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Alexander Gilmanov
CEO at TMS - Product Strategist
Professional Background
Alexander Gilmanov is a distinguished software development manager with a rich tapestry of experience that spans over a decade across multiple high-tech industries. He holds a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences, specializing in web development, which underscores his profound technical capabilities and understanding of software architecture. Since his early career, Alexander has made significant contributions to various domains, including FinTech, MarTech, AdTech, and MedTech, showcasing his versatility and adaptability in open-source and commercial environments.
Beginning in the early 2000s, Alexander embarked on his professional journey, honing his skills in website and platform development. The culmination of his education and technical prowess solidified his role in the tech landscape, particularly in 2010 when he earned his Ph.D. from Tyumen State University. His dissertation focused on developing adaptive eLearning platforms, highlighting his innovative approach to learning technologies and personalized education solutions.
In 2011, Alexander joined a major German-based online marketing agency as a full-stack developer, deepening his expertise in web development, and marking a pivotal step in his career. His hands-on experience in a fast-paced agency environment enabled him to refine his skills in various programming languages and frameworks, which would soon serve as foundational knowledge for his future endeavors.
Entrepreneurship and Leadership
In 2012, Alexander took a bold step in his career, launching his own project, 'wpDataTables,' which has since become a reputed tool in data management and visualization. His entrepreneurial spirit flourished further when, in 2014, he founded TMS, subsequently growing it into a thriving enterprise. Under Alexander's visionary leadership, TMS transformed from a modest office with just three employees to an impressive operation boasting over 50 professionals across two independent offices in multiple countries. The company now provides world-class software development services to a diverse array of partners across five countries.
Within his first five years as a CEO, Alexander was instrumental in creating two robust core teams dedicated to in-house products and software service partnerships. His commitment to fostering talent and building cohesive teams has significantly contributed to TMS's reputation for delivering the highest quality digital tools utilized globally. Today, TMS is recognized for its innovative solutions and commitment to excellence in the tech industry.
Education and Achievements
Alexander's academic journey began at Gymnasium #21, where he laid the groundwork for his future studies. He later completed his Ph.D. in Web Development and Technical Sciences at Tyumen State University, which allowed him to delve deeply into adaptive eLearning platforms. This educational background equipped him with the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to excel in the software development field.
In addition to his formal education, Alexander holds several prestigious certifications that further validate his expertise. As a Certified SCRUM Product Owner and an Agile CAL1 certificate holder, he exemplifies a commitment to agile methodologies, ensuring that his teams are well-equipped to adapt in the ever-evolving tech landscape.
As a Power Elite author on Envato, Alexander has published numerous resources and tools that have garnered high praise from the community. His contributions as an author not only showcase his technical writing skills but also reflect his passion for sharing knowledge and supporting fellow developers and businesses.
Notable Projects and Contributions
Among Alexander’s notable projects, 'wpDataTables' stands out as a hallmark of his career. It is a popular WordPress plugin that facilitates data management and presentations while enabling users to create responsive tables, charts, and graphs effortlessly. This tool has become an essential asset for many businesses, simplifying complex data visualization and analysis processes.
Moreover, as the founder and CEO of Trafft, Alexander continues to drive innovation and growth within the tech community. His leadership approach emphasizes collaboration, creativity, and customer-centric solutions, making him a highly respected figure in the field.
Conclusion
In summary, Alexander Gilmanov is a highly accomplished software development manager whose extensive experience, technical know-how, and entrepreneurial spirit have contributed greatly to the tech industry. With his impressive background in full-stack web development, leadership roles in reputable companies, and his sought-after qualifications and certifications, Alexander serves as a beacon of success for budding entrepreneurs and established professionals alike. His journey from a full-stack developer to the CEO of an industry-leading software company is a testament to his drive, d
Highlights
Franchise Expo Paris - quite a refreshing experience, and new angles 💡
For the last couple of years I only attended IT-focused events (WP and SaaS mostly). Franchises are an important customer segment for Trafft, so it was an interesting opportunity.
Us, IT folks, tend to forget sometimes that the world doesn’t revolve around technology, and, while tech today is indeed at the core of almost every industry, it is a bit self-limiting to focus only on the digital part. A huge “offline” world is around us (though, digitally transformed already).🙂
Some of my thoughts after the event:
📁 Franchise business model is something we will definitely look into with more attention. Even though we’ve been working with franchises already, I underestimated the size of this market and the scaling opportunities.
💻 Media (e.g. franchising-focused business magazines) and networks are quite developed in this industry - probably most practically useful contacts and conversations for me in the event.
💇♀️ Beauty industry is strongly driven by the franchise model - we already knew that, but it’s still quite inspiring to hear stories like e.g. Groupe Guinot - Mary Cohr, who managed to grow their network to 17.000+ salons through the franchising model in just a few years.
🇸🇦 Was a curious experience to meet quite a few entrepreneurs from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the heart of Paris, even more so as it’s one of the markets we are exploring. Didn’t expect to get so much information on KSA and its businesses here 🙂
🍔 From the visitor’s impression, 60% or so of the expo was dedicated to retail food and beverage industry and dining franchises - not something we work with, but always interesting to get a glance of the “insides” of the businesses we use as consumers.
🚗 Automotive industry in France seems quite advanced in terms of tech. As someone specializing in booking systems I was quite impressed with the customer-facing booking UX of most chains e.g. for replacing auto glass (appointment can be booked in a few clicks, very visual and simple).
🇫🇷 Though event is promoted as an international one, it’s still mostly in French. I couldn’t listen to the talks/workshops, and some booths were French-speaking only. Next time I need to come with someone local, or learn French 🙂
Thank you Paris, heading off for the CloudFest now 🚊
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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.