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Clay 🦦
Director of Product at Homie • We're hiring!
Clay Walter is an experienced product design professional who has held leadership positions at several companies. He was the Director of Product & Design at Homie from October 2020 to February 2022.1 Currently, Clay is the Vice President of User Experience at Tailored Brands, Inc., where he leads teams on Experience, Strategy, and Insights.1
Clay's career highlights include:
- Vice President of User Experience at Tailored Brands, Inc. (Current position)
- Sr Director and Director of Product & Design at ProducePay (February 2022 - Present)
- Director of Product & Design at Homie (October 2020 - February 2022)
- Group Product Design Manager at Progressive Leasing (January 2017 - March 2020)
- Senior Product Designer at Digital Empire (July 2014 - January 2017)
Clay is known for his expertise in design systems, user experience, and leading teams to solve complex problems. He describes himself as "Doing dope shit since '88" and has a passion for distilling complex problems into simple and usable product experiences.1
Highlights
How often do you feel like giving up?
I have found myself in this cycle of "Tried so hard. Didn't succeed. Didn't get what I want. I guess I got what I need." for as long as I have been alive.
The younger version of myself took forever to get to that last part of my bastardization of that beautiful lyric; I guess I got what I need.
I used to be blind with rage in critical moments of failure.
I would be so angry at everyone above and around me, and I would not think twice about what they must be going through.
Importantly, though, and sadly, I was most mad at the face that I saw staring in the mirror. How could you be so fucking stupid? How did you not see this? Will you ever learn?
These three questions circled most in that 'Didn't succeed' part of the cycle.
My god, that part was so fucking painful.
Inevitably, though, as time passed, I would always come around to the lessons to be pulled from those failures. I would put myself into the minds of those above and around me to imagine what they must have gone through at that moment. I guess that's empathy, huh?
Pro tip: This was most helpful that one time I got myself fired. 🙃
I would piece together each critical moment where We/I could have turned left instead of right. I would then drift away in my head, dreaming up various scenarios to imagine different outcomes. My focus on the outcomes was not really driven toward success. I mostly wanted to understand what could have happened differently.
Through that process, I found that part of the cycle of 'I guess I got what I need.' That's where I would finally piece together the lessons learned.
For those who know me closely, I imagined you laughed as you read, 'I used to be so angry.' I still get pretty angry sometimes. 😅
This cycle is constant, and I believe it is healthy–at least for me.
The main shift is that learning more about how I process failure has enabled me to tighten the loop and see the field more clearly and quickly.
It has allowed me to quickly toss away the thought of "Should I just give up?" and focus on identifying what can be learned and how can We/I pivot.
As John Foreman says in this great book that you should all fucking read (Leadership Wise), "Failure should not be the destination, but a waypoint to success."
Note: He didn't say it exactly like that, but it is close enough. It was the initial trigger as I re-read the book this past weekend, sparking these notes. Read the fucking book.
Understanding how I process failure has enabled me to put myself into the imaginary minds of others, peel away the anger, and move into scenario planning and lesson identification far more quickly than when I was 'pissed without a cause.'
It has allowed me to learn and grow as I navigate each waypoint of failure.
--
It's been a while since I shared a note. It might be a while before I share another.
Friday is coming. Do what brings you joy.
Stay dope.
xoxo
🤙
What does it mean to be kind?
That question has floated above my head for some time, and –while I do not know shit– I am beginning to grasp what kindness means to me.
This life we lead is simply one of one.
We can choose to exist as the leading actor in a grand story with a shallow focus isolated on ourselves, where all others come into frame as needed and depart as necessary. Let's call this ‘self-obsessed.’
As uncomfortable as it may be, we all occasionally move in and out of a 'self-obsessed' mindset. Now, this may be controversial, but I am convinced this is okay; it is to be human to feel important.
It is here where we develop our sense of self-esteem. It is here where the ego lies and how we establish connections with ourselves and others.
The ego is beautiful; it is only bad if left unregulated.
Thankfully, most do not live here consistently.
We can move beyond 'self-obsessed' by extending that focus to those we care for deeply and create an illusion that we do not exist for ourselves but instead for those in our 'pack.' Let's call this 'pack-obsessed.'
It is here where most of us live, both personally and professionally. Living 'pack-obsessed' is not bad either; again, it is to be human.
But I am unconvinced genuine kindness lives here.
Instead, here is where we often fool ourselves into righteousness while becoming protective of our inner circle with an 'at all cost' mindset. It is here where division roots itself, corporate politics run rampant, and we find ourselves in a 'Game of Thrones' while fuck-all gets done.
Admittedly, I have lived here, and it's a shitty way to exist. It makes sense, though, as our experience of the world largely shapes our values.
It was only a few years ago that I shaped a core set of guiding values for myself, which at the time was painful and felt like fucking nonsense. But I wanted to understand what I cared about, so I did it – and it was the first step to helping me evaluate what kindness means to me.
Kindness is not being nice to people – at least not to me.
Kindness is about recognizing the shit people are in who are not yourself (or in your pack) and reflecting deeply on how you would hope to be treated before acting — and then living that act out.
I am not perfect. I am not always kind. But I am trying.
I will not tell anyone how to exist; it's your fucking life to live.
But could you try with me? We are all we have.
--
Needless to say, I sought some outdoor therapy this weekend. It was fucking cold and my legs are exhausted. These are my pictures, and these were my notes.
Stay dope.
xoxo
🤙
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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.