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Jonathan Boyers
Jonathan Boyers is no longer a Partner at KPMG UK. He left KPMG in 2023 after a 34-year career with the firm.3 Currently, he is the Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance for EMEA at Alvarez & Marsal, a global professional services firm.2
Boyers is a veteran dealmaker with over 35 years of experience in corporate finance.1 He has advised numerous clients on company disposals, acquisitions, and private equity work across various industries, with deal sizes ranging from £10 million to £500 million.1
During his time at KPMG, Boyers held several significant positions:
- UK Head of Corporate Finance, leading the business through its most successful trading period.1
- Vice Chair of KPMG in the UK.13
Boyers has received multiple accolades throughout his career:
- Won North West Insider Magazine Dealmaker of the Year four times.1
- Awarded "UK Corporate Financier of the Year" by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales.4
He joined Alvarez & Marsal in 2024 and has since been working to scale up the firm's corporate finance business across Europe.2 Boyers is known for his work with prominent business figures, including the founders of webuyanycar, BetFred's Fred Done, and easyJet's Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou.1
Boyers holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and finance (first class) from the University of Lancaster.1
Highlights
Here are a few thoughts I’ve picked up over the past 23 years leading successful teams - I hope you can take something away from them.
- Lots of people are involved in building any business. Not just the leader. A leader can help bring people together but especially for start up teams getting the right cofounders and early members of the team is key to creating resilience as a bedrock for future growth.
- A team can only be as successful as the vision that it develops. Make sure that vision is motivating and ambitious enough to stretch your team but not snap the elastic.
- The strongest leaders are always learning. You can learn something new from every person you meet - never become too narrow-minded to think otherwise.
- Focus heavily on outcomes and not just hours spent on tasks. The amount of hours spent on a task are rarely the best judge of performance. Stay focussed on results and achievements. If someone keeps taking too long they may need support, counselling or more resources.
- Your team will mirror your behaviour and values. Stay true to yourself, act with integrity, and never get too far removed from the day-to-day work. You are the example they will follow.
- Be accessible to all members of your team (at every level). Senior management can become cliquey but you set the precedent on how less-senior employees are treated.
- Leave your ego at the door. You do not need to be the smartest person in the room - hire people better than you!
- Encourage your team to see change not as a threat but as an opportunity for growth. The business landscape is constantly evolving and so will your teams’ challenges. Be open to new ideas, stay curious, and adapt to change with a positive mindset.
- Different scenarios will require you to lead from different positions. In a crisis, lead from the front, but in celebration, lead from the back. Know at what time to take what position.
- Create an environment where new ideas are welcomed and calculated risks are encouraged. Allow your team to experiment and learn from both successes and failures. Real progress is made in a culture where people feel safe to explore and challenge the status quo. People can show leadership at all positions in a team!
11.In a high performing team people need to be having authentic conversations about how they work together. Encourage people to give feedback even (especially) when the subject is about performance improvement.
12. Understand that you are ultimately responsible for performance. If your team are underperforming, look inward before you pass judgment. On the contrary, ensure your team get the full credit for their successes. 13. Most importantly, remember it is a privilege to lead. As a leader you serve your team not the other way round - enjoy every second of it! #Leadership
I've been reflecting on a fascinating trend quietly reshaping the global finance landscape. One that's gaining momentum and is set to become even more influential in the years ahead - The rise of private capital through family offices. Family offices have traditionally been the stewards of wealth for the world's most affluent families. However, in the past decade, we have seen explosive growth, with an estimated 7,000+ family offices worldwide managing assets over $5.9 trillion, according to Forbes. This surge is largely attributed to the extraordinary creation of wealth in recent years, particularly in the technology sector and the growing complexity of managing substantial family wealth. With that, we see a significant shift in how these entities operate. They're no longer just managing wealth but actively driving it forward, especially in emerging markets like India and the Middle East. The scale of their influence is remarkable. In India, for example, family offices are becoming major players in outbound M&A, funding cross-border deals that are changing the game not just domestically but also internationally. Similarly, in the Middle East, we're witnessing a surge in private capital from family offices fueling strategic acquisitions across Europe and beyond.
I personally noticed during my time working in Dubai that the business community is dominated by major family offices (and sovereign funds) that have been acquiring businesses in a range of strategically important sectors all over the world. What's particularly striking is how these family offices are not just chasing returns but building legacies. Their investment strategies are deeply personal, reflecting the aspirations and ethos of the families behind them. This human element adds an incredibly powerful layer of authenticity and commitment to their ventures. We are now engaging with family offices in the UK and beyond on disposal mandates we are now operating across our EMEA practice. Several family offices are set up to operate in a very similar manner to traditional Private Equity whereas others have very specific strategies and modes of working.
It's clear that the influence of family offices as buyers for, and investors in businesses is only set to grow and is a trend anyone considering selling their business should be paying close attention to. It's changing the game's rules and opening up new, exciting, and transformative opportunities. Here's to the future of investment—and the human connections that drive it! #CorporateFinance #FamilyOffices #GlobalFinance
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Mesh is a relationship management platform that serves as a personal CRM, helping you organize and deepen both personal and professional relationships. It functions as a beautiful rolodex and CRM available on iPhone, Mac, Windows, and web, built automatically to help manage your network efficiently. Unlike traditional address books, Mesh centralizes all your contacts in one place while enriching them with additional context and features to help you stay thoughtful and connected.
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
- Smart Search: Allows you to search using natural language like "People I know at the NYT" or "Designers I've met in London"
- 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.