.” You can build talent pools on the fly and track candidates effortlessly.
- Freelancers & Consultants: This is me. Juggling multiple clients and prospects is a constant struggle. Being able to tag contacts with the project name or their area of expertise is a game-changer for staying organized.
- Networking Power-Users: If you're someone who is constantly connecting and trying to build genuine professional relationships, this is your new best friend.
Basically, if your job requires you to remember people from LinkedIn, this tool is probably for you.
The Good, The Not-So-Good, and the Quirks
No tool is perfect, right? Here’s my honest breakdown.
What I love is its simplicity. It’s incredibly easy to use and integrates so smoothly you forget it’s a third-party extension. The export options are flexible, and for now, its completely free. That’s a pretty compelling package.
On the flip side, it’s currently a Chrome-only extension. So if you’re a die-hard Safari or Firefox user, you’re out of luck for now. Also, its functionality is entirely dependent on LinkedIn's platform. If LinkedIn pushes a major design overhaul, it could temporarily break the extension. That’s a risk with any tool like this.
And for the quirky part… while I was clicking around their site, I hit their “Learn More” button and was greeted with a classic Firebase “Page Not Found” error. Now, some might see this as unprofessional. I see it as endearing. It's a sign of a new, lean startup that's focused on building a great product, maybe not on perfecting every single link on their marketing site just yet. It feels authentic, you know?
What's the Price of Picking Cherries?
This is the best part. Currently, CherryPick is free to use.
Based on the information available, it seems they plan to introduce premium features down the road that may require a subscription. This is a pretty standard playbook for SaaS tools. My advice? Get in now. Use it, see if you like it, and enjoy the full functionality while it costs you absolutely nothing. By the time they introduce a paid tier, you’ll know for sure if it’s worth the investment for your workflow.
Some Final Thoughts
In a world of bloated, complex software, CherryPick is a breath of fresh air. It’s not trying to be everything to everyone. It’s a focused, sharp little tool that solves a very common, very annoying problem. It helps you bring order to the chaos of LinkedIn networking.
Will it replace a full-featured CRM like HubSpot or Salesforce? Of course not. But it’s not supposed to. It’s the perfect go-between—more powerful than LinkedIn's native tools, but far simpler and more accessible than a heavy-duty CRM. For the vast majority of professionals, I think it hits a real sweet spot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CherryPick free to use?
Yes, as of right now, the core features of CherryPick are completely free. The company has indicated that they might introduce premium features for a subscription fee in the future.
Can I export my tagged contacts?
Absolutely. You can export your curated lists from the dashboard into either CSV or JSON formats, making it easy to use that data in other applications like Google Sheets or your email marketing platform.
What about my data privacy?
CherryPick operates as a Chrome extension, meaning it runs locally in your browser. While any extension requires certain permissions to function, their model is designed to manage contact info you're already viewing. As always, it's good practice to review the privacy policy of any extension you install.
Will this work with my company's CRM?
Indirectly, yes. While it might not have a direct, one-click integration with your specific CRM, the ability to export contacts as a CSV file is the key. Most CRM systems allow you to import data from a CSV, so you can use CherryPick to create a targeted list and then upload it to your main system.
Is it difficult to set up?
Not at all. You just install it from the Chrome Web Store, create a quick account, and you're ready to go. You can start tagging contacts on LinkedIn within minutes.
Conclusion
Look, if you’re a professional who spends any significant amount of time on LinkedIn, you owe it to yourself to give CherryPick a try. It’s a simple, elegant solution to the perennial problem of digital clutter. It helps you turn your massive list of connections back into what it's supposed to be: a valuable network of people. For a free tool, the value it provides is pretty incredible. Go install it and start organizing—your future self will thank you.
