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Alex Kennedy
Managing Director (UK & AUS/NZ), Believe
Professional Background
Alex Kennedy is an accomplished entrepreneur and all-rounder with a robust background in the music industry. With the ability to seamlessly connect the dots across various sectors, Alex has a rich history of advising startups and successfully founding, building, and exiting his own retail technology business. His creative-first, hands-on approach has propelled him to the forefront of strategic development and business leadership in the music sector.
His professional journey includes holding prestigious positions such as Managing Director for both the UK and Australian/New Zealand markets at Believe, where he played a pivotal role in shaping the direction and success of the company in a competitive landscape. As Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) at Music Glue, Alex utilized his extensive expertise in developing partnerships and licensing strategies to drive innovative solutions that catered to the evolving needs of artists and the music industry at large.
With a deep understanding of music management, operations, and business development, Alex has worked diligently to build robust frameworks that support artist growth and engagement. He has also held important advisory roles, including a Non-Executive Director position at Beatroot Music, where he provided insights that helped shape the artistic and commercial strategies of the organization. His ability to foster strong relationships within the industry is underscored by his experience as Music Manager for Doc Brown at Bust-A-Gut Records, where he worked closely with artists to enhance their careers.
Moreover, Alex has demonstrated his strategic foresight as a member of the Board of Directors at the Association of Independent Music (AIM), where he contributed to advancements that promote independent artists while balancing commercial and creative interests within the industry.
Education and Achievements
Alex's educational accomplishments lay a solid foundation for his professional endeavors. He holds a Professional Post-Graduate Diploma in Marketing from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM), which has equipped him with essential skills for driving brand strategy and marketing initiatives. Furthermore, he earned a Master’s degree (MA) in Advertising and Marketing from the University of Leeds, honing his abilities to communicate effectively and craft compelling narratives in the dynamic landscape of marketing.
His academic journey began with a Bachelor's degree (BA Hons) in American History from Trinity College-Hartford, followed by another BA (Hons) in English and American History at the University of East Anglia. This scholarly background not only underscores his analytical and critical thinking abilities but also enriches his approach to storytelling within the realms of advertising and marketing.
Achievements
Throughout his illustrious career, Alex has been recognized for his outstanding contributions across various facets of the music industry. His ventures into retail technology and music management are marked by several key achievements, including:
- Successfully transitioning from the dual roles of Head of Music Licensing and Head of Publishing at prominent companies like Sky and Omnifone, respectively, where he was instrumental in laying down innovative licensing frameworks during a time of significant change within the music sector.
- Co-founding and serving as Chief Operating Officer at Givvit, a platform designed to revolutionize the way users engage with music and discover new artists. His leadership helped the company gain notable traction in a highly competitive environment.
- Leading commercial development initiatives at Sky Tickets, where he focused on integrating music and entertainment, ensuring a seamless experience for consumers eager to discover live events, and making significant contributions to the entertainment ecosystem.
- Developing and nurturing strategic partnerships that have enabled companies to expand their offerings and create new revenue streams within the ever-evolving music industry.
- Innovating production and account management strategies during his tenure at Carbon Music Ltd, aligning client needs with creative output and maximizing business potential.
In addition to these roles, Alex has provided valuable insights as a consultant and advisor at Carisbrooke Consulting, leveraging his industry expertise to provide strategic guidance to emerging artists and companies. His flexible and innovative approach has set a precedent for success in various initiatives, contributing positively to the music industry.
Achievements
Proven track record in business development
Extensive experience in music management
Strong strategic focus and leadership
Expertise in licensing and partnerships
Hands-on creative approach
Highlights
We are very proud to have partnered with Sevdaliza on the #5 Global TikTok track of the summer - the smash hit "Alibi" - this summer so far it reached #1 on TikTok charts, #1 on Shazam Global chart, #12 on the Global Spotify Top 50, charted in over 60 different countries and is still streaming like crazy
Independent music is taking over!
Another huge piece of M&A from Viktoria Siniavskaia and her wonderful team to add to the Global Records deal earlier in the summer ... Amazing work all round!
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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
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- 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.