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Dirk Ploss
Online Since 1985. Obsessed With Innovation Culture.
Professional Background
Dirk Ploss is a highly accomplished online and tech enthusiast with nearly 30 years of experience in innovation, marketing, and advertising. His extensive career has allowed him to acquire direct experience across various sectors including retail, FMCG (Fast-Moving Consumer Goods), B2B services, and e-commerce. With a dedicated focus on technology scouting and innovation management, Dirk has been at the forefront of integrating advanced strategies for businesses that seek to enhance their market presence through cutting-edge approaches.
Dirk's expertise is underpinned by his role as the Senior Early Innovation Manager at Beiersdorf, where he champions innovation strategies that align with the organization's long-term goals. His impactful leadership has driven significant advancements within the marketing and advertising landscape, allowing companies to adapt effectively to rapidly changing market dynamics.
Throughout his journey, Dirk has held multiple prestigious positions that have allowed him to shape and influence the digital landscape. In his various roles, he has focused on corporate venture capital initiatives, fostering relationships with startups, and guiding organizations towards sustainable innovation. As a former Chapter Director at Startup Grind, he has supported entrepreneurs and nurtured startup ecosystems, further emphasizing his passion for innovation and technology.
Education and Achievements
Dirk Ploss honed his foundational knowledge and skills at the University of Hamburg, where he studied diligently in preparation for a successful career in the competitive fields of marketing and technology. His educational background laid the groundwork for his deep understanding of market trends and consumer behavior, which has proven invaluable throughout his professional journey.
A key aspect of Dirk's career has been his membership in the Venture Lead Team at Oscar & Paul Beiersdorf Venture Capital, where he played an essential role in identifying innovative ventures that align closely with the organization's strategic interests. His tenure at Beiersdorf includes various roles where he has been instrumental in spearheading digital strategies and e-commerce solutions tailored to the needs of a diversity of markets.
Dirk's impressive track record is also punctuated by his entrepreneurial spirit, having owned PLOSS Consulting, which allowed him to explore and implement innovative marketing strategies for various clients. He has also made significant contributions to company-wide strategies as a CMO on Demand for CMO4U Dirk Ploss and previously served as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Lecturio GmbH.
In addition to his extensive experience in corporate settings, Dirk held leadership roles at OTTO, where he served as Division Manager of Brand Management and Marketing Communications, as well as Senior Manager of Online Marketing. His adept understanding of digital marketing and e-commerce strategies contributed to building strong brands and enhancing customer engagement during his time there.
Achievements
Dirk's illustrious career features several noteworthy achievements reflecting his commitment to innovation and excellence in marketing and advertising. His strategic insights have empowered companies to establish formidable market positions and drive revenue growth. As a creative director at FCB Hamburg, he led projects that combined his advertising prowess with innovative marketing strategies, resulting in high-impact campaigns that resonated with target audiences.
Moreover, Dirk's leadership roles in various organizations have enabled him to mentor emerging talents in the fields of marketing and technology, promoting a culture of continuous learning and development in these rapidly evolving sectors. A former partner at Cubic Consulting GmbH, he advised businesses on harnessing their brand potential to impactfully reach their consumers. His role as General Manager at Dicom24 GmbH further emphasized his ability to steer companies towards innovative business models that thrive in competitive environments.
Overall, Dirk Ploss embodies a wealth of experience that spans nearly three decades, marked by a strong commitment to innovation, effective marketing strategies, and a deep understanding of technology’s role in shaping the future of business. His career not only highlights his personal achievements but also serves as an inspiration for aspiring professionals in the fields of marketing, innovation management, and technology. Through his efforts, he continues to contribute to the entrepreneurial landscape, fostering growth and breakthrough ideas.
tags':['Online Marketing','E-commerce','Innovation Management','Startup Scouting','Corporate Venture Capital','Technology Scouting','Marketing Strategist','FMCG Expert','B2B Services','Retail Innovation','Consulting','Beiersdorf Innovation','Digital Marketing','Creative Director','Leadership in Innovation','Brand
Highlights
Forget about "Hide the pain Harold". Here comes "How did I get here Dirk".
