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Michael Porath
Head of Product Solutions at localsearch (Swisscom Directories AG)
Michael Porath is a seasoned professional with over 20 years of experience focusing on data-driven products. He currently serves as the Head of Product Solutions at localsearch, overseeing the development and enhancement of digitalONE and its integration with other products.
Prior to his current role, Michael introduced key features for Splunk Enterprise, demonstrating his ability to drive product innovation. His passion lies in creating intuitive end-user experiences, staying abreast of market trends, and collaborating on technical product development.
Michael's background includes founding Halftone Design, a specialized agency in Data Visualization, where he crafted bespoke data visualization solutions for both commercial and non-profit clients. He has also led teams at Visual.ly and engaged with companies in the Swiss Telco and Financial sectors.
With a solid educational foundation, Michael holds a Master's in Management from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Bachelor of Engineering from Zurich University of Applied Sciences.
His skill set encompasses product management, big data, analytics, data visualization, cloud computing, and user experience design.
Highlights
Growth - What does it even mean?
I just watched Leah Tharin's talk titled "What is Growth Product Management in 2024?" An absolutely fantastic talk, no understatement. You should go and watch it and follow Leah anyway, especially if you're in Product Management.
My takeaways, relevant for companies at any size, from Indie Developers to Small Businesses to Fortune 500 enterprises:
𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗻𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 - at least not exclusively. How people are discovering your product, how they're using it, and how they're talking about it, have as much impact on your bottom line. This is as true for the local carpenter as it is for high tech SaaS software straight out of Silicon Valley.
𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗯𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 - It's simple. If we don't know what our users or customers do with our product, we have to act on gut feeling alone. I don't know how often I've realized critical aspects of a business or product only once I've stared at the numbers for long enough.
𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁, 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗮𝗹𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗯𝗲 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀 - I don't mean that literally, but they should not be working actively against each other, as is often the case. They're all part of a company's Growth story.
With some companies, Product, Marketing, and Sales are one and the same person. In that case, you need good processes and systems set-up to make good decisions. If this is you and you need help, feel free to contact me.
Bottom line:
- To all my 𝗣𝗠 𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗱𝘀, go watch the talk, and make sure you really understand the summary in the end
- To 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲: If you have a product or service, how are you thinking about your growth?
The big innovation at Apple’s WWDC24 wasn’t the new Siri.
It's a running joke at our house that Siri is about as smart as our hamster. With Siri’s newfound understanding of human language, interactions are set to become more intelligible.
That's nice, but the big innovation is hidden beneath.
It's the ability for Siri to work with apps directly.
Apple has invested significantly in 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗱 𝗔𝗣𝗜𝘀 that apps can tap into, enabling Siri not only to understand language better but also to act on our behalf. Apple calls these “𝗔𝗽𝗽 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀.”
For now, Siri can pull lunch suggestions from messages, suggest the right driving time to that spot, make reservations on users’ behalf, edit photos, and others. The next weeks and months will show what's really possible.
But to me, this hints at the 𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲, for both B2C and B2B.
We’re heading towards a world where AI agents and apps largely interact on our behalf through APIs, creating a new kind of open web. This web might not be for human-to-human interaction but rather for AI-to-AI collaboration.
If we squint our eyes, 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆’𝘀 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀. Many services have standardized APIs, but we’re often not using them.
So, if you want to get ready for this brave new world (dystopian pun intended), now is the time to experiment with automation tools like Power Automate, Zapier, or Make to make systems talk to each other.
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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.