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Ajaz Ahmed
CEO at AKQA
Ajaz Ahmed is a prominent British entrepreneur, best known as the founder and CEO of AKQA, a leading digital design and innovation agency. He established AKQA at the age of 21, and under his leadership, the company has grown to employ over 5,500 people and generate nearly a billion dollars in revenue. AKQA has received numerous accolades, including 81 Agency of the Year titles and recognition as one of the top workplaces for innovators.13
Early Life and Education
Born in 1973 in Taplow, Buckinghamshire, Ahmed grew up in a modest household in Maidenhead. His parents were first-generation immigrants from Punjab, India. Despite facing economic challenges, Ahmed's parents instilled in him the values of hard work and perseverance. He began his career early, working at Ashton-Tate, where he gained valuable experience in various departments of the company.23
Career and Achievements
Ahmed's entrepreneurial journey began when he decided to leave university to start his own multimedia agency, which eventually became AKQA. The company quickly rose to prominence, becoming the largest independent new media agency in the UK by 1999. In 2001, AKQA received significant investment from Accenture, which helped expand its international presence.24
Throughout his career, Ahmed has authored three books focused on business and creativity: Velocity, Limitless, and Defeat. He has also been recognized for his philanthropic efforts, serving on the boards of several charitable organizations, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation and Virgin Unite.34
Honors
In recognition of his contributions to the media industry, Ahmed was appointed a Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) in 2018. He also holds honorary degrees from the University of Bath and Oxford Brookes University.24
Ajaz Ahmed's journey from humble beginnings to leading a billion-dollar agency exemplifies his commitment to innovation, diversity, and community service.
Highlights
TODAY, HALF THE WORLD’S POPULATION IS UNDER 30. THEY SHOULD SHAPE ALL OUR TOMORROWS.
It is often said that ‘youth is wasted on the young’. In a way, it’s true. While Earth’s finite resources are plundered for short-term political fixes and greater economic gains for a smaller number of beneficiaries, one of the most valuable renewables — our planet’s young people and their commitment to change — is undoubtedly being undervalued and underused.
Fifty-two per cent of the world’s population is under 30, but that ratio rarely seems reflected in society’s policy-making and governance. Whether it’s a lack of representation or barriers to participation, young people are acutely aware of obstacles to involvement. The policies being pursued frequently fail to adequately or urgently address issues of concern — like climate change, conflict, career opportunities and the cost of living.
On the one hand, young people are often portrayed as being politically disengaged or apathetic. On the other, when they do take action to address challenges they feel can’t wait, they’re accused of impulsively intruding.
Part of addressing that gap is ensuring that the young feel enfranchised and empowered to exercise their democratic rights. But even then, today’s democracy doesn’t always seem to be doing its best for tomorrow’s global inhabitants. It’s hard to feel like a grown-up with an influential voice in the world when economic rewards and realities like decent pensions, property ownership and accessible healthcare seem elusive. Perhaps the only certainty is of inheriting the mistakes of previous generations.
From microplastics and ultra-processed foods and their adverse effects on mind and body to the fossil-fuelled profits and power networks we’re weaning ourselves off too slowly, the next wave can feel disempowered determining their own destiny.
In pre-modern societies, where customs and cultures evolved to ensure the survival of the village and its tribe, a productive relationship between generations could be the difference between life and death. One of the crucial roles performed by the stewards of the present was to distil their perspective into wisdom they could pass on to the custodians of its future. It wasn’t about individual rivalries or the squabbles of the day but about conveying a sense of the eternal cycle of life and helping equip a community’s descendants for the untraveled path ahead.
The experiences and resilient optimism of today’s young people radiate a distinct energy. If we rebuff their idealism and dismiss their fresh perspectives, it’s not just their future we’ll be risking. It’s everyone’s.
A FORGOTTEN FORMULA FOR BETTER LIVING
Way back in 1989, when work was somewhere you went in the morning and left in the evening, the sociologist Roy Oldenburg popularised the concept of the ‘third place’.
Oldenburg characterised home as ‘first place’ and work as the second. The elusive ‘third place’ was his description of another kind of space where, liberated from the bonds and duties of your job and family life, you entered a neutral zone beyond everyday rules, roles and responsibilities – one where social status, earning power and privilege were left behind, and everybody entered on an equal footing.
Oldenburg argued that these convivial, conversational spaces were vital to the community, civic life and democracy itself. So perhaps it’s no surprise that they look increasingly like endangered habitats in our polarised and unequal age. Pubs, cafés, places of worship, libraries, museums, galleries, and parks: some of these locations have lost significance due to changes in the culture. Others have fallen victim to economic pressures.
Finding somewhere to escape from the hustle and bustle is not always easy. Recent news that attendance at UK visitor attractions is down 23 per cent on pre-pandemic levels highlighted the speed at which such sanctuaries are disappearing.
In the digital age, virtual third places initially seemed like a solution to the loss of physical ones. Games and social media used to be third places. Now they’re second jobs. Social media is less a relaxed space for hanging out and more often about building a personal brand.
Play is vital to the development of children’s minds and the well-being of adults. Sleep is essential to creativity, our ability to store memories and problem-solve. A good holiday renews our spirits. So it makes sense that there’s a societal benefit to collective experiences that fulfil a similar function.
As our third places diminish, we must endeavour to create new ones. There’s no place like a home from home.
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
Mesh works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Mesh offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
- Network Strength: Visualizes the strength of your relationships relative to others in your network
- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Mesh is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Mesh is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Mesh as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Mesh offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Mesh takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Mesh encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Mesh work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Mesh is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Mesh is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Mesh is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Mesh offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Mesh offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Mesh for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Mesh accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Mesh offers extensive integration capabilities. Mesh introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Mesh supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Mesh also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Mesh's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Mesh makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Mesh's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Mesh is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Mesh stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Mesh excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Mesh is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Mesh offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Mesh's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Mesh has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Mesh is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Mesh beneficial.
Mesh offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Mesh offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Mesh's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Mesh offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Mesh focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Mesh also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Mesh offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Mesh isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Mesh instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Mesh is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Mesh can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Mesh is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Mesh helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Mesh's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Mesh has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Mesh a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Mesh's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Mesh's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Mesh has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Mesh's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Mesh as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Mesh eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.
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