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Harvey Bierman
Experienced Leader in Digital Technology and E-commerce
Harvey Bierman is the Chief Executive Officer of Red Van Workshop, a position he assumed in September 2023 after serving as the Chief Strategy Officer for a brief period earlier that year. His appointment marks a significant milestone for Red Van Workshop, as he is the company's first-ever CEO. Under his leadership, the company aims to enhance its role as a leading Salesforce system integrator, focusing on innovative solutions for clients in the Salesforce ecosystem.14
Background and Experience
Bierman has a robust background in digital commerce and technology. Before joining Red Van Workshop, he held various leadership roles, including:
- Chief Digital Officer at Christy Sports
- VP Digital at Christy Sports
- VP Global eCommerce Technology & Operations at Crocs, Inc.
- Vice President Digital Technology at Finish Line
- Sr. Director, Strategic Solutions at Demandware
His extensive experience spans over two decades in the digital commerce and technology sectors, where he has been recognized for building stakeholder value through effective go-to-market strategies.23
Vision for Red Van Workshop
In his new role, Bierman emphasizes the importance of operational excellence and relationship building. He aims to drive growth by helping Salesforce clients enhance their customer experiences through Red Van's proprietary solutions, such as Autobahn. His leadership style is characterized by a commitment to innovation and a collaborative approach with the team and partners.13
Highlights
For the past few years, my wife and I have wondered about life after our youngest (the goalkeeper 🧤) went to college. Assuming he wouldn't be local and that he'd continue his playing career, we committed ourselves to being in the stands for as many games as possible but there was always a problem... what to do with Pali 🐕.
I came up a pretty crazy idea about 3 years ago that would allow her (Pali) to come with us - since we've found that kennels aren't her thing and we love having her with us everywhere we go. Enter the concept of #vanlife 🚚, but it was sure to be complicated. We looked into renting one for our first trip, but finding one with aux heat 🔥 and A/C ❄ to rent was going to be seriously expensive for a 3000, 10 day initial trip.
That's where Geotrek Vans and Owl Vans come in and we decided to commit to the first trip by being a van owner. Since the moment in May when we decided to jump in as owners, to delivery of our our dog-haus (aka PALIVAN) in early August, this has been my obsession, and I've LOVED every minute of it. From figuring out the perfect coffee ☕ solution (it was AeroPress, Inc.) to a huge Prime Day purchase for all the van essentials like packing cubes to watching countless videos on composting toilets 🚽 (which I hope to never have to use), we were ready for our first adventure.
That inaugural journey is now behind us; 11 days on the road, 7 different overnights in the van, 3000 miles, registration with Love's Travel Stops loyalty program since it's become our preferred refueling station for diesel ⛽ and some quick research on DEF when the first warning light came on in our Mercedes-Benz Vans USA Sprinter.
Our youngest is moved in and ready for his first collegiate ⚽ game day (today) with the Willamette University #wubearcats. Now its time to plan our next adventure. Might even be time to invest in STARLINK.
It's really cool how life evolves through it's stages - things that seem foreign one year become your passion a few years later...and how decisions (changes) like this work within the construct of relationships. Trying (learning) new things is cool - and when you get lucky (like I know I have been in love, life and business) - it's really important to appreciate the moments. I think this pics do a pretty good job of showcasing some of the moments that will stick with me from this first trip that I never would have had the chance to experience without taking some chances and "jumping in".
PS If you can't tell, I'm kinda obsessed with my dog.
PPS I don't think any of this would have been possible with a traditional job - 100% remote work has its upside!
These past few weeks have been some of the most emotional I’ve experienced in my work life. I usually try to carry that burden for my team and embrace the accountability that comes with #leadership. But this was different. While the #accountability was mine to have, the true (emotional) impact of these past few weeks was a burden for others to endure. I’ve also learned that there truly is a difference between being a #ceo and any other role you can have. At the end of the day, that difference is the responsibility to make choices for the benefit of your stakeholders, even when others can’t or won’t agree with those choices. This job is both about, and inspite of, consensus and that (to me) feels dramatically different than any other role I’ve had.
As a company, we are moving forward - differently. And while that’s dramatic, emotional and material, it’s not bad despite feeling so #%?@ing bad.
Time (and the execution that goes alone with it), will ultimately “judge” me, and I can accept that - and the discomfort I have with the extensive use of “me” and “I” that it took to get here. Every other role I’ve had as a leader has been about “us” and “we”. Now it’s more complicated.
For those who were left out of the path chosen to move forward, I know there is nothing I can do to make it better. All I can do is pledge to stand up, be accountable, take responsibility and show enduring support to you and all the #redvan stakeholders I’m intent on serving.
I hope (in time) that is enough for everyone.
#ceopete what are your thoughts?
My next post will retirn to the positive, inspirational, maybe envious content I prefer share. But life isn’t only fomo moments.
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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
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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
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- 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.