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Jake Hoskins
Assistant Professor of Data Science & Marketing at Willamette University
Professional Background
Jake Hoskins currently serves as an Assistant Professor of Data Science & Marketing in the Atkinson Graduate School of Management at Willamette University. He combines his deep knowledge of data science and marketing to enrich the education of MBA students through courses focused on Data Science, Marketing Analytics, Data Engineering, and Business Statistics. With a passion for practical application, Jake manages an independent academic research stream dedicated to leveraging large secondary datasets through econometric modeling. His research primarily investigates topics within Retailing, Brand Management, Innovation, and Online Marketing, ensuring that his inquiries hold direct relevance to current managerial practices.
Before joining Willamette University, Jake garnered extensive experience in the corporate sector as a Quantitative Modeler/Data Scientist for Umpqua Bank in Portland, Oregon. His analytical skills and expertise in data-driven decision-making were pivotal to the team's efforts in enhancing banking services through insightful business intelligence. His previous academic tenure includes roles as an Assistant Professor of Marketing at prestigious Liberal Arts Colleges such as Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Millsaps College in Jackson, Mississippi. These positions allowed him to further develop his teaching methodologies and foster a captivating learning environment for students.
Education and Achievements
Jake's academic journey is marked by impressive qualifications. He obtained his Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Business Administration, with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Strategy, from the University of Utah, graduating with a commendable GPA of 3.87 in 2015. His time at the university was enhanced by serving as a Graduate Research Assistant for five years, providing him with invaluable experience to hone his research acumen.
In addition to his doctoral degree, Jake holds not one but two Bachelor of Arts degrees from California State University-Chico. He graduated with a degree in Economics, specializing in International Economics with a GPA of 3.62, as well as a degree in Music Industry & Technology (Recording Arts), complementing his deep-rooted interest in diverse fields.
Jake's education is complemented by a variety of professional experiences that further underscore his capability in the related realms of data science and marketing. His career has roots in financial advising as he worked with UBS Financial, and earlier experience in retail management while serving as an Assistant Store Manager at Walgreens. Such a varied background provides him with a nuanced understanding of consumer behavior and retail dynamics, which he integrates into his academic work.
Professional Affiliations and Contributions
Beyond his role at Willamette University, Jake is also a former Co-Owner at h-squared Analytics, LLC, where he applied his quantitative modeling skills to provide actionable insights for businesses. His commitment to advancing knowledge in data science and marketing is evident in his role as a former Graduate Research Assistant, where he contributed to significant research initiatives at the University of Utah.
Through his diverse experiences in academia and industry, Jake has established a unique perspective that enhances his teaching and research. His students benefit from his firsthand understanding of how academic theories translate into real-world applications, ultimately preparing them for success in their professional careers.
Research Interests
Jake’s research interests are at the convergence of data science and marketing, focusing specifically on the application of econometric modeling to analyze large datasets in the context of retail and online marketing. His work examines critical aspects of brand management and marketing innovation, revealing insights that can drive business decisions. The managerial relevance of his research makes it particularly valuable to professionals seeking to understand and navigate the complexities of today’s data-driven marketplace.
Achievements
- Ph.D. in Business Administration (Marketing) from the University of Utah, enhancing academic credibility with a strong focus on strategy and marketing analytics.
- Quantitative Experience as a modeler at Umpqua Bank, allowing him to connect theory with practice, significantly impacting business intelligence initiatives.
- Teaching Excellence as Assistant Professor, contributing to multiple institutions and adapting to varied academic environments while delivering high-quality education.
- Multi-disciplinary Background, holding two bachelor’s degrees in Economics and Music, showcasing a unique blend of analytical and creative skills that enrich his perspective.
- Independent Research Contributions in marketing analytics, demonstrating a commitment to exploring questions of real-world significance that inform managerial best practices.
In conclusion, Jake Hoskins stands out as a dedicated academic and practitioner, seamlessly bridging the realms of data science and marketing. His extensive background, from his impactful teaching career to his research endeavors and industry experience, positions him as a thought leader in the field. As he continues to influence the next generation of business leaders at Willamette University, his work undoubtedly prepares them for the dynamic challenges of the contemporary business landscape.
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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.