Lats year I had the honor of being invited as a speaker to the first edition of the "Beauty Leaders Summit" in, of course, Paris. It was a great, insightful event, with an atmosphere of positivity, exchange and inspiration. My keynote was about "Marketing to Machines", so how the purchase funnel might look like if consumers start to outsource their purchase decisions more and more to AI.
Well, looks like it made a bit of an impact, as I was not only invited to give another keynote this year (where I'll take a look at virtual influencers and their consequences), but also as a program advisor.
The fun part? Look at the brochure title.
Strong, successful, smart, and utterly amazing women, representing the top of Europe's beauty industry.
And me.
With a facial expression that made me laugh. Seriously, isn't this meme material? Of the kind "I have no idea what I'm doing here" or "When you lied on your resume but got hired anyway"?
I totally love it! And I'm really looking forward to meet as many of my fellow beauty professionals as possible!
(Oh, btw: It's on November 20-21 in Paris, and I heard they have a few tickets left.)
“Sage mal, Dirk,… In welchem Krieg warst DU eigentlich?“
Ungelogen, so bin ich mal von einer Trainingskollegin nach dem Sport in der Sauna angesprochen worden. Die Anspielung galt allerdings leider nicht meinem enormen Durchhaltewillen, meiner überaus kämpferischen Ader oder meinem verwegenen Hanteleinsatz.
Nein, sie zeigte dabei mit multiplen Schwenks ihrer Finger auf die leuchtenden Narben an meinem Körper.
Okay, ja, zugegeben, da gibt es auch vielleicht ein oder zwei mehr als man gemeinhin als „üblich“ bezeichnen würde.
Die eine am Schienbein vom Skifahren. Die an der Stirn von einem Steinwurf. Die am Popo von Muscheln auf einem Wellenbrecher. Die über den gesamten linken Handballen von einem Messer. Zwei an der Leiste von einer Operation, zwei an den Knöcheln unbekannten Ursprungs, diverse am Knie.
Jüngster Einwohner von Scar-City ist die am rechten Ellenbogen, worunter sich jetzt ein (bestimmt) todschickes Implantat-Ensemble verbirgt.
Jede einzelne dieser Narben erzählt eine Geschichte. Geschichten vom Scheitern, vom Stürzen, vom Dämlich-Sein, von Unachtsamkeit und, glaubt mir, von Schmerzen.
Und auch wenn ich niemandem empfehlen würde, es mir nachzumachen: Die Ereignisse und die Schmerzen, die mit diesen Narben verbunden sind, haben mich zu dem gemacht, was und wer ich heute bin.
Ich höre recht oft, dass Mitmenschen von meinem ungebrochenen Optimismus, meiner Lebensfreude, meinem Enthusiasmus und meiner kindlichen Begeisterung überrascht oder gar beeindruckt wären. Aber genau die hängen mit all den Narben sehr eng zusammen.
Denn durch all die dummen Zu- und Unfälle habe ich vieles gelernt. Zum Beispiel:
- Der Worst Case ist nie der Worst Case. Ich lebe ja offensichtlich noch. - Aufstehen ist oft sehr schmerzhaft (vor allem, wenn einem im Meerwasser Teile des Pos in Streifen herunterhängen), aber es lohnt sich. Immer. - Ich bin ein unglaublicher Glückspilz (siehe oben: Ich lebe noch.) - Narben mögen bleiben, Schmerzen sind temporär.
Mit den unsichtbaren (emotionalen und seelischen) Narben verhält es sich nicht sehr viel anders. Auch diese prägen. Auch diese tragen wir ewig mit uns herum. Aber: Auch diese können wir lernen, irgendwann als Teil von uns zu akzeptieren. Und, nein, ich will hier keinem falschen Narrativ von „Stell‘ dich nicht so an!“ oder „Alles halb so wild“ Vorschub leisten. Im Gegenteil: Jede Narbe ist für mich auch ein Lehrer, ein Mahner. Und: Ratgeber.
Manche Narben raten mir zur Vorsicht. Andere zu mehr Umsicht. Dritte zu mehr Nachsicht. Und eigentlich jede zu mehr Klugheit.
Aber daran arbeite ich noch.
#MidlifeWisdom
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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.