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Steve Rosenbush
Bureau Chief, WSJ Pro Enterprise Technology at The Wall Street Journal
Steve Rosenbush is a seasoned journalist and editorial leader specializing in the intersection of technology and business. He currently heads an 8-person bureau that produces high-quality content for a professional audience. His team is responsible for creating influential publications such as CIO Journal, WSJ Pro AI, and WSJ Pro Cybersecurity, in addition to various newsletters, all of which cater to the needs and interests of technology executives and business leaders. Under his leadership, this team not only produces compelling articles but also engages actively in a wide array of industry events and contributes regularly to both digital and print platforms of The Wall Street Journal. Steve collaborates extensively with his colleagues across the globe, providing insights that shape conversations around emerging tech trends and their implications for businesses.
Before taking on his current role, Steve cultivated his skills and honed his editorial expertise while working at notable publications such as BusinessWeek, Institutional Investor, and USA Today. His diverse experiences in journalism enable him to offer a wide-ranging perspective on the challenges and opportunities that technology poses to the business landscape.
Steve’s journey in the field of journalism began with a strong educational foundation. He obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Wesleyan University, where he developed his writing prowess and critical thinking skills. Additionally, he studied at Kenyon College, a liberal arts institution known for its rigorous academic programs and fostering strong communication skills. These experiences have undoubtedly contributed to Steve’s ability to convey complex information in an accessible manner, making him an invaluable asset in the industry.
Throughout his career, Steve has held several significant positions within The Wall Street Journal. He previously served as the Bureau Chief for WSJ Pro Enterprise Technology, where he oversaw the editorial direction and strategic vision for technology content focused on enterprise solutions. His role as Editor and Deputy Editor of CIO Journal further solidified his expertise in reporting on enterprise technology issues, as he worked to elevate the publication’s standards and engage a dedicated audience of senior IT professionals. Steve is known for his ability to distill intricate technology concepts into practical insights, which help decision-makers navigate the ever-evolving tech landscape with confidence.
Highlights
After six months of preparation, I am thrilled to launch my new weekly column exploring how AI and deep tech, money and people, are shaping the future of business. It will appear every Wednesday at WSJ Pro's CIO Journal and in its daily newsletter, The Morning Download. (https://lnkd.in/gySQKCmG)
This column is a team effort. Thanks so much to Prabha N., Nat Ives, Thomas Lechleiter, Michael Maloney, Thomas Loftus, Matthew Strozier, Belle L. and Isabelle Bousquette for their contributions and support.
And thanks to all who have shared their thoughtful feedback and ideas. Please keep them coming!
The first column appeared this morning, explaining how it will take many years for companies to see a return on their investment in AI infrastructure -- and why CEOs still see a path to profit, even as conviction in the public markets shows some signs of cracking. (See: yesterday's massive selloff in chip and tech stocks.)
To justify a sufficient return on the world’s total AI investment, AI must drive revenue on a comparable scale, transforming not just companies but entire industries and ultimately the economy in its wake.
But the extraordinary scale of AI investments already under way across many industries isn’t without precedent. “As a nation—forget about the world—we pumped trillions of dollars into modernizing the electrical infrastructure, the energy infrastructure in order to create the economy we have today,” Intuit Chief Data Officer Ashok Srivastava said.
“If AI is a parallel to that, I do envision a lot of money going into revolutionizing the way systems operate. And the companies that really build those new applications are the ones that are going to succeed in the future,” Srivastava said.
Nokia is collaborating with NVIDIA on projects including developing ways for AI to play a bigger role in the evolution of networks. AI is helping complex 5G radios become continuously self-learning and self-adjusting in the realm of power consumption management, for example, optimizing for current and expected traffic, Nokia Chief Executive Officer Pekka Lundmark said. “This is the first application of AI in the radio network and this is already in production, but there is a lot more to come,” Lundmark said.
Sequoia Capital Partner David Cahn told said he believes the AI revenue challenge will be met, but that it will take time. Ultimately, the value in AI will accrue to companies that connect the underlying technology to end-customer value. Says Cahn: “The best products will require as much intuition about how customers want to interact with AI as they’ll require technical expertise."
Leading in a World Where AI Wields Power of Its Own, a look at how technology is changing the way the world works, from Jeremy Heimans and Henry Timms OBE: The dominant governance modalities of old power were challenged but never toppled in the new-power era. We saw experiments in networked governance, from open-data initiatives to participatory budgeting, but the core machinery, from the bureaucratic state to the hierarchical corporation, the military to the education system, held firm. With autosapience, big changes are in store regarding the way societies and institutions make decisions. “Once we can be relatively assured that AI decision-making algorithms/systems have no more (and usually fewer) inherent biases than human policymakers,” the AI theorist Sam Lehman-Wilzig has argued, “we will be happy to have them ‘run’ society on the macro level.”
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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.