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James Hampton
Chief Revenue Officer at Cotopaxi
James Hampton is currently the Chief Revenue Officer at Cotopaxi, an outdoor gear company focused on sustainability and social impact. With over a decade of experience in marketing and merchandising, he has previously held significant roles such as Director of Marketing at Bodybuilding.com and Marketing & Merchandising Director at Palmercash.com. Hampton's educational background includes a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from the University of Colorado Boulder, and he has a rich history in journalism, having worked for over 20 years as a reporter, editor, and producer for various news outlets.12
At Cotopaxi, Hampton has been instrumental in leading the company's revenue growth initiatives and expanding its wholesale channels. His leadership is characterized by a strong commitment to adventure and outdoor sports, aligning with Cotopaxi's mission to create positive social and environmental impacts through its products.12
In December 2024, it was reported that James Hampton transitioned to become the President of North America for Hestra Gloves, where he will focus on expanding the brand's presence across various product categories in the U.S. and Canada.3
Highlights
The outdoor industry folks will appreciate this one.
For the last decade or so, in late summer I would pour through the NOAA long-term weather forecasts and begin to determine how our company's marketing and sales strategies may shift based on the predictions. I picked it up my first year at Backcountry from an amateur weather forecaster and co-worker who would present his long-term weather outlook to the company. Clearly he had been doing this for a long time for the company, and I was indoctrinated my first year into the annual "Pray for Cold and Snow" ritual.
Now that I am consulting, and not in the trenches day to day, this annual process takes on a different meaning, but hey, I am still gonna share it out and we'll talk about it.
For this year, all signs seem to be pointing toward a weak La Niña as we get deeper into Winter. October - December is such a make or break season for retail sales in the outdoor industry so I tend to pay closer attention to this time period. Looking to be another warm one which means some potential challenges for certain categories and knock-on impact into next spring. Interesting to see how this plays out as the industry goes ditch to ditch on inventory levels.
Curious to know how many of you are in roles or industries where weather plays a factor in consumer demand. For the outdoor industry folks, how are you beginning to prepare or adjust your plans based on these forecasts and current weather trends? Who has the NOAA site bookmarked or is that just me??? #holidayreadiness #themoreyouknow
Credit: NOAA for the seasonal outlook forecast images.
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Mesh offers several powerful features including:
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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.
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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.
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