Looking for a simple CRM.

Hi all, I don’t really know what I am looking for. I work for a small start up company (it a specialty Lending Bank meaning we are licensed as a bank but can only lend to a very very niche industry) right now priority 1 is to raise equity capital for the bank. Priority 2 is develop sales leads for when we have enough equity and deposits in the bank to begin lending. I have been managing our sales database (excel) so far and I think we need to move on from my database to a proper CRM.

I am looking for something simple and cheap. Although we are expecting to expand significantly in the next two years, for the next year or so I am likely to be the only person using the CRM, maybe our CEO/CIO will turn to it from time to time. I am looking for something that can categorize who we are targeting for the equity raise and categorize sales prospects during and post cap raise. As well as has easy to add and find notes for each lead.

The last time I used a CRM was 8 plus years ago. It was overwhelming back then. The simpler the better. At the same time I dont know what I am exactly looking for so any help is appreciated. Someone recommended to me a CRM called Monday. But I would rather hear suggestions from people who know the CRM market well.

Thank you