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Kamal Karanth
Talent Specialist, CoFounder @ Xpheno, LinkedIn Top voices 2020
Professional Background
Kamal Karanth is a dynamic entrepreneur and seasoned recruitment professional, well-known for his co-founding role at Xpheno, a firm dedicated to enabling Specialist Staffing solutions. With a vision to become the largest Specialist Staffing Firm emerging from India, Kamal has dedicated his career to providing innovative staffing solutions that connect employers with niche talent in the fields of Technology and Engineering. His commitment to excellence in staffing is evident in the strategies he employs to resonate with both businesses and candidates, fostering meaningful professional relationships.
Kamal has amassed an impressive wealth of experience across multiple sectors, having started his professional journey in the Pharmaceutical sales industry. His interest in the healthcare field led him to transition into Biotech sales, where he garnered seven years of invaluable expertise. However, it was his move into the recruitment industry that truly allowed him to leverage his skills and passion for connecting people with opportunities. Joining Ma Foi marked a pivotal shift in Kamal's career. During his time at Ma Foi, he was bestowed with the opportunity to oversee staffing business operations not just in India, but across several key markets in Asia, including Malaysia, Singapore, China, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
At Ma Foi, Kamal successfully initiated various service offerings, including IT Staffing, Executive Search, and RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) Solutions, especially in these nascent markets. His extensive travels and multi-country exposure enriched his understanding of the intricacies involved in cross-border talent migration across the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region.
In addition to his tenure at Ma Foi, Kamal has also held prominent positions with renowned staffing companies like Randstad and Kelly Services, where he refined his skills in talent acquisition and management. These roles not only solidified his reputation as a leader in the staffing industry but also laid the foundation for his entrepreneurial ventures. Over the past three years, Kamal has embraced the challenges and rewards of being an entrepreneur, transforming his strategic insights and practical experiences into invaluable offerings through Xpheno.
Education and Achievements
Kamal Karanth laid the groundwork for his remarkable career by earning a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology from Bangalore University. This academic background provided him with a strong scientific foundation and a unique perspective that he has successfully translated into his professional pursuits. Kamal’s journey through the realms of Pharmaceuticals, Biotech, and Recruitment equipped him with a diverse skill set that is not only valuable as a professional but also as an influential leader who champions the importance of specialization within the staffing industry.
Additionally, Kamal has contributed significantly to the industry and community by serving in multiple leadership roles. Notably, he was a former Managing Director at both Kelly Services and KellyOCG, where he was instrumental in driving impactful staffing strategies. His role as Co-Founder Trustee at the Indian Staffing Federation reflects his commitment to nurturing the staffing ecosystem in India and supporting its growth.
Kamal’s leadership capabilities are complemented by his professional affiliations, which further highlight his accomplishments within the staffing domain. As the Director and Head of APAC at Ma Foi Randstad, he played a critical role in expanding the firm’s footprint and establishing a reputation for excellence in talent acquisition.
Insights on Personal Strengths
Kamal Karanth's personality and strengths are key drivers of his success in the recruitment field. As an ESTJ according to his MBTI profiling, Kamal embodies traits such as Extraversion, Sensing, Thinking, and Judgment, making him an effective leader who thrives in dynamic environments. He is known for his pragmatic approach to problem-solving and his ability to foster collaboration among team members and clients alike.
In terms of strengths, Kamal shines as a Maximiser, utilizing his skills to elevate the quality of work and service provided by his team. Gallup’s Strength Finder identifies his additional strengths as Command, Self-Assurance, Communication, and Relater, all of which position him as a confident influencer in the staffing sector. His capacity to communicate effectively and build relationships allows him to connect with stakeholders at all levels, from job seekers to top executives.
Kamal’s passion for workplace dynamics is also showcased through his blog, which serves as a platform for sharing insights and fostering discussions related to staffing and recruitment. Interested readers can access his blog at www.kamalkaranth.com, where he candidly expresses his thoughts on trends affecting the workplace and exploring strat
Highlights
Roles others don’t want, But you took. https://lnkd.in/gcmUiX87, and there are some you take up because there is definitely an upside!
Let's say you want glory and want to make a gutsy move with a new employer. What safety net do you need?
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Above-market pay? So, you hedge the risk with money? I was interviewing a sales head for my start-up. She was at 26 lacs and asked for 42 lacs, stating that the money was the insurance for the risk of joining a bootstrapped venture.
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How about severance pay if one is joining a large MNC in a C suit? I once negotiated for a CEO role where 3 CEOs had turned over in 5 years. I asked for a one-year severance pay if they fired me in the first 2 years,
Look around your organization and colleagues whom you think the founders or leadership chooses for those gutsy roles. Do you think some of those professionals jump into assignments because it would bring them glory or catch the boss's eye?
But, we all know in every company there 2 categories of people,
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Who is courageous enough to take up new and gutsy operations
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People who would be particular for glory and take up assignments which has a sure upside
Have you ever felt the pain of handing over a business or role to your colleague or a newbie where you built the foundation and someone else eventually is enjoying the fruits?
So, questions for today
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Would you trade the experience of Guts for Glory?
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Are there such 'easy roles' in any organization where glory is guaranteed nowadays?
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If you are a manager, do you like reportees who take up these so-called "dirty assignments" without complaining?
Listen in https://lnkd.in/gB-FwaEQ
Every time a new hire is added to the team, the word is out that the person has joined with a higher salary and the talk of inequity sets in. The manager must invariably fight the perception battle of the competency of the new recruit and also substantiate why they couldn’t elevate someone internally for that role.
-The argument of paying a higher salary to current employees to be fair to them than waiting for them to resign and then counter-offer is doing the rounds. -The logic thrown is that if you are anyhow going to pay 30 per cent higher to the new employee, why not to the loyalists? -The most excruciating part of the employer-employee relationship is the constant doubt about perceived inequity in our minds.
We all like to keep away from managers, organisations, founders and team members who, in our perception, have been unfair to us. This feeling of inequity also brings down the productivity of our peers when we gossip and speculate about threats to their psychological safety. Corporate corridors are often abuzz with whispers like, “The CEO will be sacked; There will be layoffs; hikes and promotions will be frozen this year; they can’t raise funding; they will sell the company; the founders will exit.” This sense of inequity is a shadow we always carry with us and respond to on a daily basis. We also react to perceived inequity by knowingly reducing the quantity and quality of our efforts and outputs.
Many large organisations have transparent policies and processes that instil fairness in their ecosystem. However, the guardians of those systems are human beings prone to transgressions and every single act of perceived inequity goes viral compared to multiple acts of fairness and there lies the challenge! My column in today's Business Line 😎
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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.