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Shilpa Shah
Co-Founder at Cuyana
Shilpa Shah is the Co-Founder and Chief Experience Officer of Cuyana, a luxury fashion brand known for its "fewer, better things" philosophy.1
Background and Education
Shilpa holds a BA in Human Computer Interaction and Computer Science from UC Berkeley, as well as an MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business.
Career
Before co-founding Cuyana in January 2012, Shilpa had over 20 years of experience in design and development:
- She worked as a Design Director at Punchcut, leading interaction and visual design projects for clients like Motorola and AT&T.
- She was the Director of Interactive Design at the Coalition of Essential Schools.
- At Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Online, she served as the Manager of Information Architecture.
- She also held roles at companies like Scient and TBWA/Chiat Day.
Founding Cuyana
Shilpa co-founded Cuyana with Karla Gallardo in 2012 while completing her MBA.12 The brand focuses on offering high-quality, luxury-level apparel and accessories at accessible price points.1 Cuyana has grown to include 7 brick-and-mortar locations and over 150 employees, raising $30 million in funding in 2019.2
Philosophy and Approach
Shilpa and her co-founder built Cuyana on the concept of "fewer, better things," encouraging customers to invest in fewer but higher-quality essentials.2 This philosophy stems from their observations of American consumerism and a desire to create a more sustainable approach to fashion.2
Personal Life
Shilpa is a mother and has spoken about balancing entrepreneurship with family life, noting that she started her MBA at age 32 with a young child at home.34
Highlights
I don't post much here, but I'm beginning to realize I should. This is the right forum to share intellectual curiosity about so many topics- as well as connect more deeply with those I've had the great honor to come across professionally.
First up, this incredible Inc. Magazine article on the Cuyana "Made with Air" campaign we launched last year. I love conceptualizing and leading this campaign. And over a year later, feel very gratified to have its importance recognized by an incredible publication.
Article excerpt: "Cuyana owners wrote that the campaign's aim was to poke fun at greenwashing, the act of making a company's practices seem more environmentally friendly than they are in reality. Martinetti says the campaign highlighted the brand's commitment to sustainability in a unique way. "People will not forget that there was this brand that had the 'Made of Air' campaign so fast in the way they would for a brand just saying, 'We believe in sustainability,'" says Martinetti."
https://lnkd.in/gERbYTFX
More on our Made with Air campaign here: https://lnkd.in/gNy5XCBB
I'm very proud of the work we are doing Cuyana in sustainability. Thank you for the feature Esha Chhabra.
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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.
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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 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.
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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.
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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.
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