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Lior Penso
VP of Sales, MLOps @ JFrog
Lior Penso is the Vice President of Sales for MLOps at JFrog, a company specializing in software management and DevOps solutions. He has a notable background in the Israeli startup ecosystem, having worked with numerous founders and venture capitalists as part of the AWS Global Startup Business Development team.
In addition to his role at JFrog, Penso is recognized for his entrepreneurial spirit, having co-founded Qwak, a machine learning platform, where he served as COO before transitioning to JFrog. His expertise lies in business development and sales, particularly in the technology sector, where he has made significant contributions to the growth of startups and tech companies.1
Highlights
Now it's official - the ducks are becoming frogs! Super excited to share that I’m starting a new position as VP of Sales, MLOps at JFrog!
Qwak (Acquired by JFrog) ❤️ JFrog
There are moments in life when words fail us. Even though you're living in the moment, you can't quite grasp it or feel the time and space around you. Yesterday was one of those days when we announced the agreed acquisition of Qwak by JFrog.
When Alon, Yuval, Ran, and I started our company 3.5 years ago, we hoped we were making the right decision, taking the right risks in a newly forming domain called MLOps, long before generative AI and LLMs became common topics on morning TV shows. Our mission statement then was to shape and set standards for the machine learning development lifecycle while measuring its impact through business outcomes.
We embraced this mission and built a state-of-the-art product based on consistent feedback from our customers. We were extremely fortunate to work with amazing investors and even more fortunate to serve some of the most innovative companies in the world. We kept building and developing our business.
And then we met the Frogs.
Qwak was never for sale. We were not looking for an acquiring company, but something about the personal connection and dynamics with Shlomi, Yoav, Gal, and the rest of the JFrog leadership felt like home. The down-to-earth approach, the Israeli directness, and most of all, the company values resonated with us.
We realized that JFrog is everything Qwak aspires to be. They have become the industry standard for DevOps and DevSecOps, serving thousands of customers worldwide, including 83% of the Fortune 500 companies. Together, we started envisioning how Qwak could become the industry standard for MLOps with the firepower and reputation of JFrog. We imagined how our customers would benefit from the synergy and decided this was the right path.
We chose to go big – we agreed to join forces and leverage JFrog's unparalleled experience to build a stronger product and enhance our value proposition. I’m beyond excited for this new chapter – for our customers, our employees, and yes, also for myself.
There are so many people I want to thank for their consistent support and love. First and foremost, I thank our customers, my dear co-founders, our amazing management team, our incredibly professional employees, and of course, our excellent investors and partners along the way. Above all, we could not have made it without the support of our families and mostly wives, Shachar, Shai, dafna, and Karin.
Stay tuned and may the Frog be with you 🐸
Huge thanks to our fantastic leadership team: Daniel Sharon, Niv Amitay, Pavel Klushin, Or Levy, Amit Ashbel, Maayan Bakish, Or Rabinovich, Tal Gabay, Guy Eshet
To our main investors: Nate Meir 🎗, Modi Rosen, Gideon Hayden, David Stein, Ariel Sterman StageOne Ventures, Amiti, Leaders Fund & Bessemer Venture Partners
And the enablers of anything that we executed: Haleli Barath, Avihay Ben-Haim, Jonathan Raz, Aluma Penias, Eran Penso
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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
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- 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 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.
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