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Howard Lubert
Keiretsu Forum Mid-Atlantic Area President
Professional Background
Howard Lubert is a seasoned professional with over 28 years of experience specializing in technical due diligence and business acceleration. As the principal of SafeHatch LLC, he has spent the last 15 years actively supporting startup and early-stage technology companies. His consultancy focuses on providing expert insights and strategic guidance as companies prepare to solidify their management teams with full-time staff. SafeHatch's approach typically involves taking on a senior management role within the portfolio companies, offering tailored business acceleration services that often emphasize areas like the Internet, e-Business, security, SaaS, infrastructure, and wireless technologies.
Prior to his current role, Howard was the Managing Director at Rowan Innovation Venture Fund, where he played a pivotal role in nurturing early-stage ventures. His comprehensive background includes significant tenures at Safeguard Scientifics, where he developed his expertise in technical due diligence. Howard consistently aligns with venture capitalists, angel investors, and other investment organizations, enhancing the success rates of technology startups through strategic remediation and turnaround efforts.
Education and Achievements
Howard Lubert boasts a robust educational foundation in psychology, having earned his Bachelor of Arts from Moravian University. He furthered his education with a Master of Arts degree in School Psychology from Rowan University, equipping him with a deep understanding of human behavior and cognition, which complements his business acumen. His unique educational background enables him to approach business with a thoughtful, analytical lens, making him a valuable asset in any organizational context.
Beyond his prominent role at SafeHatch, Howard has made noteworthy contributions to various organizations. He has held leadership positions such as Area President at both the Keiretsu Forum South-East and Mid-Atlantic, where he championed initiatives for early-stage companies. His expertise was also integral in shaping the future of startups as a Senior Manager for eBusiness at Deloitte, where he extended his reach into digital transformation and online business strategies.
Howard's dedication to knowledge sharing is evidenced by his role as an Adjunct Professor at Temple University, where he imparted his industry knowledge and insights to the next generation of business leaders. His combined experiences across educational, consulting, and investment landscapes uniquely position him as an influential figure in the realm of entrepreneurial development and technology innovation.
Achievements
- Over 28 years of technical due diligence experience for Safeguard Scientifics and its affiliated funds.
- Principal of SafeHatch LLC, providing critical consulting services for technology startups and early-stage companies for 15 years.
- Former Area President at both the Keiretsu Forum South-East and Mid-Atlantic, promoting growth and investment strategies in the tech space.
- Managed and guided several startups to successful outcomes through effective business acceleration and remediation strategies.
- Developed a solid reputation for his expertise in providing business management advancements and tailored strategic advisement in technology sectors.
tags':['Technical Due Diligence','Business Acceleration','Business Remediation','Technology Consulting','Startup Support','eBusiness Strategy','SaaS Expertise','Wireless Technologies','SafeHatch LLC','Venture Capital','Psychology Degree','Moravian University','Rowan University','Keiretsu Forum']
questions':['How did Howard Lubert develop his expertise in technical due diligence services for startups?','What are the key factors that led Howard Lubert to establish SafeHatch LLC as a consultancy for technology companies?','In what ways has Howard Lubert leveraged his background in psychology to enhance his business consulting practices?','How has Howard Lubert’s role as an Adjunct Professor influenced his approach in the business acceleration field?','What unique challenges have Howard Lubert and SafeHatch LLC overcome when assisting technology startups?']},
Highlights
Join us on September 25 at West Chester University as we explore actionable strategies for supporting women in venture capital. Network with executive leaders and leave with new perspectives to drive equity and growth in your business. Get your ticket here: https://lnkd.in/eUVBVeiB
With a heavy heart, I share with you that Chuck Carter, our VP of Entrepreneur Services for 10+ years, passed away this weekend. His passing was peaceful, and he was surrounded by family.
His son Dan shared, “He lived a great life and golfed and worked until the very end. I know how much Keiretsu Forum meant to him, and I’m honored to be a part of it as an investor.”
No one worked harder to support our efforts here than Chuck. There are literally thousands of entrepreneurs out there that are better at what they do because of their time with Chuck. Please join me in sharing our wishes with his family.
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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
- 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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.